Image Credit: World Rowing
2023 Champion: Andrin Gulich + Roman Roeoesli (Switzerland)
Entries: 23
The Tokyo and Paris Olympic champions in this event, Martin and Valent Sinkovic, have moved into the men’s four, and there are no returning medallists from the previous year for the first time since 2017. Shanghai provides an opportunity for new crews to start making their mark in the LA quadrennial. Will it be Romania, Ireland, or Spain – the A-finalists from Paris – stepping up on to the podium? Or will it be new athletes from Switzerland or New Zealand following in the legendary footsteps of their countrymen?
Romania enter as the favourites – Florin Arteni and Florin Sorin Lehaci won gold at both the European Rowing Championships and the Lucerne World Rowing Cup. Both athletes showed talent in pairs early, with Lehaci earning silver at the U19 and U23 World Rowing Championships in 2017 and 2018 before winning the title in 2019. Meanwhile, Arteni won the U19 world title in 2018 and 2019, along with the 2018 Youth Olympic silver. Both athletes qualified for Tokyo in the eight and placed seventh, and spent much of the Paris cycle in eights, fours, and pairs with the best result being Lehaci fourth in the eight at the 2023 World Rowing Championships. The 2024 European Rowing Championships showed their speed in the pair, resulting in a silver medal, and they went on to place fourth in the pair and fifth in the eight in Paris.
The other frontrunner is the pair from New Zealand, who won silver in Lucerne (three seconds off Romania) and gold in Varese (ahead of the Sinkovic brothers). Oliver Welch is somewhat of a pair specialist – he placed fourth at the 2023 U23 World Rowing Championships and won the title in 2024 before moving up to senior this year. Benjamin Taylor has three age-group world medals in bigger boats from 2017-2019, and has progressed well in the senior pair since. 12th at the 2023 World Rowing Cup III was followed by ninth at the 2023 World Rowing Championships and fourth at the 2024 World Rowing Cup III. This crew has momentum and will be in the hunt for gold in Shanghai.
The new Swiss pair has won two bronzes this year – one in Varese (three seconds behind New Zealand) and one in Lucerne (eight seconds off Romania). They placed fifth at the European Rowing Championships earlier in the season and were a similar margin behind the Romanians. Both are Paris Olympians – Jonah Plock placed sixth in the quad, and Patrick Brunner placed ninth in the four. Brunner placed 11th and eighth at the 2022 and 2023 World Rowing Championships (quad and four, respectively), and Plock placed 13th in the pair and fifth in the quad in the same years. In 2024, Plock won silver in the quad at both Europeans and World Rowing Cup III. This pair has performed very consistently this year and a podium finish should be within reach.
Spain picked up bronze at the European Rowing Championships (their fourth European bronze medal in the pair), finishing five seconds behind Romania. They also raced at Henley Royal Regatta this summer, making it to the semifinals. Jaime Canalego Pazos and Javier Garcia Ordonez are both two-time Olympians in the pair, placing fifth in Paris and sixth in Tokyo. In their past five World Rowing Championships, they have never placed lower than seventh and have a world silver medal in the pair from 2022. As some of the most experienced competitors in the field (a combined thirty-two years of international racing), they are always an A-final threat.
Brothers Ralf Rienks and Rik Rienks of the Netherlands will be racing the pair together in Shanghai. As is typical for the Dutch, they raced in completely different disciplines earlier in the season. Ralf raced the four, placing fourth at the European Rowing Championships and winning silver in Varese, while Rik placed 19th in the single at the European Rowing Championships and won bronze in the second Dutch four in Varese. Both brothers are Paris Olympians – Rik placed seventh in the four and Ralf won silver in the eight. They raced the four together twice at the World Rowing Championships, winning bronze in 2022 and placing fourth in 2023. After winning The Silver Goblets & Nickalls’ Challenge Cup this summer, Ralf posted, “Dreamed for more than eight years to race the pair internationally with Rik” – Shanghai will be another opportunity for them to shine, and an A Final finish should be possible.
Fourth place in Lucerne went to South Africa. Cristopher Baxter qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games with a sixth place in the pair at the 2023 World Rowing Championships and placed ninth in Paris. He is reunited with Damien Bonhage-Koen – together they won the 2022 U23 world title in the pair, and placed 11th in the four at the senior World Rowing Championships the same year. It is exciting to see this combination back in action, and they will have their sights on an A-final finish.
Sweden had an excellent result in Lucerne, placing fifth, improving upon their eighth-place finish in Varese. Hugo Nerud and Jonas Richter have rowed the double together since 2023, with a best result of eighth at the 2023 World Rowing Cup II and qualifying for the C-final at the 2023 World Rowing Championships. They also placed fourth at the 2024 Final Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta. The move to two oars instead of four has been very successful and they should be in the mix for the B-final or possibly even the A-final at the 2025 World Rowing Championships.
Two other pairs have been on the border of the A/B Final this season and will be hoping for a top ten finish at the World Rowing Championships. Denmark’s pair of Christian Soendergaard and Kaare Mortensen placed seventh at the European Rowing Championships in the four before switching into the pair, placing seventh in Varese and sixth in Lucerne. Both athletes previously placed 12th in the four at the 2023 World Rowing Championships.
