Image Credit: World Rowing
Entries: 10
2024 Winner: Great Britain
The great rivalries of the past Olympic cycle have been settled, and it is time for new combinations to make their mark in the fastest sculling event. The first major regatta of the LA 2028 “quad” is here, and it will be a fascinating opportunity to see which crews have fine-tuned their synchronisation and strategy the most.
Great Britain’s women’s quad captured Olympic gold in a spectacular sprint in Paris, with the powerful Lola Anderson in the three-seat. She is joined by fellow Paris Olympic medallist Rebecca Wilde, who stroked the double to bronze and will set the rhythm in the bigger boat this year. Cameron Nyland, a Leander club rower who has made two U23 teams, will be debuting at the senior level. Sarah McKay will be racing for Team GB for the first time, but even with new faces, this crew is a significant medal threat.
The Netherlands quad won the silver medal in Paris, but none of the athletes are returning. This crew looks to be a development boat – the bow three (Lisa Bruijnincx, Lisanne Van Der Lelij, and Margot Leeuwenburgh) placed eighth in the quad at the 2024 European Rowing Championships. Stroke seat Willemijn Mulder was the U23 world champion in this event in 2022 before spending the past two years sweeping. This crew will likely aim for a good placement in the four-boat B-final.
The bronze medallists from the Paris Olympic Games, Germany, are returning only stroke seat Pia Greiten (who has made the A-final in every race she has entered since the 2020 European Rowing Championships). However, all crew members combined during the Olympic cycle at various times, so this crew may have an advantage in the early season. Lisa Gutfleisch, Frauke Hundeling, and Sarah Wibberenz raced to seventh place in the quad at the 2023 World Rowing Championships. The German quad placed sixth, fifth, and third at the 2022-2024 European Rowing Championships, and they will be looking for another podium placement.
The Swiss quad finished right behind Germany at the Olympic Games, and are also returning only one athlete, Lisa Loetscher. She was the 2018 junior world champion, 2021 U23 world champion, and two-time World Rowing Cup medallist in the women’s quad. She is reunited with her U23 world champion teammates Salome Ulrich and Nina Wettstein, and Olivia Nacht steps up from the lightweight team. Making the A-final will be a solid result for this crew.
Ukraine placed fifth in Paris and are making only one change to their crew. Daryna Verkhogliad and Kateryna Dudchenko won medals in the quad at all three European Rowing Championships last cycle (winning in 2023), and their best placing was fourth at the 2022 World Rowing Championships. Yevheniia Dovhodko was in the crew in 2022 and for the Paris Olympic Games. Diana Serebrianska raced in the single and double last cycle, with a best result of seventh in the double at the 2022 World Rowing Championships. This crew has experience and power, and will be looking for a medal in Plovdiv.
Romania are making only one change to their 2024 Olympic crew, which placed seventh, but these four athletes have rowed together in several competitions and combinations. Emanuela-Ioana Ciotau and Patricia Cires have won the past two U23 world titles in this event, following a silver in 2022. At the senior level, Cires, Cristina Druga, and Ioana Madalina Cornea placed seventh at the 2023 European Rowing Championships. Ciotau, Cires, and Druga were in the sixth-place crew at the 2023 World Rowing Championships. This crew should be in the mix in the A-final.
The crew from France sees the fifth-place double from the Paris Olympic Games (Elodie Ravera Scaramozzino and Emma Lunatti) join forces with two U23 athletes making their senior European Rowing Championships debut. Mya Bosquet placed fourth in the double at the 2024 U23 World Rowing Championships, while Milla Massemin placed fifth in the single at the same event. This is a fascinating new combination, but it may not be quite ready to stand on the podium this early in the season.
Ireland has not entered a women’s quad at the European Rowing Championships or any other senior event in at least a decade, so we may be witnessing a build towards LA 2028. Stroke seat Alison Bergin won three medals at the U23 World Rowing Championships in the single from 2021-2023, and in the double she has placed fourth at the World Rowing Championships (2023) and eighth in Paris. Natalie Long won the B-final in Paris in the women’s four. Claire Feerick won a world silver medal in the U23 four in 2019 and placed fourth in the quad at the 2024 Coastal World Rowing Championships. Aisling Hayes makes her debut for Team Ireland. Making the A-final would be a promising first outing for this crew.
Poland was a force in the women’s quad in the Tokyo cycle, but did not make the A-final at any European Rowing Championships in the Paris cycle. Barbara Jechorek and Zuzanna Lesner spent most of 2022 and 2023 in the four, with three A-final appearances in 2022 (and a U23 World title for Jechorek in 2023). Anna Khlibenko won a silver medal at U23 World Rowing Championships in 2024 in the quad. Julia Rogiewicz is making her senior debut. This appears to be a solid crew to develop for LA 2028.
The Czechia entry’s biggest star is Lenka Luksova, a four-time Olympian in the women’s double who recently placed eighth in Paris. She joins Michala Pospisilova and Marketa Nedelova from the 2024 European Rowing Championships quad, which placed 11th. Terezie Janstova is only 20 years old, and in 2024 placed seventh in the quad at the U23 World Rowing Championships. Czechia and Poland should have a tight race in the B-final.
Prediction
Ukraine’s experience will lead them to a win, with Great Britain close behind for silver. Finally, a battle for bronze with Germany taking it over France.
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