Monday debrief: Seville starts season with a bang

After 24 years away, the elite rowing world returned to sunny Seville for World Rowing Cup I this weekend. Although the course did not deliver the fast times everyone was hoping for, there was still plenty of drama for rowing fans to relish in a sign that the season could be unpredictable and exciting.

Signs of resurgence?

At the 2025 World Rowing Championships, Germany came away with medals in only two Olympic-class events – silver in the men’s single sculls, and bronze in the women’s quadruple sculls. In Seville, they won gold in the men’s and women’s quadruple sculls and Oliver Zeidler was absolutely untouchable in his single. While Zeidler has been at the top of the game for some time now, and the women’s quad has been there or thereabouts for a few years, the last time a German men’s quad won anything significant was the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Some decent B-final showings for other boats suggest that the German programme is on the up.

Likewise, Australia had a good regatta. Gold in the women’s eight was stunning, silver in the women’s four was solid, and the women’s pair and Tara Rigney in the single made their respective finals. That is already a huge step-up from the World Rowing Championships in Shanghai, where only two Australian Olympic-class boats reached an A-final (the women’s eight and the men’s four) and neither won medals.

Also, a shout-out to the comebacks, particularly Damir Martin. The Croatian could have retired with honour after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, but after a year out, the 37-year-old has jumped into a new-look Croatian quad and helped power them to bronze.

Sheer dominance

In a regatta full of close finishes, two performances stood out for their sheer dominance – the sort of margins that make you shake your head and wonder how they’re achieved.

The first was Zeidler. Last year, the big German was juggling training with an MBA and his world silver medal was a phenomenal achievement given his lack of time in the boat. This year, he’s had a solid winter block behind him – and it showed. He controlled his heat, quarterfinal and semifinal and then in the final unleashed a 1:37.73 500m – below the world best time pace – to obliterate his rivals early on. He said afterwards he was hoping for faster conditions on other courses, and clearly has his eye on Robbie Manson’s record.

The other dominant crew was the British men’s four. They won their heat and semifinal by open water but admitted they expected a “humdinger” of a final against the Dutch. In the event, this was not to be: the world champions took a second out of the field in the first 500m and more than a second in the second 500m, cruising across the line with clear water and a very even-paced race profile.

Sheer thrills

If rowing fans missed the thrills in those races, they found them elsewhere. Ahead of the regatta the women’s single sculls looked set to be one of the best races – and so it proved. Courageous rows by Emma Lunatti (FRA) and Viktorija Senkute (LTU) forced last year’s standout scullers, Lauren Henry (GBR) and Fiona Murtagh (IRL) to react, and we ended up with a photofinish between Henry and Senkute for gold, plus another between Murtagh and Roos de Jong (NED2). Henry got the win, and Murtagh, for the second time in two international finals, came out on the right side of a close margin for bronze.

Both quad finals were also crackers. Only a second split the three medallists in the women’s race, and Germany beat the Netherlands by 0.16 seconds for gold in the men’s. The eights, too, were extremely tight and it would be impossible not to appreciate the drone shot that gave us four bows in the women’s race appearing from under the elegant Puente de la Barqueta at 1250m all in a line.

Minnows no more

Belgium and Portugal are not big rowing nations (or indeed big countries, full stop), and tend to only hit the headlines when they have a single standout athlete. But both had impressive performances in Seville.

Belgium claimed silver in the men’s double sculls, the diminutive Aaron Andries and Tibo Vyvey finding the speed to take down the world silver medallists from Serbia. Not to be outdone, Tristan Vandenbussche produced his best performance ever for single sculls bronze, overhauling the consistent Norwegian Jonas Slettemark Juel in the closing stages.

Portugal brought a small squad of athletes, but came away with gold in the lightweight men’s single sculls for 18-year-old Joao Veloso and B-final wins for Diogo Goncalves in the men’s single sculls, and Pedro Rodrigues and Tomas Neves in the double sculls. Rodrigues, who only turns 21 in July, is the oldest of the group – there is plenty more to come from Portugal in the future.

Better next time?

However there were some disappointments among the performances in Seville. The anticipated return of the Sinkovic brothers to the double scull was short-lived, as they finished fourth in their heat and could only manage 13th overall. World champion Stefanos Ntouskos blamed a bad back for his lacklustre single sculls showing – he won the D-final – while Olympic women’s single sculls champion Karolien Florijn suffered the indignity of a capsize thanks to a loose footplate and failed in her attempt to be reinstated into the regatta.

There were also several other world and Olympic medallists who failed to reach their A-finals, or could not produce the results if they did – however, we’re sure they will all bounce back with the motivation of knowing that Seville is just the first step on the way to the World Rowing Championships.

The Seville fashion show

It’s a new season and several nations have switched up their kit. Chief among the fashionistas was Mexico’s Kenia Lechuga. As her nation’s only competitor, Lechuga was able to pick her own rowing suit design, and she went with an eye-catching pink number decorated with flowers and Aztec designs, to match her pink boat and pink hair scrunchie. “This season is for pink power,” Lechuga told Grace Prendergast after winning the lightweight women’s single sculls.

Meanwhile Canada, Germany and Romania were all rocking new rowing suits too. Romania went for a cool white design with blue legs and splashes of blue, red and yellow – a big update from previous seasons. Germany chose a classy maroon top half, with red and yellow stripes around the legs. And Canada also had a new-look World Cup one-piece, although of course it still featured the iconic maple leaf on the back.

What’s next?

Next up for some nations in a fortnight is World Rowing Cup II in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, where they have a chance to switch crews around in search of more speed. Others are going back home for another training block, before the final World Rowing Cup on the Lake of the Gods in Lucerne in late June. Frankly, we cannot wait!