From the Paris 2024 Olympic Games to St Catharines

While for some, the combined World Rowing Championships in St Catharines, Canada, may be their international debut, for others, their most recent was the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. In St Catharines, there will be no fewer than 34 Paris Olympians racing, including five medallists.

Ionela Cozmiuc, Romania

Coming straight to Canada following a silver medal in the lightweight double in Paris, Ionela has already announced, following her final in Paris that this will be her last international race. Her international racing record goes back to 2012 when she won silver in the junior women’s double sculls at the World Rowing Junior Championships in Plovdiv.  She will race the lightweight single scull in St Catharines, the boat that the won gold in back in 2022 – before moving to the double to prepare for the Paris 2024 Olympic Regatta.

Zoi Fitsiou & Dimitra Kontou, Greece

Zoi and Dimitra raced together in Paris winning bronze in the lightweight women’s double sculls, having qualified the boat at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta. They will both race in St Catharines, although not together, and not against each other either! Aged 28, Zoi will race the senior lightweight single sculls – she last raced internationally in the single sculls back at the 2022 World Rowing Championships when she finished fifth. Dimitra meanwhile, still only 18 years old, will race in the U23 lightweight women’s double sculls, alongside Evangelia Anastasiadou. The duo are defending World Rowing U23 Champions. Anastasiadou also comes here straight from Paris where she finished sixth in the women’s pair, and she has won a medal at the last three editions of the World U23s, so comes with stacks of experience.

Paul O’Donovan, Ireland

He’s a double Olympic Champion in the lightweight double sculls, but will come to St Catharines to race the lightweight single sculls! O’Donovan has raced in the double sculls for many years, most recently with partner Fintan McCarthy, although he won his first Olympic medal with his brother Gary, in 2016. However, Paul is no stranger to the lightweight single sculls either. In fact, the last time that the combined World Rowing Championships was run, in 2016, O’Donovan (then aged 22) won gold in this same boat class. He defended the title in 2017 before moving into the double sculls which he’s generally raced in ever since.

Antonios Papakonstantinou, Greece

Antonios took bronze in the lightweight men’s double sculls in Paris, finishing behind the Irish double. He will find himself racing against Paul O’Donovan again. Like O’Donovan, he has also spent much of his career racing the in the lightweight double sculls, but won gold in the lightweight single sculls at the 2022 World Rowing U23 Championships and silver at the 2023 World Rowing Championships. He’s likely to be the main challenger for O’Donovan in St Catharines.

Paris Finalists

In addition to the medallists, other notable Paris Olympians to keep an eye on include Andrei Mandrila of Romania who finished fifth in the men’s four – he will race in the U23 men’s pair in St Catharines. Meanwhile, Italian Alice Codato finished sixth in the women’s eight in Paris and will race in the U23 women’s eight in St Catharines. In the U23 women’s single sculls, two of the B finalists from Paris will meet up again; Germany’s Alexandra Foester, who finished seventh, and Switzerland’s Aurelia-Maxima Janzen, who finished ninth.

Future Olympians

While we have numerous current Olympians racing here in St Catharines, there’s no doubt that many of the young rowers racing here will be hoping to race at future Olympic regattas maybe LA 2028 or Brisbane 2032. We’re looking forward to watching their careers progress!