Holders: N. van Sprang & G. Krommenhoek, Hollandia Roeiclub, Netherlands
Entries: 14 (To be reduced to 10 by Qualifying races)
The favourites coming into Henley will most likely be Jaime Canalejo Pazos and Javier Garcia Ordonez (Team Espana, Spain). They have been racing together as a coxless pair since 2018 and made the A-final at the Tokyo Olympic Games. They stepped on in the 2022 season, winning silver at the World Rowing Championships (Spain’s first men’s pair World Rowing Championship medal since 1985). They went on to win European bronze in 2023 and made the A-final in Paris. They raced at the European Rowing Championships in Plovdiv this season, winning bronze. Spain has never won The Silver Goblets and Nickalls’ Challenge Cup, but Canalejo Pazos and Ordonez stand a very good chance of rectifying that.
The Netherlands are the defending champions in this event (a small consolation for Nikki Van Sprang and Guillaume Krommenhoek after they missed out on Olympic qualification by the smallest of margins). For this year’s regatta, they have two pairs hoping to retain the title for the men in orange. The top pair will be the Rienks brothers, Ralf and Rik (Hollandia Roeiclub, Netherlands). Rik is the elder brother, and he was in the coxless four that finished seventh at the Paris Olympic Games; younger brother Ralf was part of the silver medal-winning Olympic men’s eight in Paris. They raced together in the coxless four in 2022 and 2023, winning World Rowing Championship bronze in 2022 and placing fourth in 2023.
The second Netherlands pair, also racing as Hollandia Roeiclub, is Vosse Meijssen and Thijs Ruiken. They are better known as scullers, both competing in sculling events at the Varese World Rowing Cup. Meijssen was in the quad that finished fourth, and Ruiken was ninth in the double.
Racing as Rowing South Africa is the pairing of Damien Bonage-Koen and Chris Baxter. They started rowing together on the South African U23 team, placing fifth in the coxed four back in 2019. They moved up to the senior team together, racing in the coxless four at the 2022 World Rowing Championships, placing 11th. In 2023, Baxter moved into the pair, making the A-final at the 2023 World Rowing Championships, and then in Paris, he and partner John Smith finished ninth. Bonage-Koen and Baxter reunite in Lucerne for the second World Rowing Cup before tackling The Silver Goblets and Nickalls’ Challenge Cup.
A German pair has not won this event since the days of East Germany, with Schreider & Schmelda of SC Dynamo winning back in 1970. The pair entered this year is Leonard Brahms and Frederik Bauer (Ruderverein Leer von 1903 e.V and Bonner Ruder-Gesellschaft e.V, Germany). Bauer was a member of the German eight that finished fourth at the Paris Olympic Games, and Brahms raced on the German U23 team in 2023, finishing sixth in the coxed four. They are both students at the University of California, Berkeley. Bauer was in the Varsity eight that won the B-final at the IRA National Championship, and Brahms raced in the 2V that finished third in the Grand Final.
One of the curiosities about Henley Royal Regatta is seeing non-American athletes racing for their US University. One such boat is that of Princeton University with two Brits onboard, Marcus Chute and Theo Bell. They were both members of the Princeton Varsity crew that finished fourth at the IRA National Championship. Chute, from Windsor Boys School, has Henley Royal Regatta wins in The Fawley Challenge Cup and The Ladies’ Challenge Plate, was U19 European champion in 2022 and was in the GB U23 quad that finished fourth at the 2023 World Rowing Championships. Bell, from Eton, was also part of The Ladies’ Challenge Plate-winning crew in 2024. He is a two-time U23 world champion, winning the eights title in 2022 (a remarkable achievement considering he was still at school then) and then winning the coxless four in 2023. Despite the strong pedigree, the Stewards have asked Chute and Bell to race qualifiers on Friday.
Australia’s current men’s pair are Mitch Salisbury and Nicholas Smith (Rowing Australia, Australia). They were both members of the Australian coxless four that won silver at the U23 World Rowing Championships in 2023. They made their senior debuts this season, finishing in 11th at the Varese World Rowing Cup.
Although not part of the Rowing Australia team, Australia will field a secondary pairing of Rohan Lavery and Patrick Holt (Melbourne University and University of Technology, Sydney, Australia). They have both won bronze medals as part of the Australian men’s eight, Lavery in 2022 and Holt in 2023. In 2024, they raced together as a pair during the World Rowing Cup series, finishing eighth at World Rowing Cup II and sixth at World Rowing Cup III. The Stewards have pre-qualified both these boats, and it would be fun if the draw saw them race each other. Perhaps the Melbourne/Sydney duo will hope to get one over the incumbent national team pair.
The final overseas pair are Ben Nadjibi and Noah Hosseini, the youngsters racing as Marin Rowing Association, USA. They finished first in the coxless four at the recent USRowing Youth National Championships and are in Henley as the spares for Marin’s Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup boys’ eight.
The leading British pair (who are actually racing for a British club – unlike the Princeton Brits) is Toby Lassen and Felix Rawlinson (Taurus Boat Club and Oxford University). They both made their senior debuts at the Varese World Rowing Cup, where they finished 13th. They raced together at the 2023 U23 World Rowing Championships, winning gold in the eight. Lassen retained that title in 2024. Their main target for this season is the FISU Championships and, somewhat surprisingly (for a pair who have senior international representative honours), they are being asked by the Stewards to qualify.
Of the remaining domestic pairs, the leading contenders will be Ed Davis and Charles Gosling (Upper Thames Rowing Club and Thames Rowing Club). They won championship pairs at Marlow Regatta last weekend. Third at Marlow were the Upper Thames Rowing Club pair of Stephen Griffiths and Dale Buckett, and one place behind them were the Cambridge alumni crew (racing as Crabtree Boat Club) of Anthony Lester and Florian Herbst. All three of these boats are among the seven pairs required to qualify for three spots.
Prediction
So, who is my money on to take the win? It is hard to see anyone getting the better of the Spanish and, depending on the draw, I have them facing the Rienks brothers in the final.
