Image Credit: World Rowing
Entries: 9
Laura Tiefenthaler of Austria won gold in Plovdiv. She was tenth in the lightweight women’s double in Paris and also raced at the 2024 World Rowing Championships, finishing sixth in the LW1X. She is a former U23 world medallist and has a World Rowing Cup medal from 2021.
One of the favourites for gold, and the most experienced athlete in the field, is Mexico’s Kenia Lechuga Alanis. The 31-year-old has raced the single at the last three Olympic Games with a best result of 12th in Rio. In the lightweight single, she has several World Rowing Cup medals. In 2023, she won silver at the World Rowing Championships (the first ever World Rowing Championship medal for a female Mexican athlete).
Runner-up to Tiefenthaler at the European Rowing Championships was Maia Emilie Lund of Norway. She raced at the 2024 World Rowing Championships, where she placed tenth, one place better than she achieved at the 2023 World Rowing Championships. Her best result before Plovdiv was a silver medal at the opening World Rowing Cup of 2024.
Natalie Akofa Weber won silver in the lightweight quad 2021 and, in 2023, was tenth in the lightweight single. On both of those occasions, she was competing for Germany; however, for 2025, she races for Ghana and could well become that nation’s first-ever World Rowing A-Finalist.
Italy’s Melissa Schincariol is the youngest competitor in the field at just 18. She’s the reigning U19 women’s quad world champion, and Varese marks her senior international debut.
Ines Oliveira of Portugal narrowly missed qualification for the Paris Olympic Games after finishing fourth in the lightweight double at the Final Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta. She finished 2024 with an 18th-place finish in the lightweight single at the World Rowing Championships.
Hong Kong’s Wing Wun Leung also missed Olympic qualification at the Final Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta, bowing out at the repechage stage in the women’s double. Like Oliveira, she ended the 2024 season at the World Rowing Championships, finishing one place ahead of the Portuguese in the lightweight single.
Uzbekistan’s Malika Tagmatova is the third athlete competing this weekend who missed out on Olympic qualification at the FOQR. Her ambitions ended at the repechage stage of the lightweight double.
The final athlete competing is Nicole Yarzon of Uruguay. She’s made one previous appearance at a World Rowing Cup, finishing 12th in the lightweight single at the second World Rowing Cup last season. She has also raced at the last three U23 World Rowing Championships, recording her best result last season with an eighth in the lightweight single.
Prediction
Mexico in gold, ahead of Austria in silver, and Norway in bronze.
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