Image Credit: World Rowing
The 2025 World Rowing Championships were anticipated with bated breath by those down under. Although for some, the Paris Olympics seem so distant, the worst Australian Olympic rowing result since 1988 was still fresh in the minds of many. With a revamped coaching team and a number of World Championship debutants travelling to Shanghai, many were unsure if they should expect the positive results out of the World Rowing Cup tour to continue, or if the first Championship of the Los Angeles Olympiad would lay bare the challenge ahead of the Rowsellas.
Before official racing began, things looked rosy for the new-look team, with wins in all three reserve races entered. Both men’s and women’s pairs and Marcus Della-Marta in the reserve single took commanding wins, a seemingly positive omen to open the account in Shanghai.
Spirits were quickly dampened, though, with a week that proved challenging for Australia, but it did not end without cause for optimism in the build to 2028.
The Para Team
Australia’s small but mighty para program, now under the tutelage of Briton James Loveday and lead coach, Olympic Gold Medal-winning Christine Maclaren, continued to impress, just as it did in Paris.
Erik Horrie continued to prove that age is just a number, as he collected his eighth World Rowing Championship medal. This bronze was also the closest he’d come to overturning perennial rival Roman Polianski since Horrie won gold in 2018, demonstrating a remarkable upward trajectory as he looks toward his fifth Paralympic Games and that elusive gold.
To say the all-new PR3 Mixed Double of Lisa Greissl and Sam Stunnell had big shoes to fill would be an understatement. The duo made their World Rowing Championships debut in Shanghai, contesting the boat class in which Nikki Ayers and Jed Altschwager won Australia’s first Paralympic rowing Gold in 2024. The duo’s World Rowing Cup performance was hard to read, as a pair of silvers seemed impressive, but with a much smaller field than the one that arrived in China. Any doubts were quickly put to bed, though, as this duo built into the regatta with maturity beyond their international experience. The final was a cracker, and they moved through Great Britain with length and poise to secure a bronze medal, making Sam one of the youngest Australians to claim a senior World Rowing Championship medal. The result makes Lisa the first mother to collect a World Rowing Championship medal for Australia since the late Sarah Tait in 2011, all while her two daughters watched on from the banks.
The Men’s Team
After qualifying no sculling boats for the 2024 Paris Olympics, and results firmly below expectations in the sweep classes, 2025 was a rebuilding year for the Aussie men. After success in the coxless four at both World Rowing Cups and an emphatic victory at Henley Royal Regatta, hopes were high that the team had made progress.
A third world title for Alex Hill was not to be, though, as the coxless four struggled to make inroads on the hot pace of the final. This boat appears to be attacking the race in a markedly different fashion from how they have done previously, with strong base speed but possibly lacking that top end. This contrasts with previous Olympiads, where the four looked on the ragged edge the whole way down the course. It will be interesting to see how this boat can build speed over the coming seasons.
The men’s eight was a particular highlight, despite a fourth-place finish that lay to rest the last hope of a men’s medal in 2025. With seven World Rowing Championship debutants on board, and two Olympians from Paris and Tokyo in Jack Robertson and Angus Dawson, being in touch with the medal-contenders for two-thirds of the race is a strong first hit-out for this young combination. I’d owe this to the vast amounts of high-level eights experience on board, with names such as Alex Nichol, Marcus Emmett, Angus Dawson, Lexi McClean, Harry Manton, Jack Robertson, and Nick Dunlop all having competed at the highest level of university rowing around the world, there’s no doubt this group have the potential to go on to greater things in coming years.
On the sculling side, I’m sure the quad and double had higher hopes for this event after showing promising progression at the World Rowing Cups and Henley Royal Regatta. Another young group, with four of the six men making their World Rowing Championship debuts in China, will be interesting to see how the sculling group progresses. The sculling side hasn’t benefitted from the development of US collegiate athletes in the same way the sweep team has; however, some big names are coming through the U21 and U23 ranks currently. With such a young squad, it’s always hard to say how they will progress over the next few years; however, I was impressed by their performances in Henley, and have no doubt they will only move forward from this week with learnings and a hunger to return Australian sculling to where it was in the early 2000s.
The Women’s Team
The Paris Olympic Games were not quite the disaster it was made out to be for the women’s team. If every crew had finished just one place higher, Australia would have had 12 athletes coming home with Olympic medals, arguably 14 if you applied that to the double’s semifinal. Alas, it has been a similar story of rebuilding in Penrith as in Canberra, with a small group of athletes this year, as a number take a year off to assess their futures.
As a result, the sculling side was limited, represented only by Romy Cantwell in the single. Fresh off a bronze at the U23 World Rowing Championships, the Victorian was promoted to the senior team for Shanghai. Given the calibre of this field, reaching the B-final is a promising result for Cantwell and underlines the depth of talent currently making its way through the U23 ranks in Australia.
It was a case of what could have been for the eight and four. The four, unchanged from the combination that raced in Lucerne, faltered in the final stage of the semifinal. They dominated the B-final, setting a respectable time in slower conditions than the medal race later.
The women’s eight mirrored the lineup in the men’s, with a handful of debutants joined by three Paris Olympians. Their row in the heats was their standout performance of the regatta. After a slightly slow start, they motored through at the 750 and even looked to threaten the top two for much of the race. Qualifying for the final on time, they couldn’t replicate this performance in the medal race, slipping to sixth in the closing stages.
The most interesting thing to watch for the women’s team is how the group evolves over the next 12 months. No members of the Paris team have yet announced official retirement, and although many will, a number are training patiently on the sidelines, some studying or gaining work experience. Additionally, several athletes coming through the U23 ranks will undoubtedly be able to break into the senior ranks ahead of LA. The squad seems to be responding well to their new coaching team, so all is certainly not lost for the ‘Paddling Panthers’.
