Image Credit: World Rowing
Entries: 11
2024 Winner: Romania
The upcoming European Rowing Championships will mark the first senior World Rowing event since the Paris Olympic Games nine months ago, with 11 nations competing in the women’s coxless pair (W2-). With numerous athletes choosing to retire after Paris and many stepping up to the senior level, the European Rowing Championships should provide an exciting preview of the racing in store for the rest of the quadrennial.
Romania enters as my favourite with a powerful crew including Maria Magdalena Rusu, Olympic champion from the women’s eight, who also placed fourth in the four in Paris. She is joined by Simona Radis, making her debut in the women’s pair. While partnered with Bodnar Ancuta, who will be racing in the women’s eight, Radis won Olympic gold and silver in the women’s double sculls and multiple World and European Rowing Championship titles. It will be exciting to see what this combination is capable of.
The Netherlands brings coxless four Olympic champion Hermijntje Drenth to the pair, partnered with Vera Sneijders, who won the 2022 U23 World Rowing Championships in the quad and collected silver in 2023 in the same boat class. This new combination of experience and youth should lead to a fast dynamic.
Serbia presents a formidable challenge with Jovana Arsic, the 2024 European champion in the single, teaming up with Elena Orjabinskaja, who claimed silver in Tokyo while representing the Russian Olympic Committee in this boat class.
Other notable entries include Italy featuring Paris Olympian Alice Codato from the eight, Germany with U23 medalists Lene Muehrs and Olivia Clotten, and Great Britain, represented by Meghan Slabbert, who took silver in the U23 eight in 2019 partnered with Eleanor Brinkoff.
Spain features former lightweight Natalia Miguel-Gomez transitioning to open weight, while Austria, Denmark, AIN, and the Czech Republic complete the competitive field.
Prediction
Romania will take gold, the Netherlands silver, and Serbia bronze.
