Image Credit: World Rowing
2023 Champion: Veronique Meester + Ymkje Clevering (Netherlands)
Entries: 17
For the first time since the 2009 World Rowing Championships, no medallists from the previous year are competing. With such an open field and only two World Rowing Cups in 2025, many crews could impact Shanghai. Who will establish themselves as the early leaders in the LA quadrennial?
The frontrunner for this event is Romania, who won the Lucerne World Rowing Cup and the European title this year (setting a new European best time). The legendary Simona Radis is a triple Olympic medallist (gold and silver in Paris, gold in Tokyo), four-time World Rowing Championship medallist, and ten-time European medallist. She joins two-time Olympian and Paris Olympic champion Maria Magdalena Rusu, who also placed fourth in the four and sixth in the eight in Tokyo. Rusu is also a ten-time European medallist, including an unbroken winning streak in the eight from 2019 through 2024. This pair will set their sights on gold (and catch them both in the mixed eight on the final day).
However, Laura Meriano and Alice Codato from Italy pose a significant threat. At the European Rowing Championships, they led the field to the 1000m mark, well under World Best Time pace, and held on for silver behind the Romanians. The Italians also won bronze in the eight at Euros, and at the Varese World Rowing Cup, won gold in the pair and placed fifth in the eight. Meriano is a three-time World Rowing Championships competitor and four-time age group world medallist. Codato is a Paris Olympian, placing sixth in the eight, and has raced the pair twice at the World Rowing Championships in 2022 and 2023. Like the Romanians, the pair from Italy are racing the mixed eight after the pairs racing is over, meaning we will see a true showdown of these two crews.
Bronze at the Varese World Rowing Cup went to Czechia, and Anna Santruckova and Pavlina Flamikova followed that up with a silver in Lucerne (six seconds behind Romania). They were close to Italy in the heat at the European Rowing Championships before placing sixth in the final. Both athletes are Paris Olympians – Santruckova placed eighth in the double and Flamikova tenth in the pair. Flamikova placed fourth in the pair at the 2024 European Rowing Championships, and Santruckova has an U19 world title and Youth Olympic Games silver in the pair (2018-2019), along with the 2025 World University Games title in the single. This crew could be a solid bet for a medal in Shanghai.
Serbia has only raced once this year, placing fourth at the European Rowing Championships (eight seconds behind Romania). Jovana Arsic has been racing internationally since 2009, and has seen great results in the past three years – she became the 2024 European champion in the single after a bronze in 2023. At the 2023 World Rowing Championships, she placed ninth in the single to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games, where she won the C-final. Elena Orjabinskaja is a Tokyo Olympic silver medallist in the pair and a two-time world bronze medallist in the four (2017, 2018). The 2025 European Rowing Championships was her first international race in five years, but this crew should be a solid bet for the A-final.
Lise Loetscher and Celia Dupre of Switzerland have a long history together, winning the U19 World Rowing Championship quad title in 2018 and the U23 title in 2021. At the senior level, they placed fourth in the quad at both the 2023 World Rowing Championships and the Paris Olympic Games, and picked up bronze at the 2023 World Rowing Cup III. This year, they switched to sweeping, won the B-final in Varese, and then placed sixth in Lucerne, finishing 11 seconds off Romania. With a good summer training block under their belt, the A-final should be within reach in Shanghai. Loestcher will be doubling into the mixed eight and Dupre into the mixed double.
Chile’s iconic pair of sisters (quadruplets) got the best of Switzerland at the Varese World Rowing Cup, placing fifth, but then winning the B-final in Lucerne to finish seventh and one place behind. These two pairs should have a great rivalry at the World Rowing Championships – typically within a one-second margin when they race directly. Melita Abraham is a Rio Olympian in the lightweight double, but has mostly rowed the pair with Antonia Abraham. They have won the U23 world title (2017) and a bronze medal (2018), qualified for the Paris Olympic Games with a fifth place at the 2023 World Rowing Championships, and finished ninth in Paris. The Abrahams will be gunning for another A-final finish at the 2025 World Rowing Championships.
