Image Credit: World Rowing
Entries: 10
The first-ever mixed eight world champions will be crowned in Shanghai. This exciting new event will be raced entirely on the final day (along with the mixed double), and must be composed of athletes who have already raced in another event. With only three entries at the Varese World Cup and most lineups changing completely, there is no formbook for these ten crews. New strategies, lineups, and stories will be displayed in Shanghai – we get to witness history in the making!
The United States of America can be considered the frontrunners in this event, since they claimed the 2023 Pan American Games title and the 2025 Varese World Rowing Cup title. However, only coxswain Cristina Castagna (Paris Olympian, placing fifth in the women’s eight) has raced in the crew before (in Varese). The USA mixed eight will feature the Varese women’s coxless four winners and women’s eight silver medallists Kate Knifton, Teal Cohen, Azja Czajkowski (all Paris Olympians) and Camille Vandermeer. They are joined by Paris men’s eight bronze medallist Chris Carlson and Nathan Phelps, who are racing the men’s quad, along with Olympian Billy Bender and Jacob Hudgins, who are racing the men’s eight.
The Netherlands should pose a significant medal threat based on their incredible versatility and decorated lineup. The women’s coxless four of Nika Johanna Vos, Hermine Drenth, Tinka Offereins, and Ymjke Clevering are doubling up into the women’s eight and the mixed eight. Drenth, Offereins, and Clevering are all Paris gold medallists (women’s coxless four, women’s coxless four, and women’s pair respectively) and have doubled up at the World Rowing Championships before, all winning silver in both their small boats and the women’s eight back in 2022. Vos has two silvers and a gold from this season’s regattas. Leonard Van Lierop, Gert-Jan Van Doorn, and Mick Makker are Paris medallists, Van Lierop gold in the men’s quad and Van Doorn/Makker silver in the men’s eight. Lierop and Van Doorn will also be racing the men’s coxless four with Guillaume Krommenhoek, 2025 European silver medallist in the men’s eight (with coxswain Jonna De Vries), while Makker is stroking the men’s eight.
On the women’s side, Romania is basically synonymous with the eight. Can they establish dominance in the mixed eight, too? Legendary stroke seat Simona Radis (triple Olympic medallist), Magdalena Rusu, Maria Lehaci, and coxswain Victoria Stefania Petreanu are all Paris gold medallists in the women’s eight. Andrada-Maria Morosanu is a three-time U23 world champion in the women’s double. Radis and Rusu will be racing the women’s pair, Lehaci the women’s eight, and Morosanu the women’s quad. Sergiu Vasile Bejan, Stefan Constantin Berariu, and Ciprian Tudosa placed fifth in the men’s coxless four in Paris, and all raced in Tokyo as well (Tudosa to silver in the men’s pair). They have had a very successful season in the men’s coxless four with Andrei Mandrila – gold at the European Rowing Championships followed by silver in Lucerne. In Shanghai, Bejan and Berariu move into the men’s eight instead.
Germany finished just 0.33 seconds behind the USA in the Varese mixed eight, and they have five athletes returning. Tabea Schenedekehl is a Paris bronze medallist in the women’s quad and will also be racing in the women’s eight + with Luise Bachmann, four-time age group world medallist, and Anna Haertl who placed fourth in Varese. Frauke Hundeling won gold in the women’s quad in Lucerne and silver at both Europeans and the Varese World Rowing Cup. All of the men have raced the men’s eight this year; they placed fourth at the European Rowing Championships, silver in Varese, and gold in Lucerne – Soenke Kruse, Theis Hagemeister, Julius Christ, Paul Klapperich and coxswain Jonas Wiesen. Kruse, Christ, and Wiesen are Paris Olympians.
Italy has replaced almost every crew member from Varese, where they placed third. The exception is coxswain Alessandra Faella, a Paris Olympian and bronze medallist from the European Rowing Championships and Varese this year (men’s eight). Alice Codato, Aisha Rocek, and Elisa Mondelli raced the women’s eight in Paris, placing sixth. Codato has won gold and silver in the pair with Laura Meriano this season, along with European bronze in the women’s eight with Mondelli. Giacomo Gentilli and Andrea Panizza won silver in Paris, placed fifth in Tokyo in the men’s quad, and recently won gold in Varese. Davide Comini placed 12th in Paris in the pair and will be racing the four with Alfonso Scalzone – they have won bronze in the men’s eight at the European Rowing Championships and the Varese World Rowing Cup this season.
