2026 World Rowing Cup II: Crews to watch

After an exciting start to the 2026 international season at World Rowing Cup I in Seville, Plovdiv, Bulgaria will welcome crews for World Rowing Cup II this weekend.

There is little crossover between the crews at the two regattas. A handful of nations, chiefly New Zealand and Romania, are attending both, but while New Zealand’s crews are unchanged Romania are predominantly fielding new-look development boats in Plovdiv.

However, World Rowing Cup II will see the start of the season for Italy and the USA, both nations bringing quality line-ups to contest for the medals in Plovdiv.

The men’s quadruple sculls will bring the first race this year for the reigning world champions and Olympic silver medallists, Italy. They should be the outright favourites in the event. Croatia were third in Seville, but have brought Roko Boskovic into the 3-seat in place of veteran Damir Martin; Boskovic raced the single at World Rowing Cup I, finishing 22nd.

Both the men’s and women’s pairs winners from Seville are racing again in Plovdiv. World champions Oliver Welch and Benjamin Taylor of New Zealand won fairly comfortably last time out, ahead of Romania. While there are two Romanian pairs again this time around, both are young development boats.

It will, however, be fascinating to see how under-23 world champions Aytimur Selcuk and Enes Biber of Türkiye shape up against the Kiwis. Still just 20 years old, the Turks have shone at junior and under-23 level. Italy’s Matteo Lodo and Giovanni Codato are also likely to be in the mix.

On the women’s side, Seville winners Anna Santruckova and Pavlina Flamikova (CZE) renew their rivalry with Chile, who were third at World Rowing Cup I. Throw European silver medallists Laura Meriano and Alice Codato (ITA), and the USA 1 pair of women’s four world champions Teal Cohen and Kate Knifton into the mix, and the final looks exciting already.

Azja Czajkowski, also part of the USA world champion four, remains in that boat with three new crewmates; the USA quartet should come in expecting to perform well, but will have a good race against Seville bronze medallists New Zealand.

Few of the single scullers racing in Plovdiv appeared in Seville, but there is tons of experience among those who are taking to the Bulgarian water. Look out for Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallist Anna Prakaten (UZB), back in the single after racing a double at the 2025 World Rowing Championships, as well as Serbia’s Jovana Arsic, who focused on the pair last season.

The men’s singles field features the likes of Mihai Chiruta (ROU), last year’s European bronze medallist; USA sculler Jacob Plihal, who picked up silver at 2025 World Rowing Cup I, and Paris 2024 lightweight men’s double sculls silver medallist Gabriel Soares (ITA).

The men’s double sculls has attracted the most entries in Plovdiv, with 22 crews entered. All eyes will certainly be on Martin and Valent Sinkovic (CRO), who missed the A/B semi-finals in Seville and finished 13th overall. The Rio 2016 champions in this event, the brothers will definitely be aiming higher this time around.

New Zealanders Finlay Hamill and Benjamin Mason reached both World Rowing Cup podiums last season, but were eighth at the World Rowing Championships and 16th in Seville – they, too, will be wanting to do better in Plovdiv. And among the other entrants, keep an eye on the new Austrian double of Julian Schoeberl and Laurenz Lindorfer. Both did well in Shanghai last year, with Schoeberl winning lightweight single sculls silver, and they could be an exciting new addition to the field. Italy’s new combination of Niels Torre and Marco Selva could also be challenging for the win.

World Rowing Cup II also features the season debut for para-rowing. Türkiye and Uzbekistan will go head-to-head in both the PR2 and PR3 mixed double sculls: although the Uzbek crews are both young, they also have more experience. The PR3 mixed double scull crew includes the regatta’s youngest competitors, 17-year-old Dinara Belyanina and 16-year-old Akbarali Abduvaliev, who were seventh at the World Rowing Championships.

Racing in Plovdiv begins at 10:05 local time (09:05 CEST) on Friday 12 June. A-finals for the PR2 mixed double sculls and lightweight events are scheduled for Saturday 13 June from 11:05 local time (10:05 CEST), with the remaining finals on Sunday 14 June.