Great Britain ready to take on Europe in Varese
12 British boats will race at the European Rowing Championships in Varese, Italy, from 30 July – 2 August
At last year’s season-opening European Rowing Championships, Great Britain won nine medals, including six golds. Fast-forward 14 months, and this year’s Championships will have a different context. Varese as the host for these Championships, and the base for World Championships preparations for the Women’s and Para squads, will provide a final racing opportunity within their training camps as they work towards Amsterdam. The Men’s squad, who will be laying the foundations for the World Rowing Championships at altitude in Silvretta, will be represented by a strong development team who will relish the opportunity to lead the charge for the 2026 edition of the Championships.
Several of the crews and combinations will be looking to defend titles from 2025, including Benjamin Pritchard. This season, the 2024 Paralympic Champion has broken his own Concept 2 World Record and won gold at World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne. 2025 was Pritchard’s first European title before going and winning his first World Rowing Championships when the team travelled to Shanghai.
The PR3 Mixed Coxed Four will make its 2026 season debut when they take to the familiar waters of Lago di Varese. Paralympic Champion Frankie Allen and 2025 World Champion Josh O’Brien return to the crew and are joined by fresh faces for this European campaign. Molesey BC’s Charlotte Coburn and England International Jonty Ridley are new to the crew, as is cox Omar Al-Miqdadi, who steered Molesey BC to a record-breaking win in the Wargrave Challenge Cup last year.
Three of the women’s boats were crowned European Champions last season and will look to still have their crowns in two weeks’ time. Lauren Henry will take to the waters and defend her title in the Women’s Single Sculls, and momentum is building nicely for the 2024 Olympic Champion this season after wins in Seville and Lucerne in her second season in the Single Scull.
Cox Jack Totten will pull the strings in the Women’s Eight, the second of the women’s crews vying for another European win. Amelia Standing, Lauren Irwin, Heidi Long, and Megan Slabbert are all back from that crew. At Henley Royal Regatta, they were joined by Lizzie Witt, Katherine George, Annie Campbell-Orde, and Eve Stewart, where they won the Remenham Challenge Cup, beating Team Italia. Stewart is the only change to the crew that won gold at World Rowing Cup III.
Olympic Champion and 2025 European Champion Lola Anderson will be back in the Women’s Quad, looking for a third consecutive title at this event. Before winning the Princess Grace Challenge Cup at Henley, Anderson, along with 2024 Olympic Champions Hannah Scott and Imogen Grant, as well as 2025 U23 World Champion Finn Stratton, took on the world and won on the Lake of the Gods at World Rowing Cup III.
From World Rowing Cup III to the European Championships, there is consistency across the Women’s Double and the Women’s Four.
Holly Youd, Sarah Marshall, Angharad Broughton, and Eleanor Brinkhoff were fourth in their racing debut together in Seville before building nicely throughout the season. Their last run out in Lucerne saw them go one better and come away with a bronze medal.
Sarah McKay and Cam Nyland raced together in the Women’s Double Sculls for the first time in Lucerne. On that occasion they placed ninth overall and will arrive in Varese excited to take a step on against the best that Europe has to offer.
The European Rowing Championships will see a new combination race in the Women’s Pair. Lauren Carey made her senior team debut in Seville, racing in this boat class. She’s back in action come Varese and will join forces with Jade Lindo. After racing in the Women’s Eight this season, winning gold in Lucerne, Lindo returns to a boat she’s familiar with, after placing sixth at last year’s World Rowing Championships in Shanghai.
Olympic Champion Tom Digby will return to international racing for the first time since the Paris Olympics. Two years ago he won gold in the Men’s Eight at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, and now he’ll race in the Men’s Pair with three time U23 World Champion Jake Wincomb. The two have already been in action this season, winning the Silver Goblets & Nickalls’ Challenge Cup a couple of weeks ago at Henley.
The Men’s Four will all make their senior debuts for Great Britain. The Development boat features some of the brightest stars who are ready to take their first strokes on the senior international stage. Following three U23 World Rowing Championship appearances, including two golds in the Eight and Four, Theo Bell will race in the bow seat. In front of him will be Sam Ford, the Washington University graduate who won three Varsity Eight titles at the IRA National Championships, as well as Josh Brangan, who’s won back-to-back U23 titles in the Men’s Four in 2024 and the Men’s Eight last year. Stroking the crew is Tom O’Sullivan, fresh from the University of California, Berkeley Varsity Eight, having previously studied at Harvard University.