New Zealand are combining their women’s coxless four, men’s pair, and two of their men’s coxless four for the mixed eight. Paris Olympian Alana Sherman, Isla Blake, and Rebecca Leigh placed fourth in Varese and then won bronze in Lucerne with Juliette Lequex. Benjamin Taylor and Oliver Welch won gold in Varese and silver in Lucerne in the pair. Campbell Crouch and Flynn Eliadis-Watson placed sixth and seventh in the four at the same competitions. Coxswain Harrison Molloy placed fifth in the U23 coxed four in 2023.
Switzerland’s women include two fourth-place finishers in the Paris women’s quad: Fabienne Schweizer and Lisa Loetscher, who will be racing the women’s double and women’s pair, respectively. Salome Ulrich and Nina Wettstein are 2021 U23 world champions in the women’s quad and will race in the women’s double and women’s quad, respectively. Olivia Nacht will make her coxing debut after she rows in the women’s quad earlier in the week. Maurin Lange and Kai Schaetzle are Paris Olympians (men’s quad and men’s coxless four), who will be racing in the men’s openweight single and men’s openweight double – Schaetzle won gold at the Lucerne World Rowing Cup. Jonah Plock and Patrick Brunner are both Paris Olympians (men’s quad and men’s coxless four) and won two bronzes in the pair this year in Varese and Lucerne.
China will be looking for a good showing at their home World Rowing Championships. Zifeng Wang, Xinyu Lin, and Rui Ju from the women’s coxless four are all Olympians. Wang and Ju are Tokyo bronze medallists in the women’s eight. Wang also placed sixth in the women’s coxless four in Paris, and Lin placed fifth in the women’s coxless four in Tokyo. Ling Zhang is a three-time Olympian in the women’s quad – sixth in Rio, gold medallist in Tokyo, and sixth in Paris. This season, she has moved to the double and won gold in both Varese and Lucerne. The men are less experienced, with Dang Liu being the only Olympian (seventh in the men’s quad in Tokyo). Sheng Cong, Maolin Zhang, and coxswain Jiayi Song have raced in the eight this year, placing sixth in Varese and Lucerne, and will be joined by Liu in the men’s eight. Wangjia Wangjia is in the men’s quad and has placed seventh and sixth in Varese and Lucerne.
Czechia’s boat includes their very successful women’s pair of Anna Santruckova and Pavlina Flamikova (both Paris Olympians), who won bronze in Varese and silver in Lucerne. Michala Popsilova and Alzbeta Zavadilova will be racing the women’s quad – they won bronze in Varese and placed fourth in Lucerne. Jakub Podrazil (three-time Olympian) and Dalibor Nedela are the men’s pair this season, winning the B-final at the European Rowing Championships and in Lucerne. Martin Jezek and Jan Cizek are the reigning U23 world champions in the men’s quad and B-final winners in Lucerne. Coxswain Monika Perglerova makes her international debut.
Hong Kong features three scullers—Wing Yan Winne Hung from the lightweight men’s single and their lightweight women’s double of Wing Wun Leung and debutant Claire Susan Burley. King Wan Leung races in the women’s pair, and her pair partner Sheung Yee Wong will take the coxswain role. Leung, Wong, and Hung recently placed tenth in the women’s four in Lucerne. Tik Lun Chan, Pak Hong Chen, San Tung Lam, and Siu Po To are the men’s coxless four, and placed 13th in Lucerne.
Prediction
Netherlands for gold, Romania for silver, and the USA for bronze.
Author’s Notes:
- New Zealand, Czechia, Hong Kong, and Switzerland are not fielding either a men’s or women’s eight. Hong Kong and Switzerland have rowers slated to cox their mixed eights!
- Current seating orders show that the most popular lineup is female bow four / male stern four (China, USA, Hong Kong, Italy, and Netherlands), followed by male middle four (Czechia, Germany, Romania). New Zealand and Switzerland have a female stroke seat and a female bow three.
- Maurin Lange of Switzerland is the only openweight single sculler who has also entered the mixed eight. If he makes the A or B Final in the men’s openweight single, he will be hotseating into the mixed eight.
- For nearly two years, I have been the only known athlete with two international mixed eight appearances (at the 2014 Commonwealth Rowing Championships and the 2023 Pan Am Games). After Shanghai, there will be eight more athletes who can claim the same: Cristina Castagna (USA), Alessandra Faella (ITA), and Germans Anna Haertl, Paul Klapperich, Soenke Kruse, Theis Hagemeister, and Frauke Hundeling.
