Rowers to Watch at the 2023 World Rowing Under 19 Championships in Paris

This week, France will welcome the best U19 rowers from around the world as Vaires-sur-Marne gets tested out ahead of hosting the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Rowing Regatta. With racing at this year’s World Rowing Under 19 Championships scheduled to begin on Wednesday afternoon, we’ve had a scan through the entries and here are our ones to watch…

U19 Women’s Coxed Four (JW4+)

Just three boats will contest this boat class. Although the USA are defending champions, and have one returning crew member, Ella Wheeler, Italy perhaps come in as favourites. All of the Italian boat won medals in sweep boats at the European Rowing U19 Championships earlier this year, many winning two medals. Cox Margherita Fanchi, who is just 15 years old, won silver in this boat as last year’s World Rowing U19 Championships so will certainly be hoping to at least match that success.

U19 Men’s Coxed Four (JM4+) 

Australia will travel to France to defend their title in the men’s coxed four, and their crew this year has two returners from last year. One of those returners is Ryder Taylor, who is the youngest competitor at these Championships having only turned 14 this year. However, Taylor’s crew is likely to face fierce competition. Turkiye will send the exact same crew that claimed gold in this boat at the European U19s earlier this year, and the crew from Italy all picked up medals in various sweep boat classes at the Europeans too. South Africa was fourth in this boat class at last year’s World U19s and will be keen to make it on to the podium this year.

U19 Women’s Single Sculls (JW1x) 

This is the biggest boat class of the Championships with 28 entries and will require several rounds of racing.  2022 silver medallist Aurora Spirito of Italy is undoubtedly going to be coming to France looking to improve on her silver medal from last year. She has started the 2023 season well having already won gold in this boat class at the European U19 Championships. While Spirito is one the favourites, she’ll need to watch out for the Hungarian sculler, Luca Padar, who finished just behind her at the Europeans, and also Terezie Janstova of Czechia, who took bronze on that occasion. Ireland’s Holly Davis is no stranger to international racing, having been in the final of the double sculls at the last two World Rowing U19 Championships, including winning a bronze in 2021. It will be interesting to see what she can do in the single. The sculler from Moldova is just fourteen years old so we hope that Diana Plotean has a long and exciting career ahead of her!

U19 Men’s Single Sculls (JM1x)

With 26 nations represented, the single sculls is the biggest men’s boat class of the championships. The only returning medallist from last year’s World U19s is Peter Strecanksky of Slovakia, who will undoubtedly be keen to improve on his bronze. Peter picked up bronze again at the European U19s earlier this year, where he raced against Italy’s Marco Selva, who claimed the gold. Selva won bronze in the double scull at last year’s World U19s and will see what he can do in the single this year. Keep an eye too on Halil Kaan Koroglu of Turkiye. He has also moved from the double last year, in which he won World U19 silver, into the single this season, and took silver at the Europeans. Don’t write-off Portugal’s Diogo Goncalves either, who just missed out on the podium at the European U19s a few months ago.

U19 Women’s Pair (JW2-)

The women’s pair entry list doesn’t include any returning medallists from last year’s championships, so it’s all to play for. Greece took gold last year, but has a new line-up this year. The Greek duo won bronze in the women’s four at the European U19s earlier this season. At that same event, France’s Lea Herscovici and Leontine Fouquet won gold in the women’s pair, and they will undoubtedly want to repeat that success at the World U19s. They will once again come up against the Spanish duo of Haizea Gozategi Urbieta and June Balda Berra, who took bronze at the Europeans. Keep an eye too on the duo from Australia; Katie Jackson and Lucy Richardson raced together in the eight last year so we’re excited to see what they can do together in the pair.

U19 Men’s Pair (JM2-)

This boat class has 19 entries, and is absolutely stacked with talent. The gold and silver medallists from the European U19s, Turkiye and France, will see what they can do on the world stage – the boat from Turkiye is the same crew that came fourth at last year’s World U19s. Six other boats from the Europeans will come to France unchanged and keen to improve on their previous performance. One crew that wasn’t at the Europeans but will be worth keeping an eye on is the boat from Germany. Tobias Strangemann and Johannes Benien won gold in the eight at last year’s World U19s so it will be interesting to see what they can do in the smaller boat.

