Women's Crews to Watch at the 2022 World Rowing Championships

The World Rowing Championships are back for the first time since 2019! Kicking off this Sunday, 18 September, crews will be looking to test their speed on their water in this post-Olympic and Paralympic year. As we continue to preview the entries for the forthcoming World Rowing Championships, today we look at the openweight women’s boat classes.

Women’s Pair (W2-)

Entries: 15

Reigning World Champions: PRENDERGAST Grace, GOWLER Kerri (NZL)

The reigning Olympic and World Champions are back! New Zealand’s Grace Prendergast and Kerri Williams (nee Gowler) will certainly come into this event as one of the favourites, having already shown their form earlier this season when they won gold at World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne. Romania’s Ioana Vrinceanu and Denisa Tilvescu, who finished just 0.11 seconds behind in Lucerne, will certainly be out for revenge though. The Romanians took gold at the recent European Rowing Championships. At that event, Great Britain’s Emily Ford and Esme Booth added to their medal collection from this season, taking silver. European bronze was won by Ymkje Clevering and Veronique Meester of the Netherlands and we can therefore certainly expect the British and the Dutch pair to be looking for a place on the podium in Racice. Watch out too for Ivana and Josipa Jurkovic, the 22-year-old sisters from Croatia have had much success at U23 level and are now starting to challenge the seniors.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x)

Entries: 19

Reigning World Champions: DONOGHUE Brooke, LOE Olivia (NZL)

Another boat class featuring the reigning Olympic Champions! Romania’s Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radis took silver at the last World Rowing Championships in 2019 and will be looking to go one better this year. They have been on fire this season with some dominating performances including a win of 6.99 seconds at the European Rowing Championships. The silver and bronze medalists from those Championships will also travel to Racice; the Netherlands and Italy, and both combinations have also already had a very successful season. There’s an interesting boat from Greece to keep an eye on; Evangelia Fragkou and Styliani Natsioula won gold in dominating fashion at last year’s European Rowing Junior Championships. They have both become World Champions already earlier this year, Fragkou at U23 level in the pair and Natsioula at U19 level in the double. It will be fascinating to see how they perform together at senior level in Racice.

Women’s Four (W4-)

Entries: 13

Reigning World Champions: ALDERSEY Olympia, WERRY Katrina, HAWE Sarah, STEPHAN Lucy (AUS)

Can anyone beat Great Britain? They will come to Racice unbeaten this season and hoping to become World Champions. However, they haven’t yet come up against Australia. The Australian crew, which won gold at World Rowing Cup II, where Great Britain didn’t race, has two reigning Olympic champions and two reigning World Champions in this boat class on board and will be a big threat to the Brits. Watch out too for Ireland; they took bronze at last year’s Olympic Games and have got the whole crew back together for the World Championships – two of the crew won silver at the European Rowing Championships a few weeks ago. Romania are also likely to challenge for a place on the podium having won bronze at the European Rowing Championships and silver earlier in the season at World Rowing Cup III. With 13 entries, this could be a tense boat class to follow!

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x)

Entries: 25

Reigning World Champions: PUSPURE Sanita (IRL)

The Olympic Champion is back on the scene! New Zealand’s Emma Twigg hasn’t raced internationally since she won in Tokyo last year but is a formidable sculler and will be looking to match or even improve on her silver from the last World Rowing Championships in 2019. On that occasion, Sanita Puspure of Ireland took gold. While Sanita is contesting the double sculls in Racice, the young Alison Bergin will represent Ireland in the single sculls. Aged just 20, Bergin won bronze at the World Rowing U23 Championships earlier this season. There are lots more youngers on the scene too! Karolien Florijn of the Netherlands is unbeaten so for this season while twenty-year-old Alexandra Foester of Germany became World Rowing U23 Champion for the second consecutive year earlier this season. The home supporters will be keeping an eye on Lenka Antosova who hasn’t made the podium so far this season, but has a wealth of international experience. There’s plenty of other 2022 World Cup medalists who are expected to be in the mix too including Australia’s Tara Rigney and Switzerland’s Jeannine Gmelin.

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x)

Entries: 14

Reigning World Champions: CHEN Yunxia, ZHANG Ling, LYU Yang, CUI Xiaotong (CHN)

The crew entered by China is the same line-up that won Olympic gold last year and World Championship gold in 2019. They have shown their form at the World Rowing Cups this season so will certainly have the ambition of defending their title. After a year of building and with a relatively new line-up, Great Britain claimed gold at the European Rowing Championships recently so will certainly be intending to be on the podium in Racice. The Netherlands took silver on that occasion and have also won medals during the 2022 World Rowing Cup series so are a strong contender. Ukraine, bronze medalists at the Europeans, have huge amounts of experience which they will be hoping to use to their advantage in Racice. Don’t overlook Romania or Switzerland either, both have shown their form this season, winning World Cup medals in this boat class.

Women’s Eight (W8+)

Entries: 6

Reigning World Champions: GREENSLADE Ella, DYKE Emma, SPOORS Lucy, BEVAN Kelsey, PRENDERGAST Grace, GOWLER Kerri, ROSS Elizabeth, GOWLER Jackie, SHEPHERD Caleb (NZL)

With just six entries, it is all to play for in this boat class, but the field is stacked with talent. The crew from Canada will certainly be challenging for a medal with 4 of their Olympic champions from last year on board. Their crew took silver at World Rowing Cup III earlier this season. At that same event, Australia took gold, winning by 1.58 seconds, so we could be in for another close race in Racice. However, watch out for Romania, who took gold most recently, at the European Rowing Championships. The Netherlands took bronze at the Europeans, and both the Romanian and Dutch crews in Racice will be doubling-up across the small boats including the pair, the double sculls and the four.

 

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