Rowers to Watch at the 2023 World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Plovdiv

The best Under 23 rowers from around the world will descend on Plovdiv, Bulgaria this week to take part in the 2023 World Rowing Under 23 Championships. Ahead of the Championships, we have analysed the entries to give you our thoughts on which boats to keep an eye on across the 22 boat classes.

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Under 23 Women’s Coxed Four (BW4+)

Five nations will go head-to-head in the women’s coxed four. Australia are defending champions in this boat class and cox Nicholas Dunlop will return, hoping to steer them to victory again this year. Australia is likely to face a challenge from Germany, the crew containing two bronze medallists from the eight at last year’s World Rowing U23 Championships. Don’t write-off the United States either, who have two former World Under 19 Champions on board.

Under 23 Men’s Coxed Four (BM4+)

Great Britain are the reigning champions in this boat class, and while the crew doesn’t contain any returners from last year’s crew, it does include Zachary Day, who took silver in the U19 men’s eight last year. The Italian boat is one to keep an eye on. Filippo Wiesenfield coxed Italy to a bronze medal in this boat class last year; can his crew this year do better than that? Keep an eye too on Romania – they field a fairly young crew, particularly 14-year-old cox Maria-Antonia Iancu, but the crew doesn’t lack international experience.

Under 23 Lightweight Women’s Single Sculls (BLW1x)

Can Turkey’s Elis Ozbay improve on last year’s silver medal in this boat class? She’ll need to keep an eye on Ilaria Corazza of Italy, who won gold in the lightweight quad at last year’s Senior World Championships, and also Romania’s Mariana-Laura Dumitru, who picked up silver in the lightweight women’s double sculls at World Rowing Cup 3 in Lucerne just a couple of weeks ago.

Under 23 Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls (BLM1x) 

Last year’s U23 silver and bronze medallists will return this year; Switzerland’s Gian Struzina and Canada’s Stephen Harris respectively. They’ll need to look out for competition from Italy’s Giovanni Borgonovo who took gold in the U23 lightweight men’s double sculls last year, and also Chilean Manuel Fernandez Antri, who took bronze in the U23 lightweight men’s pair in 2022, after having won gold in that boat class in 2021. Several of the competitors have competed in the World Rowing Cup series this season so have already shown their form.

Under 23 Lightweight Women’s Pair (BLW2-)

There are only three boats racing for medals in the lightweight women’s pair. Italy is the only boat with any real pedigree; both Serena Mossi and Elisa Grisoni have both raced on the world stage before, Grisoni boasting a gold in the women’s four at last year’s World Rowing U19 Championships.

Under 23 Lightweight Men’s Pair (BLM2-)

Just four boats will contest this boat class with Italy definitely coming in as the clear favourites. Stefano Pinsone and Francesco Bardelli took silver in this boat class at last year’s World Rowing U23 Championships and have since picked up gold at World Rowing Cup II in Varese.

Under 23 Lightweight Women’s Quadruple Sculls (BLW4x)

Can Italy defend their title as World U23 Champions from last year? Maria Sole Perugino will attempt to have a go and while she’ll be the only returner from last year’s crew, two of her crewmates picked up medals in other lightweight boat classes at last year’s World Rowing U23 Championships, so the crew certainly doesn’t lack talent. Germany meanwhile will be keen to improve on their silver medal from last year and Romy Dreher will be returning with three new teammates to challenge Italy. The Netherlands and Turkey complete the line-up in this boat class with the two Turkey scullers doubling-up in the lightweight women’s double sculls.

Under 23 Lightweight Men’s Quadruple Sculls (BLM4x)

Italy are reigning World Rowing U23 Champions in this boat class, but this year’s Italian crew doesn’t contain any returners from that boat. However, Germany won silver and have three returners, and France won bronze and have two returners, so will that experience assist them this year? Don’t ignore the USA either, they just missed out on the podium last year, and three of the crew will return for another attempt this year.

