Image Credit: World Rowing
Entries: 8
Great Britian are the reigning world, Olympic and now European champions, but unfortunately, illness and injury have forced their withdrawal from Varese.
Chasing the British in Plovdiv was Germany. Their crew for Varese includes one member of the crew that won bronze in Paris, Pia Greiten. She’s joined by Sarah Wibberenz, Frauke Hundeling and Lisa Gutfleisch. These latter three were part of the quad that won the B-Final in 2023, and last season, Greiten and Gutfleisch picked up a European bronze in the quad.
The Netherlands finished in bronze in Plovdiv, but they make one change to that crew with Tessa Dullemans replacing Lisanne Van Der Lelij. Dullemans won gold in the double in Plovdiv and was part of the quad that won two world and one Olympic silver medal. She joins Lisa Bruijnincx and Willemijn Mulder, both U23 world champions in the quad in 2022, and Margot Leeuwenburgh, eighth in the quad at last season’s European Rowing Championships.
China has two quads racing in Varese but they are mostly an unknown quantity. Of the eight athletes, only Wanning Ren (stroke of the CHN2 boat) has any World Rowing pedigree, racing in the eight that finished seventh in 2023. She’s joined in the CHN2 boat by Guoting Zhang, Yu Shi and Xinting Kang. CHN2 is the youngest crew in the entire regatta, with an average of just 19, with all four athletes making their international debuts. In the stroke seat is 17-year-old Yuling Feng with fellow teenagers Xiaoling Sun and Yiting Chen in the bows. The three-seat is occupied by 20-year-old Yaxin Guo.
Italy also has two quads racing. ITA1 has an average age of just 21 and includes 18-year-old Beatrice Ravini Perelli in the three-seat; she’s the reigning U19 women’s quad world champion and was also in the U23 edition that finished fourth at the European Rowing Championships last year. The bow pair of Irene Gatiglia and Susanna Pedrola were both in the U23 quad that made the A-final at the U23 World Rowing Championships. The crew is stroked by the oldest member, 23-year-old Elena Sali. She is an U23 gold medallist in the lightweight quad from 2021 and the lightweight quad in 2022. In 2023, she won the European U23 lightweight double title and then in 2024, won silver in the lightweight double at the U23 World Rowing Championships.
The experienced Stefania Buttignon anchors ITA2 from the two-seat. She’s a rare athlete who competed at both lightweight and openweight during the same season. In 2024, she won bronze in the lightweight double at the opening World Rowing Cup and then placed seventh in the quad at the European Rowing Championships. In 2022, she placed sixth in the lightweight single at the World Rowing Championships and won the B-final in the double in 2023. She’s joined in Varese by three young athletes, teenagers Giulia Orefice and Aurora Spirito and 21-year-old Alice Gnatta. Orefice is the reigning U19 world champion in the coxed four and Spirito placed sixth in the quad at the 2024 U23 World Rowing Championships. Gnatta made her senior debut in 2023, winning bronze in the eight at the European Rowing Championships and taking sixth at the World Rowing Championships. She was also in the eight that won European bronze in 2024 and made the A-final at the Paris Olympic Games.
The final crew in the event is Czechia. They are unchanged from the lineup that finished ninth in Plovdiv, with one of the crew that finished eighth in the double in Paris, Lenka Luksova, along with Marketa Nedelova and Michala Pospisilova, who were part of the quad that finished 11th at the 2024 European Rowing Championships. Completing the set will be 20-year-old Terezie Janstova, who was seventh in the quad at the 2024 U23 World Rowing Championships.
Prediction
Germany in gold, the Netherlands in silver, and Italy in bronze.
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