Rowers to watch: 2023 European Rowing Under 19 Championships

It’s time for the youngsters to shine. The 2023 European Rowing Under 19 Championships in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France, will welcome rowers from 26 European member federations.

Many of these athletes will compete internationally for the first time and will be hoping to get some proper racing experience – with their views set on the World Rowing Under 19 Championships later this season on the Olympic course in Paris. Here are the rowers to watch racing 20 to 21 May.

The men’s single sculls event does feature some of the 2022 competitors, mixed with the next generation of Under 19 rowers. It is worth keeping an eye out for Peter Strecansky of Slovakia though, who finished third at last year’s World Rowing Under 19 Championships in Varese. He just competed at his first senior event in Zagreb where he reached the A-Final. The women’s single sculls has thirteen entries, and the name to watch is surely Aurora Spirito of Italy, who won a silver medal at the World Under 19 Championships last year on home waters.

The men’s and women’s double sculls often attract large entries and this year is no exception. The men’s double sculls is a packed field and the favourites must be Greece’s Dimitrios Papazoglou and Antonios Ntikos, with the former finishing third at the World Rowing Under 19 Championships in 2022. Chasing them will be Josef Marvucic and Maichol Brambilla of Italy, and Nicolas Chambers and Ivo Loepfe of Swtzerland, both having already raced at the World Championships last year. The women’s double sculls sees several of the competitors from the 2022 European Rowing Under 19 Championships returning, with gold medallist Sofia Dalidou of Greece looking to defend her position.

Romania often dominates the men’s and women’s pair, especially at the Under 19 and Under 23 level. This time, the new crew of Iulica Maria Ursu and Shara-Stefania Gusa will have to face Leontine Fonquet and Lea Herscovici of France, bronze medallists at the World Rowing Under 19 Championships in 2022. The men’s pair will also see a new crew for Romania battle against Greece, Italy and Turkiye, all with athletes having already raced at the Worlds last year.

Moving on to the bigger boats; The men’s quadruple sculls has 13 entries, making it a packed field. Many crews have athletes that competed at the World and European Rowing Under 19 Championships in 2022, where the Czech Republic picked up gold medals at both events. They are certainly the crew to watch in Brive. The women’s quadruple sculls is going to be tight, with crews from Greece, Italy, Czech Republic and France all looking to get on the podium. Keep an eye too on Poland who always perform well in that boat class.

The women’s four has nine entries and Italy is certainly the favorite with two World Rowing Under 19 champions from 2022 in that boat class returning and being teamed up with two silver medalists from the Quad last year. There are also nine entries in the men’s four and Romania and Italy are definitely in the running for a medal. The coxed fours have four entries each, and Romania is looking strong on both the men and women’s side.

Rounding it out are the eights. The men’s eight has five entries, including Romania who won a gold medal at the last European Rowing Under 19 Championships. Keep an eye too on Serbia who has entered a very experienced young crew and has got some great results in sweep boats in 2022 – including a gold medal in the Under 19 men’s pair. In the women’s eight, the odds are in Italy’s favour. Three athletes picked up silver at the world-level event last year and return with great ambitions.

In 2008, the European Rowing Junior Championships were introduced. The age category was changed from Junior to Under 19 at the end of 2020, and came into effect at the end of 2021.