Image Credit: World Rowing
Entries: 16
The 2025 World Rowing U23 Championships will be held in Poznan, Poland from July 23rd to 27th. The men’s quad has 16 entries and competition will be fierce – can Poland retain their world title in front of a home crowd?
Poland are the 2024 U23 World and European champions in this event, who will also be buoyed by racing in front of a home crowd. Three of the athletes are returning from last year, but this whole crew recently raced at World Rowing Cup Varese and placed a very respectable sixth. Mikolaj Kulka and Daniel Galeza won U19 world bronze in the double in 2021, and Galeza raced the senior lightweight double for 2023 and 2024, culminating in fourth place at the Final Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta. Michal Randa and newcomer Igor Czekanowicz have both spent their entire international careers in quads, with a 2023 European U23 title together and a senior A-final at the 2024 World Rowing Cup III (with Galeza as well).
Only 0.4s separated the Czechia crew from gold last year, and they also have three returning athletes. At World Rowing Cup Lucerne, Jan Cizek, Martin Jezek, and Michal Zindulka raced to a promising seventh in the quad while the new addition, Miroslav Vokalek, placed tenth in the four. Earlier this year, Jezek and Zindulka placed 14th in the double at the senior European Rowing Championships, while Cizek placed ninth in the quad and Vokalek tenth in the four. Cizek has raced at the senior level multiple times, placing ninth in the quad at the 2024 European Rowing Championships, eighth at the 2022 World Rowing Cup II, and tenth in the eight at the 2022 World Rowing Championships (with Jezek).
The 2024 bronze medallists, Italy, have almost an entirely new crew, with Luca Enea Mulas the only returner. He has primarily raced in doubles, placing fourth at the 2023 U23 European Rowing Championships and seventh in 2024. Giovanni Paoli is a very promising 18-year-old, the 2023 and 2024 European U19 champion in the four and 2025 silver medallist in the double. Sebastiano Renzi placed fifth in the double last year at the U23 World Rowing Championships. Luigi Tommaso Riccelli has an interesting resume – after a sixth-place finish in the 2023 U19 World Rowing Championships eight, he raced in the senior ITA2 quad at World Rowing Cup Varese in 2025, finishing a competitive fifth.
Germany is bringing a new crew after placing fourth last year. Jakob Geyer won the 2022 U19 world title, the 2023 U23 European title, and the B-final at last year’s U23 World Rowing Championships in the doubles event. Lukas Haaser and Yannik Sens made the A-finals at the U19 World Rowing Championships in 2022 and 2023 respectively. Paavo Tore Schewe is making his international debut in Poznan.
Great Britain placed sixth last year, and half of that crew is returning. Harry Ruinet is back in the bow seat – he won a silver medal in this event at the 2023 U19 World Rowing Championships, and won the B-final at the GBRT April Trials in the double. Elliot Donovan-Davies won the open championship single at the 2024 National Schools’ Regatta and raced in the Stanford V8 as a freshman this year. Matthew Long joins the crew after placing tenth in the double at the 2024 U23 World Rowing Championships – he recently placed fourth (top U23) in the GBRT April Trials double event. Max Bird is making his international debut – with Ruinet, he was the top U23 combination at the GBRT February Trials.
Ireland won the B-final in St. Catharines last year and looks to be of similar pedigree, with Shane Rafferty returning in the bow seat. He previously placed sixth at the 2023 U19 World Rowing Championships in the double. Donnacha Keeley won the U23 world title last year in the lightweight double (quite a result for an international debut!). Ciaran O’Sullivan placed 13th at the 2022 U19 World Rowing Championships, and Shane Mcloughlin makes his team Ireland debut.
The entire Swiss crew is reunited from the 2023 U23 World Rowing Championships together, placing seventh, and Nicolas Berger, Shamall Suero Santana, and Gian Luca Egli teamed up again in 2024 to place eighth. Donat Vonder Muehll switched to sweep for 2024 and placed seventh in the U23 four. At the Lucerne World Rowing Cup this year, the crew placed tenth among the senior field, which should bode well for them to break into the A-final this year in Poznan.
The last returning nation is the United States of America, who placed ninth in 2024. Three of the crew raced at the 2024 U23 World Rowing Championships in various events – James Fetter placed eighth in the single, John Patton placed 14th in the double, and Timothy Parsons placed seventh in the lightweight single. Patton has a gold and bronze from the 2021 and 2022 U19 World Rowing Championships, both in the eight. Davis Kelly was also part of the 2022 bronze medal crew.
One of the most exciting entries of the new nations is the ‘neutral athlete‘ crew. The engine room has Maksim Hrybouski and Raman Shabatsko. The two 19-year-olds recently made the double A-final at World Rowing Cup Lucerne, finishing within 1.17s of two Irish Olympic medalists. Hrybouski won the U19 world silver last year in the single. Their power is combined with Ivan Makarevich and Pavel Sinenka, who placed fourth at the 2024 U19 World Rowing Championships in the quad.
Greece also had two crew members racing on the senior circuit this year. Iason Mouselimis placed 21st in the double in Lucerne while Konstantinos Giannoulis placed 11th – they are only 16 and 17 years old! These two athletes are the reigning European U19 champions in the double together. Giannoulis won the U19 world and European titles in 2024 as well. They are joined by Ioannis Kamaledakis and Apostolos Stavros Alexiou, who placed seventh in the quad at the 2025 U19 European Rowing Championships.
The Australians have combined their top U23 scullers, Adam Holland, Hamish Danks, and Samuel Mounter. They finished on the podium in that order at Australian Nationals this year in the single, with the 18-year-old William Rogers in sixth. Despite his youth, Rogers has the most recent international experience, placing sixth at the 2024 U19 World Rowing Championships in the single. Holland raced to 13th in the four at the 2022 U19 World Rowing Championships, and Danks and Mounter represent the green and gold for the first time.
Romania’s crew includes Constantin Emanuele Sterea and Andrei Hemen, who have four U23 European medals between them in the past three years (three golds and a silver in sweep events). Marian Gabriel Guia and Bogdan Murariu have junior international experience in quads.
Belgium features Boris Taeldeman, who is a European U23 bronze medalist from 2023 and 2024, along with silver at the U19 European Rowing Championships in 2022. Dean Laureyns was in the same quad crew in 2024. Lukas Depla won the B-final at the 2024 U19 World Rowing Championships in the single, and Neal Laureyns won the B-final at the 2023 U19 World Rowing Championships in the quad.
Latvia, Ukraine, and Slovakia (featuring 2024 U19 European bronze medalists Michal Zemla and Oliver Simek) round out the entries.
Prediction
It will be a battle for gold with Poland just beating Czechia again, with Great Britain taking bronze over the neutral athletes and Italy.
