Rowers to watch: 2021 European Rowing Junior Championships

The last on-water rowing event of World Rowing’s 2021 season gets underway this weekend. The 2021 European Rowing Junior Championships in Munich, Germany is for European member federations.

Many of these athletes competed earlier this season at the World Rowing Junior Championships and are back to seek revenge or defend their honour. Here are the Rowers to watch racing 9 to 10 October.

The men’s and women’s single sculls often attract large entries and this year is no exception. The women’s single sculls is a packed field and the favourite must be Switzerland’s Aurelia-Maxima Janzen. She finished first at the World Rowing Junior Championships in the women’s single and second at the European Rowing Under 23 Championships. Watch out too for Giulia Clerici of Italy who finished second behind Janzen at the world event.

Fourth at that same event was Laine Rumpe of Latvia, who will start in Munich again. Watch out too for Eleni Marina Leventelli of Greece who finished third at the European under-23s in the lightweight women’s single and Phaedra van der Molen of the Netherlands, who comes out of the world junior champion women’s double.

The men’s single sculls sees the return of world junior champion Povilas Juskevicius from Lithuania. He is likely to see success again in Munich. Chasing him will be Aaron Adries of Belgium, who came second behind Juskevicius at the world event. And watch out too for Marco Prati of Italy, who finished sixth in that same A-final.

The men’s pair has the return of defending junior world champions from Romania, Andrei-Petrisor Axintoi and Iliuta-Leontin Nutescu. This duo will go up against Bulgaria, who finished fourth at the world level and Norway who finished fifth. Keep an eye too on Germany, they have entered a new line-up for Munich and are often strong in this boat class at the junior level. In the women’s pair, all eyes will probably be on Romania as well. The duo finished fifth at the world junior championships earlier this summer. Watch out too for Russia, who made it into the A-final at that event.

There are three crews to watch in the women’s double sculls: Slovenia, Greece and the Netherlands. Slovenia finished fourth at the World Rowing Junior Championships earlier this summer. Greece has put together a new line-up and it includes Evangelia Fragkou, who came third in the women’s single at the junior championships and finished first in the women’s double at the European under-23s. The Netherlands has a new combination. They are defending champions from the world event and are certainly looking to repeat. In the men’s double sculls, be sure to keep an eye on Poland. They were third at the World Rowing Junior Championships. Germany was first but have fielded a new line-up for Munich.

Moving on to the bigger boats; the coxed and coxless fours. There are definite favourites in the men’s coxed four as we see the return of the junior world champions from Italy. They have managed to enter the exact same line-up for Munich. Keep an eye too on Germany and the Czech Republic in this boat class. In the junior men’s four watch out for the crew from Turkey. They finished second at the World Rowing Junior Championships in the coxed four. And watch out too for Switzerland, Romania and Italy. All three have A-finalist athletes from the world junior championships.

The women’s coxed four may favour the crew from Italy as well. They have two returning from their silver medallist crew at the World Rowing Junior Championships. Keep an eye too on Ukraine who have several experienced athletes on board. In the junior women’s four all eyes will be on the junior world champions from Romania. They have kept the same line-up for Munich. Watch out too for Italy who have a bronze medal from the world event, with one new rower on board.

Switzerland must be the favoured crew in the women’s quadruple sculls. They have dominated in this category for several years and return with three of the four athletes who won at the World Rowing Junior Championships earlier this summer. Keep an eye too on Italy who finished second at the same event. The men’s quadruple sculls has 18 entries, making it a packed field. Many crews competed at the World Rowing Junior Championships, with Italy and the Czech Republic picking up medals there – silver and bronze respectively. They are certainly two crews to watch in Munich.

Rounding it out are the eights. The men’s eight has ten entries, including Russia who has a bronze medal from the World Rowing Junior Championships. Keep an eye too on Romania who has entered a very experienced young crew. In the women’s eight, the odds are in Romania’s favour. They picked up bronze at the world-level event and return with the same line-up. Keep an eye too on Italy and the Czech Republic.