Image Credit: World Rowing
Entries: Ten
2024 champions: Norway
A new Olympic cycle means national teams are trying new combinations to find their next superstar crews. That is on full display in the women’s doubles field, in which only three of the ten crews raced together last season. I predict we will see hotly contested semifinals – several of these crews are evenly matched on paper, so the racing will come down to which combinations “click”.
Tessa Dullemans and Roos De Jong were the stern pair of the Dutch silver medallist quad in Paris, one of the most exciting races of the Olympics. De Jong is incredibly decorated in the doubles event – she is a Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist, two-time world medallist, and six-time world cup medallist. She has won three European silvers and two bronzes in this event. Dullemans brings a wealth of quality sculling experience – since 2022 she has raced the quad, medalling in every single competition but missing the elusive European gold. Could this be the year for the Netherlands to claim the top podium spot?
The Paris bronze medallists in the lightweight women’s double, Zoi Fitsiou and Dimitra Kontou, are also looking to add senior European titles to their formidable medal collections. Representing Greece, they earned the silver medal in the lightweight double at both the 2023 and 2024 European Championships. Kontou is only nineteen years of age but has already won two Under 23 world titles in the lightweight double including last summer. Fitsiou claimed silver in the lightweight single at the 2024 World Rowing Championships as well as the 2022 European Rowing Championships. Despite moving up a weight class, these athletes will still be in the medal hunt.
Iulia-liliana Balauca of Romania is moving up to the senior age class, after an impressive three consecutive years winning the U23 World title in this event. She also won the U23 European title in 2023 and 2024, and placed a respectable fourth at 2024 World Rowing Cup III. Mariana-Laura Dumitru has only ever raced the lightweight double, but won silver at both 2023 World Rowing Cup II and the World Rowing Championships in that event. In 2024 she secured the U23 world and European titles in the heavyweight quad. Despite Balauca doubling-up and also racing the women’s four, Romania’s race-readiness and this crew’s pedigree make them medal threats.
In their senior European Championships debut, Great Britain’s Vwaire Obukohwo and Freya Keto are another strong entry. Obukohwo won bronze at the 2022 U23 World Rowing Championships and U23 European Rowing Championships in this event, and did one better in 2023 winning the U23 world silver medal. Keto is on the development GB squad; she placed sixth in the double at World Rowing Cup III in 2024, ahead of Obukohwo’s combination in tenth. This is a promising new combination who should be in the mix for a top five placement.
The crew from Ireland includes Margaret Cremen, who placed fifth in the Paris in the lightweight double, and eighth in Tokyo, and Zoe Hyde, who placed tenth in the heavyweight double in Paris. Cremen and Hyde each won world bronze medals in their respective events in 2022, but neither have won medals at European Rowing Championships in the doubles to date.
Finishing one place behind Hyde in Paris was Stefania Gobbi of Italy, who also raced at the Tokyo Olympics finishing fourth in the quad. She has won the European bronze medal in the double three times – 2017, 2019, and 2022. Gobbi is teaming up with Elisa Mondelli (sixth place in Paris in the eight), and both athletes will be racing the eight in Plovdiv as well. Racing two events may put the A-final out of reach for this crew in the double.
The new seniors from Lithuania, Ugne Juzenaite and Saule Kryzeviciute, may be on the hunt for an A Final finish after winning the U23 world bronze medal in 2024. Watch out for the Spanish combo as well – Aina Cid I Centelles is a three-time Olympian and five-time European medallist in the pair who has teamed up with Iria Jarama Diaz. Rounding out the field are entries from Estonia and Turkey.
Prediction
Netherlands well out front to take the gold, followed by a tight finish with Romania taking silver and Greece taking bronze over Ireland.
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