Ireland’s form is entirely unknown, but they will likely be strong competitors. Aoife Casey and Emily Hegarty are racing internationally for the first time since the Paris Olympic Games – and Aoife Casey is making her sweep and senior heavyweight debut. She placed fifth in Paris in the lightweight double and eighth in Tokyo, winning a world bronze medal in 2022. Hegarty is also a two-time Olympian who won the B-final in Paris and a bronze medal in Tokyo in the women’s four event.
Kamile Kralikaite of Lithuania placed fifth in the pair at the Paris Olympic Games. She won a silver medal in the pair at the 2022 U23 World Rowing Championships and became U23 world champion the following year. A tenth-place finish at the 2023 World Rowing Championships qualified her for the Olympic Games. Ugne Juzenaite is making her sweep debut after spending most of her career in the double (catch her racing the mixed double in Shanghai as well), with a 2024 U23 bronze and 2019 U19 bronze in that event. She also placed seventh at this year’s European Rowing Championships. This pair recently won the World University Games and should be near the top of the B-final.
South Africa’s pair of Courtney Westley and Katherine Williams made it a nailbiter at the World University Games, with a powerful sprint that narrowed their margin off Lithuania to 1.01s. Williams has a U23 world bronze medal to her name in the single and a 2023 World Rowing Cup I bronze in the double. Westley was an A-finalist at the U23 World Rowing Championships in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Their rematch with Lithuania should be exciting.
Jessica Thoennes of the United States of America returns to the pair for the first time since the Paris Olympic Games, where she placed fourth. She also competed at the Tokyo Olympic Games, placing fourth in the eight, and has a World Rowing Championships silver medal from 2023 in the same event. In 2025, Thoennes won silver in the eight in Varese and placed fifth in the women’s four at both the Varese and Lucerne World Rowing Cups. She is joined by Holly Drapp, who made her senior debut this year – she won silver in the eight at the Lucerne World Rowing Cup and placed fifth (with Thoennes) in the four. Drapp’s 12th place in the pair at the Varese World Rowing Cup may predict a high B-final finish for this crew.
Eleanor Price of Australia finished tenth in the pair in Varese, with Taylor Caudle in her international debut. Price’s best results were in 2022 racing in the eight – she won two World Rowing Cup medals and placed fifth at the World Rowing Championships.
Great Britain are sending a new combination, with Jade Lindo making her flatwater rowing debut. She raced at the 2022 World Beach Sprint Finals and recently placed ninth in the April GBR Trials in the pair. Elizabeth Witt joins her after a good summer of racing, placing sixth at the Lucerne and Varese World Rowing Cups in the four. She is also a U23 silver medallist from 2022 in the women’s eight.
Denmark has entered Clara Hornnaess and Frida Werner Foldager, both Paris Olympians who made history with the first Danish women’s eight to compete at that level. In this boat class, they are fresh off a bronze medal at the U23 World Rowing Championships.
China’s crew also includes a Paris Olympian, Shuxian Zhang. She placed sixth in the women’s four at the Olympics, after placing fifth and sixth in that event at the 2022 and 2023 World Rowing Championships. Hairong Zhang raced in the eight at both the World Rowing Championships, placing sixth and seventh respectively, before placing third at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta and just missing a spot in Paris. This crew placed 11th in Varese and tenth in Lucerne, and they hope to hang on to a B-final placing on home waters.
The crew from France pairs youth and experience. Hezekia Peron made her national team debut last year and has made three A-Finals at the U23 World Rowing Championships, doubling up in the four and eight in 2025. Emma Cornelis has been racing internationally since 2017, with her best results fourth at the 2024 and 2025 European Rowing Championships in the women’s four event.
The neutral athletes placed seventh at the European Rowing Championships and 13th in Varese. Valentina Plaksina is a multiple medallist at the U23 World Rowing Championships, including gold in the four in 2018. Marina Rubtsova won a medal in the U23 coxed four the same year.
Hong Kong has entered Sheung Yee Wong and King Wan Leung, who recently placed 17th in the pair at the Varese World Rowing Cup and tenth in the four at the Lucerne World Rowing Cup.
Prediction
A barn-burner race with Romania just ahead of Italy, and Czechia for bronze.
