Image Credit: World Rowing
2023 Champion: Great Britain
Entries: 10
It used to be said that the men’s coxless four was “the” British boat (and with good cause, as a GB boat won 16/27 World and Olympic titles between 1997 and 2024), In recent years, that honour is more appropriately applied to the men’s eight. The British have only been beaten once (by Australia at the third World Rowing Cup in 2023) since finishing third at the Tokyo Olympic Games. What’s more impressive for their 2025 crew is that there isn’t a single returning member from the Olympic gold medal-winning boat from Paris; the GB system is producing a deep, deep well of talent. The boat aiming to defend their 2023 world title is unchanged from the one that won both the European Rowing Championships and the Varese World Rowing Cup, although coach Steve Trapmore has played around with the seating order, with Archie Drummond swapping the stroke seat with Matt Rowe from the two-seat. Of the nine crew members, only one, Matt Aldridge, raced in Paris, winning a bronze medal in the men’s coxless four; he was also in the four that won the world title in 2023. There are three other senior world champions in the boat: Will Stewart and Sam Nunn from the 2022 men‘s coxless four, and Dave Bewicke-Copley from the ’22 men’s eight. Fergus Woolnough made his senior debut this season following two years on the U23 team, which delivered gold medals in the BM8 and BM4. Another multiple U23 world champion is Miles Beeson, sitting in the five seat.
Germany has been the number one opponent for the British for the last 15 years; these two nations have won every world title since 2009, with the tally standing at 6/5 in favour of the Germans. It’s no secret that the once mighty Deutschland-achter has struggled since Tokyo, winning only one championship medal (silver at the 2024 Europeans), their worst run of results since the Beijing Olympic Games. But this season, the Germans are finally re-emerging as a force to be reckoned with. A slightly disappointing European Rowing Championships, which saw them finish off the podium, was followed by a much better performance at the Varese World Rowing Cup, picking up a silver medal behind GB. In Lucerne, they went one better and, in the absence of the British, picked up their first gold medal since 2022. They are an experienced line-up with four of the crew that finished fourth in Paris, Mattes Schoenherr, Benedict Eggeling, Olaf Roggensack and coxswain Jonas Wiesen. Also in the boat are the men’s pair from Paris, Julius Christ and Soenke Kruse. Stroking the boat is Theis Haggermeister, who missed the 2024 season but was part of the men’s coxless four in 2022 and 2023. Rounding off the crew are a couple of former U23 internationals who stepped up to the senior team for the first time in 2025, Tobias Strangemann (silver in the U23 men’s pair in 2024) and Paul Klapperich (sixth in the eight).
With the Germans struggling in the eight in the last few seasons, the Netherlands became the primary challenger to the British dominance. They were silver medallists in Paris, and their crew for 2025 includes four of that boat, Sander De Graaf, Jan Van Der Bij, Mick Makker and coxswain Jonna De Vries. They are joined by men’s quad Olympic champion Finn Florijn and fellow Olympian Eli Brouwer, who raced in the men’s coxless four that won the B-final in Paris. The remaining members of the crew, Wibout Rustenburg, Pieter Van Veen, and Jorn Salverda, have all been part of the senior Dutch men’s team for the past few seasons, but surprisingly, Shanghai will be the first senior World Rowing Championships for all three of them. This season, the Dutch finished runners-up again to the British at the Europeans (with six of the crew racing in Shanghai), and in Varese, the Netherlands decided not to boat an eight, but instead raced in two fours, coming away with silver and bronze.
Italy last won a World Rowing Championship medal in the men’s eight back in 2017 (bronze behind Germany and the USA), and for 2025, they have stacked their crew with some of their most experienced athletes. Leading the crew is 32-year-old Giuseppe Vicino. He’s a triple Olympian with two Olympic bronze medals to his credit, and he was also part of the World Rowing Championship-winning men’s coxless four way back in 2015. In Paris, his coxless four finished just outside of the medals. Giovanni Abagnale was also on that Olympic crew. The 30-year-old has been part of the senior Italian team since 2014 and won bronze in the men’s pair in Rio and was 11th in the same boat class in Tokyo. The Italians have six other members of the crew who raced in Paris: Emanuele Gaetani Liseo, Salvatore Monfrecola, Leonardo Pietra Caprina, Alessandra Faella from the seventh-place men’s eight, Matteo Sartori and Giovanni Codato from the men’s openweight double and men’s pair, respectively. It’s an interesting move by the Italian coaches to move Sartori into the eight; he’s spent his entire career as a sculler and was part of the men’s quad that won gold at the Varese World Rowing Cup this season. So far in 2025, the Italians have delivered bronze medals from both the European Rowing Championships and the Varese World Rowing Cup (although they made four changes to the crew that raced at both).