U19 Women’s Double Sculls (JW2x)

Greek sculler Sofia Dalidou will be looking to defend her title in this boat class, with new partner Gavriela Lioliou. However, the Italian duo of Giorgia Gregorutti and Melissa Schincariol got the better of them earlier this year at the Europeans, so it will be exciting to see if they can reverse the result. They’ll need to watch out for the boats from Germany and Great Britain, both of which contain medallists from the women’s quad at last year’s World U19s.

U19 Men’s Double Sculls (JM2x)

This will be another fiercely competitive boat class with several previous World and European medallists among the 25 entries. Italy perhaps come in as one of the favourites; Josef Giorgio Marvucic and Maichol Brambmilla having already claimed gold this season at the European U19s. Brambilla took silver in the quad at last year’s World U19s. Silver at the Europeans went to Nikolaos Cholopoulos and Dimitrios Papazoglou. This duo raced together at the World Rowing U23 Championships just a couple of weeks ago in Plovdiv, and won bronze together in the quad at last year’s World Rowing U19s so have spent a lot of time racing together. Switzerland took bronze at the European U19s and Nicolas Chambers and Ivo Loepfe will be hoping to be on the podium again in France.

U19 Women’s Four (JW4-)

Italy come into this event as reigning World U19 champions, and the boat has two returners and also Francesca Rubeo, who won silver in the women’s double last year. Two of the crew took gold in the boat class at the European U19 Championships earlier this year. Romania took silver last year, and their crew also has two returners, along with a gold medallist from the quad last year, so could be equally as strong. Don’t ignore the British crew either, which has two silver medallists from their U19 eight last year.

U19 Men’s Four (JM4-)

Great Britain are defending champions in this boat class and while they don’t have any returners from that crew, they do have Max Peel on board, who won silver in the eight at last year’s World U19s. The crew from Italy will be worth keeping an eye on. Two of the boat won gold in this boat class at the European U19s earlier this season, while the other two claimed bronze in the pair at that event. Keep an eye too on Romania, they finished in silver medal position in this boat class at the Europeans. Don’t ignore Spain either who narrowly missed out on the podium in this boat class at the Europeans and, with an unchanged line-up, will hope to improve their performance and pick up a medal in France.

U19 Women’s Quadruple Sculls (JW4x)

All three medal-winning boats from the European U19s will travel to France unchanged; Italy, Poland, and Czechia. But, how will they perform when the rest of the World turns up? Great Britain won silver in this boat class last year but has no returners from that crew and they didn’t race a women’s quad at the European U19s. Meanwhile, the USA, also with a fresh line-up, will be keen to improve on their fourth place from last year, and what can Canada do, too? This one will be an interesting boat class to watch unfold.

U19 Men’s Quadruple Sculls (JM4x)

Czechia are defending champions and, as the sole returner from last year’s crew, Tomas Panchartek will be keen to be on top of the podium again this year. Three of the crew took bronze at the Europeans earlier this season, but they will once again come up against the crews that took silver and gold on that occasion. Bulgaria were the silver medallists at the Europeans and, for two off the athletes, it was a massive step on from 12^thplace in this boat class at last year’s World Rowing U19s. Poland claimed gold at the Europeans and will be eager to repeat that success on the World stage. However, there are several non-European nations who will also be looking to get on the podium, so nothing is certain!

U19 Women’s Eight (JW8+)

Seven boats will contest the women’s eight and there’s plenty of pedigree in the line-up. Six of the Romanian crew won gold in the European U19 Championships earlier this year, with several of the crew also having medals at last year’s World Rowing U19 Championships. However, the silver medallists from this year’s European Juniors, Czechia, will travel to France with the exact same crew and be looking for revenge. The USA won this boat class last year and this year’s crew includes Sofia Simone who will be eager to claim her third consecutive gold in this boat class. The American crew will be steered by Ella Casano who coxed the USA coxed four to U19 gold last year so has plenty of experience. It is bound to be a competitive boat class!

U19 Men’s Eight (JM8+)

Also with seven entries, the men’s eight is another stacked field. Czechia will be looking to repeat their success from the European U19 Championships with just one change to the crew that raced earlier this year, while Romania, who took silver at the Europeans, with a fair amount of doubling up, might be hoping that by focusing solely on the eight, the rowers can achieve gold this time around. Germany are defending U19 Champions in this boat class and the crew contains one returner from 2022, Moritz Mueller. The boat will be coxed by Sadeepa Jogoda, who was in Germany’s coxed four last year.

 

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