Czechia placed seventh at Euros, 12th in Varese after a very strong heat performance, and seventh in Lucerne. Jakub Podrazil is a three-time Olympian, finishing 13th in London in the four, seventh in Rio in the pair, and 13th in Tokyo in the double. He also has six World Rowing Cup medals in the pair from the Tokyo cycle. Dalibor Nedela won the U23 world title in 2021 in the quad and placed fifth in the pair at the 2024 Final Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta.
Harry Geffen of Great Britain is a very exciting athlete – he is a four-time U23 world champion from 2022-2025, and has raced in every sweep boat class. 2023 was his winning year in the pair, and most recently he won in the eight (for the second time). Geffen stroked the victorious Visitors’ Challenge Cup crew at Henley Royal this year. He is joined by James Vogel, who placed eighth at the European Rowing Championships, fourth in Varese, and eighth in Lucerne. Vogel also made the A-final at the 2021 World Rowing Cup III in the pair and at the 2024 World Rowing Cup III in the four.
Ireland sees the return of Nathan Timoney, for the first time since he raced to a sixth place finish at the Paris Olympic Games with Ross Corrigan. Both are U23 world medallists in the four – silver for Corrigan in 2021 and Timoney in 2022, and they finished eighth in that event at the 2022 World Rowing Championships. In 2023 they switched to the pair and won a world bronze medal. Corrigan finished ninth in the pair at the 2025 European Rowing Championships with a different partner, and will be looking to improve on that placing in Shanghai – it will depend on if they are back in 2024 form or if they are peaking for later in the quadrennial.
Domantas Stankunas of Lithuania placed eighth in the pair at the Paris Olympic Games and fourth this season at the European Rowing Championships (matching his 2022 and 2023 results). He then switched to the four, picking up bronze in Lucerne. As a U23, Stankunas won two world silver medals and two European titles in the pair. His new partner, Povilas Juskevicius, has not raced yet this season – he was the U19 world champion in the single in 2021, and made three consecutive A-finals at the U23 World Rowing Championships from 2022 to 2024 in sculling boats. His best senior World Rowing Championships result was third in the C-final in the quad (2023) – this pair should be in B-final contention in Shanghai.
France will be debuting a new pairing. Florian Ludwig has been racing the pair since 2022 with various partners, placing 17th at the 2022 World Rowing Championships. This season, he placed 12th at Europeans and a promising eighth in Lucerne. He won U23 world bronze in the four in 2023 with Nikola Kolarevic. Kolarevic won European bronze this year in the four and then placed fourth in Lucerne.
Australia has changed its lineup, with Fraser Miscamble joining Nicholas Smith. Smith placed 11th in Varese and ninth in Lucerne and made it to the semifinals at Henley Royal in The Silver Goblets and Nickalls’ Challenge Cup. These two athletes won silver in the men’s four at the U23 World Rowing Championships in 2023. Both France and Australia may place at the bottom of the B-final or top of the C-final.
Edoardo Caramaschi of Italy placed 16th in the pair in Varese. He won U23 world bronze in the pair in 2024, and made the A-final in the four in 2022 and 2023. His new partner, Francesco Pallozzi, won bronze in the eight at both Europeans and the Varese World Rowing Cup this year. This pair has a high ceiling, but Shanghai will be their first international race; on paper, a top-12 finish looks possible, but it may depend on how much training they have been able to do together.
Germany placed tenth at Europeans, 15th in Varese, and 14th in Lucerne. Kasper Virnekaes and Simon Schubert won bronze in the eight together at the 2023 U23 World Rowing Championships, and Virnekaes also has a U19 world bronze in the pair from 2019.
Norway finished 16th at the Lucerne World Rowing Cup this year. Jonathan Wang-Norderud won bronze in this event at the 2023 U23 European Rowing Championships and placed eighth at the 2024 U23 World Rowing Championships in the four. Syvert Senumstad was also part of that eighth place crew in 2024.
Canada is sending a young crew – Maijken Meindertsma placed fourth at the 2024 U23 World Rowing Championships in the eight, and Sam Stewart won a silver medal in the four at last year’s FISU World University Rowing Championships. This summer, they made it to the semifinals of The Visitors’ Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta. Canada, Norway, and Germany should have some good battles in Shanghai.
Hong Kong’s crew includes Chi Fung Chan, who has been racing internationally for eight years. He switched from lightweight sculling to openweight sweeping for the 2024 Final Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta, where he placed fourth in a pairs semifinal. This season, he placed 17th in the pair at Varese. New partner Ching Wong made his debut last season at U23s, and has spent this season in the four, placing 13th in Lucerne.
Chan Yu Xuan and Bin Mohd Rusok Mohd Arif Ashraf of Malaysia are making their international debut, as are Jongwon Moon and Minseong Kang of South Korea.
Ivan Chernukhin is also debuting, but he is paired up with four-time Olympian Vladislav Yakovlev of Kazakhstan. Yakovlev is sweeping for the first time after a long career in the single, with his best result 19th at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Similarly, the neutral crew pairs debutant Aleksei Vorobev with the experienced Roman Lomachev. Lomachev won a European silver medal in the men’s eight in 2016 but has not competed since the 2019 World Rowing Championships.
Prediction
Romania for gold, New Zealand with silver, and Switzerland taking the bronze.
