Image Credit: World Rowing
Entries: 12
World Rowing Cup I Winner: Italy
The Lucerne World Rowing Cup will be an opportunity for new countries to feature in the A-final and the podium. With Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain not racing, fully half of the A-finalist crews from Europeans and the Varese World Rowing Cup will be absent.
Great Britain enter as the top crew, with a stellar performance to take gold at the European Rowing Championships (and set a new European Best Time along the way). They raced with a substitute for Callum Dixon at the Varese World Rowing Cup, but even with the disruption, they snagged a bronze medal. Dixon and Matthew Haywood placed fourth at the Paris Olympic Games as well as the 2023 World Rowing Championships. Rory Harris previously won a bronze in the double at the 2021 World Rowing Cup III, and Cedol Dafydd will represent GBR for only the third time in Varese. Back at full strength, they will be targeting another gold medal.
Poland got the better of Great Britain in Varese, with three of the current crew. Dominik Czaja, Mateusz Biskup, and Miroslaw Zietarski won Olympic bronze in Paris as well as seven championship medals together in the Paris cycle. Biskup and Zietarski raced the double at Europeans this year, winning gold, while only Czaja was in the bronze-medallist quad. The new face in the crew is Cezary Litka, a 2024 World U23 champion in this event with a wealth of international sculling experience. It should be a very exciting battle for gold with Great Britain.
The Germans are the only other competing nation to make an A-Final this year, placing fifth at Europeans. However, they only managed tenth at the Varese World Cup. Tom Graenitz and Oliver Holtz won a U23 World silver medal in 2022 and placed fourth in 2024. Felix Heinrich was in the underdog GER2 crew that won bronze at 2024 World Cup III while GER1 placed fifth…he also has a U23 World title in this event from 2023. Ole Hohensee, the 19-year-old Junior World bronze medallist from 2024, returns to the crew after missing Varese. This young crew may have a shot at a podium finish in Lucerne if they can bounce back.
China finished seventh in Varese, and were only 3.5 seconds behind the official Great Britain lineup in the heat. They should be able to comfortably make the A Final in Lucerne, and may also have a shot at a podium finish. Xiaolong Mu, Baishun Liu and Quan Zhang have raced together since the 2024 World Cup 3, where they placed ninth. Liu competed the 2022 season in a double, and Zhang is the most experienced of the crew – he has been racing internationally since 2010 and last year became an Olympian placing seventh. In contrast, Wangjia Wangjia made his international debut in Varese.
Australia were pretty far off the pace in the heats in Varese, but had a competitive time in the B Final, placing ninth. Alexander Rossi, Nicolas Blackman and Johnson Daubney won U23 World bronze in the quad in 2023, and Rossi went on to stroke the senior Aussie quad for the 2024 season. Blackman raced U23s again, winning a silver in the double. Jackson Free made his international debut in Varese.
The Swiss are fielding a quad for the first time this season in Varese, but these athletes have experience together. The entire crew is reunited from racing 2023 U23 Worlds together, placing seventh, and Nicolas Berger, Shamall Suero Santana, and Gian Luca Egli teamed up again in 2024 to place eighth. Donat Vonder Muehll switched to sweep for 2024 and placed seventh in the U23 four. This crew should be a little slower than Australia on paper, but the Swiss men’s team is on fire this year and it will be exciting to see what they can accomplish.
Another new combination is the USA. Jacob Plihal, who finished thirteenth in Paris in the single, is fresh off a very exciting performance in Varese culminating in a silver medal in the single. He has teamed up with the twelfth place double, Cedar Cunningham (who made his international debut in Varese) and Andrew Leroux (who previously raced at a 2023 World Cup). Christopher Carlson is the most decorated of the crew but in the sweep discipline – he won Olympic bronze in Paris in the eight and two World Cup medals in 2022/2023 in the four. These are strong athletes, but with limited training time it’s possible the quad will not be greater than the sum of its parts just yet.
The remaining entries placed eighth through twelfth at Europeans, with minor changes to crew lineups (1-2 athletes). Croatia was the closest to Great Britain with a 7 second gap, and have replaced their stroke seat. Boris Cesarec, former lightweight and single sculler, joins the crew in the stroke seat. Incredibly experienced David Sain, Olympic silver medallist from London 2012 who has been racing internationally for nineteen years, bows the boat. Goran Mahmutovic and Karlo Borkovic are Junior and U23 internationals who have a handful of World Cup starts as well.
Czechia, Romania, Ireland, and Estonia round out the crews and will likely be contesting the B Final again.
Prediction: Great Britain with gold just ahead of Poland, and China to win bronze over Germany.
