Gladiators of the boat park. The single scullers never fail to impress with their solitary pursuit of gold and glory. Delivering the drama this year will be a refreshed cast of newcomers and old-timers, including Great Britain’s unbeaten Lauren Henry, sweep-converts, and the full M1x Paris podium.
Women’s Singles
Paris W4x Olympic Champion Lauren Henry has dominated the women’s single sculls this year: she arrives in Shanghai unbeaten across four regattas and 12 races in the single. In her first international race of the season – the heat of the European Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria – she almost set a new world best time. Her time (7:09.76) was two seconds shy of the record set by Rumyana Neykova in 2002.
“I wanted to come here and make a name for myself and I feel like I’ve done that,” said Henry, after winning the European title. “I want to be world champion, I want to be Olympic champion, I want to break the world best time, I want to be the most successful British single sculler ever. I want it all, the whole lot, I just love it.”
To date her closest competition has come from two former Olympic women’s four sweep rowers, Ireland’s Tokyo Olympic Champion Fiona Murtagh (who won silver medals in Plovdiv and Lucerne) and Denmark’s Fiona Nielsen (who lost to Henry in the final of The Princess Royal Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta).
With Dutch Olympic Champion Karolien Florijn and New Zealand stalwart Emma Twigg absent, Viktorija Senkute is the only Paris W1x medallist competing in Shanghai. The Lithuanian Olympic bronze medallist has yet to podium this season, but typically delivers her best results at the major championships.
Canada’s Katie Clark could be a dark horse in this event: she placed fourth at both the Varese and Lucerne world cups – a strong start for this, her debut season in the single.
Other scullers to watch include Tokyo silver medallist Anna Prakaten, who has yet to revive her flash-in-the-pan post-pandemic form, Germany’s three-time under 23 world champion Alexandra Foester, South Africa’s Paige Badenhorst and Belgium’s Mazarine Guilbert.
