Rowers to watch – 2022 European Rowing Under 23 Championships

The racing is set to get underway in Hazewinkel, Belgium for the 2022 European Rowing Under 23 Championships this weekend. There are a handful of returning athletes from the 2021 edition, plus many who competed earlier in the season at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships. Here is a sample of who to watch this weekend.

The men’s and women’s single sculls might prove to be some of the most hotly-contested categories at the European Rowing Under 23 Championships. On the men’s side, we see the return of the 2021 gold medallist, Emil Neykov from Bulgaria. He will go up against a host of tough challengers including Marco Prati from Italy, the reigning World Rowing Under 19 Champion, Piotr Plominski from Poland, or Artem Zakharov of Ukraine.

The women’s single sculls will see the reigning World Rowing Under 19 Champion, Aikaterini Gkogkou of Greece, facing Aurelia-Maxima Janzen of Switzerland and Elis Osbay of Turkey, both silver medallists at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships – respectively in the women’s and lightweight women’s single sculls. Keep an eye too on the talented Anna Santruckova of the Czech Republic who raced all year at senior level.

In the women’s pair, Greece seems to have the upper-hand. They have entered their top combination of Evangelia Fragkou and Christina Bourmpou, the recent World Under-23 champions, and in a five-boat race, they will be the crew to beat. Watch out too for Denmark, who have entered an experienced crew with Karen Mortensen and Kristine Hansen.

The men’s pair will see lots of athletes that have raced at senior level this season. The Stankunas brothers of Lithuania, who finished fourth at the European Championships in Munich – but second at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships, may well be the favourites. They will have to face Andri Mandrila and Claudiu Neamtu of Romania, who were also on the podium in Varese,as well as the Loncaric brothers of Croatia, who had mixed results this year but a lot of international experience under their bag. These three crews are likely to be searching for podium places in Hazewinkel.

The men’s and women’s double sculls have 12 and nine entries respectively. And the home nation’s best hopes are in the men’s double with Tristan Vandenbussche and Aaron Andries, who won gold for Belgium at the World Under 23 Championships earlier this year.  They will face their runner-ups from Varese, Moldova’s Ivan Corsunov and Alexandr Bulat.  On the women’s side, the Romanian combination of Andrada-Maria Morosanu and Iulia-Liliana Balauca will be the crew to beat, having dominated the field in Varese. Watch out for Greece, though. They return with world under-19 champion Styliani Natsioula.

In the lightweight women’s single sculls, Evangelia Anastasiadou of Greece, fresh off a silver medal at the senior European Championships, seems unbeatable. Can Italy’s  Elena Sali, gold medallist in the lightweight double in Varese, upset her?  And keep an eye on Gian Struzina of Switzerland in the lightweight men’s single sculls. He finished second at the U23 World event, but he might just be able to upgrade the colour of his medal.

Moving into the big boats and the predictions become more difficult. In the women’s quadruple sculls, Romania seems to have the upper-hand – they are silver medallists at the World Under 23 Championships from earlier this season. The men’s four is likely to be a challenge between Great Britain and Romania. These two teams typically field high-quality under-23 teams.

There are only two crews entered in the women’s eight – Germany and Romania – but the Romanian crew features lots of athletes that won in different boats last year.  The men’s eight has six crews entered and while Great Britain dominated the field at the world event, they only have one athlete returning from that boat who took home gold. They will be challenged by Poland, who got a bronze medal at the 2022 World Rowing Cup II earlier this year.

Racing commences Saturday, 3 September at 9:00 AM CET with heats and progresses through repechages, semifinals and to the finals on Sunday 4 September. Please note : there will be NO live streaming available for this event.

The time table for the events can be found here, and entries for all the races are available here.

All startlists and results will be available here.

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