Image Credit: World Rowing
Entries: 10
It’s worth noting the remarkable influence the US Collegiate system has on women’s rowing at this level. Of the ten boats entered, nine of them contain athletes who are currently studying and rowing at a US University.
Great Britain are the defending champions and have three returners from that boat, Abigail Dawson, Alice Baker and Olivia Hill. They are joined by world champion in the pair, Anna Grace, along with 2023 U19 double world champions Matilda Drewett and Jess Weir. In the bows are U19 eight world champion Ailish Harkin along with Lily Wood. Wood raced with the Rutgers Varsity eight at the NCAA championships this year, and Baker and Drewett were both in the Stanford 1V that won gold at the NCAA’s. Harkin spent the season in the Yale 2V, and Dawson is at Texas and rowed in their 1V. Also, Jess Weir and cox Nikita Jacobs are both at the University of Washington. Grace and Hill are the only athletes not studying in the USA. Grace is at Durham, and Hill is at Brookes.
The USA were runners-up to the British last season and return with four of that crew: Kathryn Serra, Natalie Hoefer, Aine Ley and Joely Cherniss. They are joined by 2023 U19 world champion Ella Wheeler, currently at Cal, along with Annica Ford (University of San Diego), Taryn Kooyers (University of Texas) and Maeve Heneghan (Yale). The crew are coxed by Honor Warburg from Stanford.
Germany were bronze medallists last year and their crew for 2024 contains two from that crew, Chiara Saccomando and cox Magdalena Hallay. The crew includes three other athletes who have previous U23 World Rowing Championship experience: Clara Reiter (tenth in the four), Anni Koetitz (fourth in the pair) and Paula Becher (seventh in the four racing for the USA). Also in the crew are two U19 silver medallists from 2023, Sara Grauer and Alina Krueger. The final two members of the crew are Julia Irlmer, 11th in the U19 double in 2023, and Lisa Behrens. She raced in The Princess Grace Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta last year and earlier this season raced in the coxless four at Ratzeburg, placing fourth.
In terms of senior international experience, it is France that is the clear leader; only coxswain Malo Bodet has yet to represent his country on the senior stage. Milla Massemin and Mya Bousquet raced in the quad at the European Rowing Championships this season, making the A-final. Leontine Fouquet, Hezekia Peron and Maelys Dournaux were in the coxless four that finished sixth at the final World Rowing Cup of 2024. Jeanne Roche raced in the French quad that just missed Olympic qualification at the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta. Agathe Oudet, an U23 bronze medallist from 2023, also raced at the senior World Rowing Championships that year in the pair, and Fleur Vaucoret raced in the pair at the third World Rowing Cup last season, reaching the A-final.
Another crew with senior international experience is Italy. Eleonora Nichifor and Giorgia Sciatella both raced in the eight at the opening World Rowing Cup of 2024, and Susanna Pedrola and Giulia Orefice were in the quad and mixed 8 at the Varese World Rowing Cup this season. Guilia Orefice is joined by her twin sister, Marta, with whom she won U19 gold in 2024. Sciatella and Nichifor were in the eight that finished sixth last year along with Anna Scolaro and Giorgia Borriello. The last member of the crew, and the only one not to have raced at an age-group World Rowing Championships before, is Sara Lisi, who represented Italy at the Coupe de la Jeunesse.
Australia finished one place off the podium last year and have three of that boat returning, Sarah Marriott, Lucy Searle and cox Summer Kellett. Searle is a student at the University of Texas, as are crewmates Chloe Cooper and Imogen Grey. Theodora Coull and Hannah Richardson are both at Tennessee. The only two members of the crew who are not studying in the US are Tiffany Botha from Sydney University and Anna Morrison from the Victorian Institute of Sport.
Denmark’s Olympians Clara Hornnaess and Frida Foldager are doubling up in the pair. They were part of the first-ever Danish women’s eight to race at an Olympic Games. This season, they won the pair at the Ratzeburg Regatta. They are joined by previous U23 internationals Anna-Ida Thomasen, Stine Nielsen and Clara Freltoft (Nielsen is the sole member of the Danish boat who is studying in the USA, at Yale). Also in the crew are Silje Trenter, Alma Benedikston, and Klara Felthaus, all of whom make their international debuts in Poznan.
Canada were bronze medallists in this boat class in 2023 and have two from that crew back this year, Janette Peachey and Mira Calder. Peachey is at Michigan, and Calder at UW. They are joined by Cait Whittard (UW) and Ellexi Fulton (Northeastern), who were in the eight last year and dropped out at the repechage stage. Whittard is doubling up in the pair along with Maylie Valiquette (Tennessee). Also in the crew is Annika Goodwyn (San Diego) and the sole athlete not studying in the USA, Gabriella Worobec (University of British Columbia). Victoria Grieder coxes the boat from Rutgers, who won gold coxing the coxed four in 2021 and the eight in 2023 – both for the USA.
Also racing are crews from Czechia and the Netherlands. The Czechs have three of their 2024 U19 bronze medal-winning coxless four; Simona Paviklova, Eva Slepikova and Princeton’s Michaela Ulcina. Also in the crew is European U19 bronze medallist Hanna Volfova, along with U23 internationals Eliska Svejdova and Alena Dankova. The crew is coxed by Barbora Zelenkova, who steered the Czech men’s U23 eight to seventh in 2023.
The Dutch have a single rower with previous U23 experience in stroke woman Minou Bouman (eighth in the coxless four in 2024 and currently studying at Cal). She’s joined by Sara Houben from Michigan and Femke de Witt who rowed in the Rutgers ‘B’ crew in The Island Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta this year.
Prediction
GB will start as favourites and I think they will succeed in retaining their title. I’m picking the USA to take another silver, with the bronze going to the experienced French crew.
