Tuesday debrief: Poznan provides perfect Paris preparation

The 2024 World Rowing Cup series is over. After three well-attended regattas in Varese, Lucerne and Poznan, the rowing world turns its attention to the three major international flatwater events to come this year: the combined under-19, under-23 and senior World Rowing Championships in Canada in August; and the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

So with no further ado, let’s take a look at what Poznan told us about the season so far and with a view on what’s to come. Here’s the debrief.

 When the wind turns

Lake Malta in Poznan is known for its fast conditions – after all, this is a lake where any number of world best times and World Rowing Cup best times have been set. And during the training days before the regatta, there were signs that the famous Poznan tailwind could emerge.

But the weather gods had other ideas. On Friday and Saturday, the wind turned and there was a gusty, tricky headwind down the course. It was not too problematic, but did result in slow times for heats, repechages and semifinals. For Sunday’s racing the wind dropped off.

Although the racing crews would probably have preferred a tailwind, most took the view that actually tricky headwind conditions were just the thing to prepare for the Stade Nautique de Vaires-sur-Marne, the Olympic and Paralympic venue, which has been known to be a touch blustery.

“Word out is that Paris will probably be more challenging conditions than this, so it’s just good to test yourself out there and see how you feel in this sort of weather,” pointed out Kiwi single sculler Tom Mackintosh.

Pritchard shakes up the form book

We’re used to writing about British wins in Paralympic boat classes, but it’s been a while since a British sculler won on the international stage. Proud Welshman Benjamin Pritchard has been racing the PR1 men’s single sculls for five years now, and while he’s never come worse than fifth, his best result was silver at 2022 World Rowing Cup II, behind Australia’s Erik Horrie.

He was third, too, in Friday’s preliminary race, after leading early on. But Pritchard was hiding something – and in the final he executed his best race yet, surprising Horrie and world silver medallist Giacomo Perini off the blocks and stretching out for a win of over six seconds.

Although world and Paralympic champion Roman Polianskyi was missing from Poznan, the result means that the four leading contenders for gold in Paris – Polianskyi, Perini, Pritchard and Horrie – have now all won at least one race in the last couple of years, and anything could happen in September.

 Counting the points

By the end of racing on Sunday the Dutch team managers had collected a nice little pile of World Rowing Cup trophies, for their five individual event wins as well as the overall prize. But before then, there was much maths being done to work out whether it would be the Netherlands or Great Britain who would end up on top, and plenty of friendly banter between the teams about the eventual outcome.

There is no doubt that the overall Dutch performance across the three World Rowing Cups was extremely impressive. They were dominant in men’s sculling, and also won the individual trophies for the women’s pair and women’s single sculls.

And the Dutch development crews which raced in Poznan also showed plenty of promise for the next Olympiad, with a bronze medal in the women’s eight and strong performances in other events, notably the women’s pair and men’s quadruple sculls. The future could well be orange.

Project Los Angeles

Speaking of development squads, that was the theme not just for the Netherlands but also Great Britain and Romania, and, to a lesser extent, other nations. The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games might feel like a long way away right now, but they will be upon us sooner than we might think.

Some of the development crews racing are likely to appear again in the 2024 World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Canada this summer. Both Romania and Ukraine 2 in the men’s eights are young enough to compete there, and the coxes of both Romania’s men’s and women’s eights in Poznan are even young enough for the 2024 World Rowing Under 19 Championships at just 15 years old.

Germany 2 in the men’s quadruple sculls contains two members of last year’s under-23 world champion crew, and they shocked their older teammates (who have qualified for the Olympics) by soundly defeating them twice and winning bronze in Poznan. That could make for an awkward vibe in the Finger household; older brother Anton was bow in Germany 1, with Alexander in Germany 2.

Meanwhile Great Britain 1 held up that nation’s tradition in the men’s four by rowing down Switzerland for bronze, matching their world champion counterparts who collected the same medal at World Rowing Cup II in Lucerne.

Quotes of the regatta

Rowers are wonderfully eloquent people, and here are some of our favourite quotes of the regatta.

• “It’s always good to beat a European crew as an outsider, us and the Kiwis love taking down any European countries we can” – Amanda Bateman of Australia after winning the women’s double sculls.
• “We’ve been on an intensive training block, working really hard. We haven’t missed a session – you can’t when you’ve got Lauren as the boss – we enjoy it and that’s what we do together” – Gregg Stevenson knows who’s in charge in his PR2 mixed double sculls combination – partner Lauren Rowles.
• “It feels unusual, but I’m quite stoked to be winning the gold” – Tara Rigney adapts to not having her usual rival Karolien Florijn on the women’s single sculls podium.
• “This is our first international win this year, so it’s good. Strange, but good” – also finding life unusual, Valent Sinkovic of Croatia after the men’s pairs heats. The Olympic champions went on to win silver.
• “A bit of vulgar language that I can’t say right now” – New Zealand’s Ollie Maclean declines to comment on the calls made in the men’s fours after Australia blasted off the start.

On to Paris

A lot of competitors in Poznan were looking ahead to Paris and their hopes of winning Olympic or Paralympic gold, or even just doing their best race possible on the biggest stage. While many favourites were absent, the regatta does give some guide to the possible form in a few weeks’ time.

Expect Australia and New Zealand to show up in force – the two Antipodean teams are looking fast, and confident with it. Both nations’ top crews appear to have already gained speed since arriving in Europe for World Rowing Cup II.

The World Rowing Cup series also suggests that many title defences will be particularly challenging this time around. There are not many reigning champions who have consistently managed to perform to the top level throughout the last years, and the stage is now set for one of the most exciting and tightly contested Games possible.

See you there.