Rowers to watch – 2021 World Rowing Junior Championships

After two long years of waiting, the World Rowing Junior Championships is about it make its return to the international calendar and Plovdiv, Bulgaria is the venue. Many of the athletes who competed back in 2019 have since moved up to the under-23 level. There are some who missed out on competing as juniors because of the cancellation of 2020. There is still a small handful who were young enough in 2019 that they will return to try their chances.

Here are some of the names to watch out for.

The men’s and women’s single sculls are often the opportunity for young, talented athletes to shine. The junior men’s single sculls sees an entirely new field lining up, but with 21 athletes taking to the water, it will certainly be competitive. All eyes will be on the young indoor rowing machine talent Isaiah Harrison of the United States. Harrison has set almost all of the junior rowing records on the Concept2. He will have to contend with some European countries that typically field strong junior rowers like Italy, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

In the junior women’s single sculls there are a few returning athletes such as Switzerland’s Aurelia-Maxima Janzen who finished second at the under-23 championships just a few weeks ago. Watch out too for Greece’s Evangelia Fragkou who finished third in the women’s double sculls at the same event. And keep an eye on the return of Italy’s Giulia Clerici – she competed in both the women’s quadruple sculls and women’s eight for Italy back in 2019.

The junior women’s double sculls received the highest entry with 23 crews competing. The Dutch duo of Lotta van Westreenen and Phaedra van der Molen already had a chance to compete earlier this year when they finished tenth in the women’s quad at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships. They are back for the junior event, hoping to improve on that position. It is an international debut for the rest of the field, but the Dutch will have to watch out for some historically quick crews such as Lithuania, Germany and Ireland.

The junior men’s double sculls has 19 entries and all athletes will be making their international debut. In the absence of defending champions from China, silver-medallist Germany – Finn Staeblein and Adrian Groth – might just slot into the top spot. They will have to watch out for strong performances from Italy and France. Keep an eye too on some of the crews from outside of Europe such as South Africa and Thailand.

In the junior women’s coxed four, this race may favour Ukraine. They come to the event with two of the five athletes that finished fourth back in 2019 and who recently finished sixth at the under-23 championships. And keep an eye too on Italy in the junior men’s coxed four. They have one returning athlete from the 2019 event and have a pedigree in this boat class.

The event will culminate with the eights. The junior men’s eight has nine entries and a fresh field of young sweep rowers. In 2019 it was Germany, United States and Great Britain who found a spot on the podium. Great Britain has not entered this year’s event, leaving the United States and Germany to battle it out. Watch out too for Hungary – they have been working their way up the standings in the last few years.

The junior women’s eight will feature five entries and does not include the defending champions from China. In 2019, the three crews behind China were Germany, Italy and the United States. All three have entered again and will be looking to find the podium. The United States crew includes two athletes that were part of their 2019 effort. Keep an eye too on Romania. Coxswain Victoria-Stefania Petreanu has years of experience, including gold in the coxed four from the under-23 championships just a few weeks ago.