Australia handed the British a surprise defeat this season in The Grand Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, but their crew for that event was a one-off “stacked” boat designed to get one over on the poms on their home water. For Shanghai, the Aussies have reverted to most of the line-up that finished second to the Germans in Lucerne. With an average age of just over 24, they are the youngest crew in the event and have two athletes with Olympic experience, Jack Robertson and Angus Dawson, who raced in the men’s eight and men’s coxless four, respectively, in Paris. Robertson and Dawson were also part of the eight that won bronze at the 2023 World Rowing Championships. Also in the crew are three members of the 2023 U23 eight that finished fourth, Alex McClean, Marcus Emmett and Pat Long, along with 2023 U23 medallists Mitch Salisbury and coxswain Nick Dunlop. The final member of the crew is Alex Nichol, who made his international debut this season.
The USA still likes to think of the men’s eight as “their” boat, even though it’s been 20 years since they last won the world title (which interestingly coincides with the growth of overseas students studying and rowing at US Universities….but that’s a whole different conversation). This year’s boat includes two of the crew that won bronze at the Paris Olympic Games (the USA’s first men’s eight Olympic medal since 2008), Pieter Quinton and Christian Tabash. Also in the boat is Olympian Billy Bender, who was tenth in the men’s pair. Only two other crew members, Alex Hedge and Gus Rodriguez, have previously raced at a senior World Rowing Championships, Hedge placing sixth in the men’s eight in 2023 and Rodriguez tenth in the men’s coxless four in 2022. The remaining crew members, Michael Herman, Jacob Hudgins and Madison Molitor, all made their senior debuts this season.
Another nation hoping to reclaim former glories in this boat class is Canada. They were the last nation other than GB and Germany to win the men’s eight world title, which they did back in 2007. They haven’t won a medal in this event since 2011, though, and it’s no secret that the Canadian men’s team has been struggling for over a decade to find a formula that can make the most of their talent. Their Shanghai crew includes four of the boats that missed out on qualification for Paris after finishing third at the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta in 2024: Ryan Clegg, Terek Been, Joel Cullen, and cox Laura Court. Indeed, those are the only four crew members who raced at a senior level at any World Rowing event in 2024. Also in the crew are 2023 World Rowing Championship team members Trevor Jones and Steve Rosts. Jones has plied his trade as a single sculler for most of his career, placing ninth in Tokyo and tenth at the 2022 World Rowing Championships. Rosts was in the men’s quad that finished 17th in 2023. Making their senior international debuts are former U23 internationals Maijken Meindertsma from the University of British Columbia and Samuel Stewart from Western University.
For a country with such a strong rowing programme, it’s perhaps surprising that Romania hasn’t won a World Rowing Championship medal in the men’s eight since 2001. They have assembled a very experienced crew, with all but one of the crew members having raced at the Paris Olympic Games. Bow pair Stefan Berariu and Sergiu Bejan were in the men’s coxless four that finished fifth, four-man Leontin Nutescu and stroke Claudiu Neamtu finished ninth in the men’s quad, and Bogdan Baitoc (three seat), Mugurel Semciuc (six), Constantin Adam (seven) and Adrian Munteanu (cox) were all part of the fifth-placed men’s eight. The only crew member not to have raced in Paris is Dumitru-Alexandru Ciobica, sitting in the four-seat. He was a European U23 silver medallist back in 2021 and made his senior debut at the opening World Rowing Cup of 2024. This season, the Romanians took gold in the men’s coxless four at the European Rowing Championships with Berariu and Bejan as part of the crew, and sixth in the eight. In Lucerne, Berariu and Bejan rowed again in the men’s coxless four, taking the silver medal, and the rest of the crew took bronze in the eight.
Poland is another nation with a proud history in this boat class, although you must go back to 2014 for the last time they won a medal. Their crew is anchored by two highly experienced athletes, Mateusz Wilangowski and Michal Szpakowski. They have both been members of the senior Polish team for over a decade, and Szpakowski raced at the London, Rio and Tokyo Olympics. Both he and Wilangowski were part of the men’s coxless four, which won World Rowing Championship gold in 2019. Only two other crew members, Jerzy Kaczmarek and Emilian Jackowiak, have senior World Rowing Championship experience (they were 24th in the men’s pair in 2023). Also in the boat are three of the U23 coxless four crew that won the B-final in 2023, Tomasz Lewicki, Szymon Tomiak and Oskar Streich. The final rower in the boat is Kazmir Ziven Kujda, who (along with Lewicki) won European U23 gold in the four in 2022. Coxing the boat is the youngest member of the crew, 20-year-old Magdalena Ladna, who made her international debut at the start of this season. So far in 2025, the Poles have delivered a fifth place at the European Rowing Championships and fourth in Lucerne.
The final crew in the event are the home nation, China. Only one of their crew, 36-year-old Dang Liu, has raced on the world stage before. He was a member of the men’s quad that finished seventh at the Tokyo Olympic Games. He also raced on the World Cup circuit in 2022 but hasn’t raced since. The remaining crew members, Chuang Cao, Yushuang Shen, Yufei Xia, Hongyu Xia, Yue Yang, Maolin Zhang, Sheng Cong and Jiayi Song all made international debuts this season. The Chinese raced at both World Rowing Cups, finishing sixth out of the six boats on both occasions.
Prediction
I’ve got to go for GB to extend their victorious run. Behind them, I think the Dutch will take the silver, with Germany holding on to take the bronze.