Under 23 Women’s Single Sculls (BW1x)

This boat class has 24 entries, just one fewer than the men’s single sculls. Swiss supreme sculler Aurelia-Maxima Janzen will be hoping to improve on her silver medal from last year. She’s had a successful season so far on the senior circuit, so is certainly in good form. Ireland’s Alison Bergin was also on the podium last year and will be hoping to repeat that success again. But what can Greece’s Evangelia Fragkou do? She won gold in the women’s pair at last year’s U23 Championships and has switched back to sculling this season so it will be fascinating to see how she performs.

Under 23 Men’s Single Sculls (BM1x)

With 25 entries, the men’s single sculls is the biggest boat class of the Championships, and the line-up features some familiar names! Isiah Harrison of the USA took bronze at the 2021 World Rowing Junior Championships and silver at last year’s World Rowing U23 Championships – could this be his year to pick up gold? He finished just ahead of Bulgaria’s Emil Neykov last year, who might be out for revenge. Neykov won gold at the 2021 World U23 Championships so will certainly be looking for a hat-trick of podiums. They’ll both need to keep an eye out for Italy’s Leonardo Tedoli and Germany’s Paul Berghoff who won gold and silver respectively in the quad at last year’s U23s so are certainly strong scullers. And, of course, don’t forget Poland’s Piotr Plominski. The 2021 U23 silver medallist in this boat class has raced at all three of this season’s World Cups so has plenty of international racing experience under his belt.

Under 23 Women’s Pair (BW2-)

Greece absolutely dominated this boat class last year, but have not entered a boat this year. That perhaps creates an opening for the Lithuanian boat – Martyna Kazlauskaite and Makile Karalikaite. The duo were silver medallists last year and will be aiming to step up on the podium again in Plovdiv. Germany will field two of their bronze medal-winning rowers from last year’s U23 women’s eight; Tori Schwerin and Maike Boettcher will look to see what they can do in the smaller boat. They both have plenty of medals to their name already so will be hot contenders.

Under 23 Men’s Pair (BM2-)

It’s a relatively young field among the 17 entries in this boat class, and it’s hard to say there are any stand-out favourites. In the British boat, both rowers are World Rowing U23 Champions from last year, but in different boat classes. Harry Geffen raced in the eight while Miles Beeson raced in the coxless four; it will be interesting to see what they can do in the pair. The Romanian rowers have also switched boats; they both picked up bronze in the four at last year’s World Rowing U19 Championships. At that event, they finished just behind Denmark, and Simon Mikkelsen from the Danish four will join forces with Patrick Klestrup in the men’s pair in Plovdiv.

Under 23 Women’s Double Sculls (BW2x)

The 2022 World Rowing U23 Champions from Romania will be coming to Plovdiv to defend their title! Andrada-Maria Morosanu and Iulia-Liliana Balauca will join forces again with the hope of repeating last year’s success. The bronze medal boat from 2022 will also return unchanged; Great Britain’s Vwaire Obukohwo and Katherine George won at the Henley Women’s Regatta just a few weeks ago so are on form and looking to be on the podium in Plovdiv. Watch out for the young Greek scullers. Sofia Dalidou and Gavriela Lioliou, both only seventeen years old, claimed silver in the double at the European Under 19 Championships earlier this season, so how will they perform at U23 level?

Under 23 Men’s Double Sculls (BM2x) 

This is another field that is absolutely wide open! Ireland are the only returning medallists from last year; Konan Pazzaia and Brian Colsh will return to try and improve on their bronze from last year. Meanwhile, Greece’s Nikolaos Cholopoulos and Dimitrios Papazoglou, who took bronze in the men’s quad at the U19 Championships last year will look to see what they can do at U23 level. Keep an eye too on Germany. Sydney Garbers and Timo Strache are former World Rowing Under 19 Champions in the quadruple scull, so have plenty of pedigree

Under 23 Women’s Four (BW4-) 

The United States absolutely dominated the women’s four at last year’s U23 Championships in Varese and while none of last year’s crew return, the boat does include U23 medallists from last year’s eight and coxed four, so it doesn’t lack talent. The British crew also includes two medallists from last year’s U23 Championships including Lauren Carey, who won silver in this boat class, so will certainly be hoping to go one better this year. Keep an eye too on the boats from France and Italy who have plenty of experienced internationals on board. With 12 entries, this will definitely be an interesting boat class to watch unfold during the Championships.