Jamie Gare and Ed Fuller will represent Great Britain in the Men’s Double Sculls. Both have raced in this boat this season, with Fuller racing in Seville, and Gare in Lucerne, having raced the Men’s Quadruple Sculls at the first World Rowing Cup earlier this year.
Making his debut for Great Britain will be Ben Parsonage. The Scot will race in the Lightweight Men’s Single Scull after a strong domestic season. The Clydesdale Amateur Rowing Club sculler qualified for his third Diamond Challenge Sculls this year after consistently being one of the top domestic scullers for the past few seasons, winning at the likes of the Metropolitan Regatta, the Scottish Championships, and over in Ghent.
“The timing of this year’s European Championships means the team will come together in Varese at different stages of their seasons,” said Interim Performance Director Tom Dyson.
“The Women’s squad will be in the middle of their work camp while the Paralympic squad will be using the Championships as the springboard to their own World Championships preparation camp. For the Men’s group, this will be an exciting new challenge for some, and a return to senior Championships racing for others.
“Regardless of the different routes, Varese is a “home from home” for the GB Rowing Team and racing a European Championships there is an enticing prospect. Our hosts will deliver a top tier event and we will need to be ready for Championship-level racing that is equally world-class.”
The GB Rowing Team to race the 2026 European Championships in Varese, Italy
PR3 Mixed Coxed Four
Frankie Allen (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Charlotte Coburn (Molesey BC)
Jonty Ridley (Durham University BC/Hexham RC)
Josh O’Brien (Molesey BC)
Omar Al-Miqdadi (cox) (Molesey BC)
Coach: Nicola Benavente
PR1 Men’s Single Scull 1
Benjamin Pritchard (City of Swansea RC)
Coach: David Breen
Women’s Eight
Lizzie Witt (Leander Club / Imperial College BC)
Eve Stewart (Leander Club)
Amelia Standing (Oxford University BC)
Katherine George (Leander Club)
Lauren Irwin (Leander Club / Durham University / Chester-le-Street ARC)
Annie Campbell-Orde (Marlow RC/Leander Club)
Heidi Long (Oxford University BC / Leander Club)
Megan Slabbert (Molesey BC)
Jack Tottem (cox) (Leander Club / Oxford University BC)
Coach: Andrew Randell
Women’s Four
Holly Youd (Molesey BC)
Sarah Marshall (Oxford University BC)
Angharad Broughton (Molesey BC)
Eleanor Brinkhoff (Leander Club / Dundee University BC)
Coach: Brian Young
Women’s Pair
Lauren Carey (Leander Club)
Jade Lindo (Molesey BC / Twickenham RC)
Coach: Brian Young
Women’s Quadruple Sculls
Lola Anderson (Leander Club / Newcastle University BC)
Hannah Scott (Bann RC / Leander Club)
Finn Stratton (Reading University BC)
Imogen Grant (Cambridge University Women’s BC)
Coach: Darren Whiter
Women’s Double Sculls
Sarah McKay (Grosvenor RC / Leander Club)
Cam Nyland (Leander Club)
Coach: Helen Taylor
Women’s Single Scull
Lauren Henry (Leicester RC)
Coach: Andrew Randell
Reserves: Becky Wilde and Poppy Baker
Men’s Four
Theo Bell (Leander Club)
Sam Ford (Leander Club)
Josh Brangan (Leander Club)
Tom O’Sullivan (Leander Club)
Coach: Kieran Clark
Men’s Pair
Tom Digby (Leander Club)
Jake Wincomb (Marlow RC)
Coach: Jamie Axon
Men’s Double Sculls
Jamie Gare (Leander Club / City of Cambridge RC)
Ed Fuller (Reading University BC)
Coach: Jamie Axon
Team Management and Support Staff
Team Leader – Tom Dyson
Team Manager – Jo Bates
Resources Manager – Maurice Hayes
Head Coach, Women – Andrew Randell
Head Coach, Para – Nicola Benavente
Men’s Coach – Pete Sheppard
Men’s Coach – Kieran Clark
Men’s Coach – Jamie Axon
Lightweight Men’s Coach – Peter Haining
Women’s Coach – Brian Young
Women’s Coach – Darren Whiter
Women’s Coach – Helen Taylor
Para Coach – David Breen
Physiotherapist – Karen Young
Physiotherapist- Beatrice Caitas
Physiotherapist, Para – Marie Grant
Sports Scientist – Lois Fileman
Doctor – Ann Redgrave
Media – Fergus Mainland