Under 23 Men’s Four (BM4-)

Great Britain are defending champions in this boat class and, while the boat doesn’t contain any of last year’s crew, it does contain two of their World U23 Champions from the men’s eight last year. The young Danish crew has three rowers who won silver in this boat class at U19 level last year, so they will certainly be a boat to watch out for. Look out too for Romania. This crew raced together at the most recent World Rowing Cup in Lucerne where they finished seventh, and two of the rowers won bronze in the men’s pair at last year’s U23 Championships.

Under 23 Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (BLW2x) 

Elena Sali won U23 gold for Italy on home waters at last year’s World Rowing U23 Championships and will be looking for more success in Plovdiv. With a change of partner, she joins forces with Sara Borghi, who doesn’t lack experience, having won gold in the lightweight women’s quadruple sculls at the same event last year and also picked up a silver in the lightweight women’s double sculls at the 2022 European Rowing U23 Championships. Watch out for Poland; their line-up is unchanged for 2022 and they will want to improve on last year’s bronze medal. And of course, you can’t ignore Greece, the boat containing two now-very-familiar names. Coach Giovanni Postiglione has put last year’s openweight and lightweight single scullers together again, as he did at the senior World Championships last year. Evangelia Anastasiadou won an impressive gold in the lightweight women’s single sculls at the U23 Championships last year – what can she do when she joins forces with Dimitra Eleni Kontou?

Under 23 Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (BLM2x)

Ireland’s Ciaran Purdy took silver in this boat class last year and will return this year with a new partner, Rory O Neill, hoping to go one better. They’ll need to watch out for stiff opposition from Italy’s Nicolo Demiliana and Luca Borgonovo, who won gold in the lightweight quadruple sculls at the World Rowing U23 Championships last year, and have already won gold in that boat class during this year’s World Rowing Cup Season. Keep an eye too on Spain and the Netherlands; both of their boats made the Final last year and return unchanged in Plovdiv.

Under 23 Women’s Quadruple Sculls (BW4x)

Last year, the Netherlands pipped Romania to gold by half a second in this boat class. While the Dutch boat will have just one returner this year (Vera Sneijders), the Romanian crew is completely unchanged and they will undoubtedly be targeting the gold this year. Three of last year’s bronze medallists from Germany will also return as will all four of the fourth-placed crew from Czechia, so it will be interesting to see what has changed in the last year.

Under 23 Men’s Quadruple Sculls (BM4x)

Last year’s gold, silver and bronze medal-winning crews from Italy, Germany and New Zealand respectively each contain just one returner from last year’s World Rowing U23 Championships so the positions are all up for grabs this year. The field is certainly wide open and, with 17 entries, it will be a boat class that’s exciting to watch evolve throughout the Championships.

Under 23 Women’s Eight (BW8+)

The women’s eight has attracted seven entries this year. The United States took gold in 2022 and will be looking to defend their title, their crew contains one returning member, Hannah Heideveld. Great Britain were silver medallists in 2022 and their crew also contains one returner. Meanwhile, 2022 bronze medal winners Germany have four of last year’s crew returning, so will that experience help them to remain on the podium this year, and perhaps improve their position? Keep an eye too on the Romanian crew. Romania have proved they are a force to be reckoned with in women’s sweep, and this crew contains medallists from the World U19 Championships last year.

Under 23 Men’s Eight (BM8+) 

Nine boats will line-up to contest the men’s eight this year. Defending Champions Great Britain will field a crew completely changed from last year while the USA, who took silver last year, will have two returners, and 2022 bronze medallists Australia will boast five returners. The Czechia crew also contain many returners from last year (only two of the rowers weren’t in last year’s crew) and, while they didn’t make the Final in 2022, they did race in the Final at World Rowing Cup II in Varese earlier this season. Don’t write-off Romania either, they could certainly be a crew to keep an eye on in this boat class.