Image Credit: World Rowing
2023 Champion: Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radis (ROU)
Entries: 12
The 2025 World Rowing Championships in Shanghai, China, serve as the inaugural global event of the new quadrennial, marking a pivotal moment in the lead-up to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. With nearly 900 athletes from 56 nations competing across 23 boat classes, the championships represent a critical opportunity for countries to reset their programs, evaluate new talent, and establish a competitive hierarchy for the next three years. The women’s double sculls is an exciting event, showcasing a field fundamentally altered by the post-Olympic reshuffle.
The women’s double sculls event at the 2025 World Rowing Championships is notable for the complete absence of the podium crews from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The Olympic gold medalists, New Zealand’s Brooke Francis and Lucy Spoors, will not compete. Similarly, the silver medal-winning Romanians, Ancuța Bodnar and Simona Radiș, and the bronze medalists from Great Britain, Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne and Rebecca Wilde, have also moved on from the event. This dramatic shift creates a unique competitive vacuum, where a new generation of crews will vie for dominance.
The spotlight will undoubtedly shine bright on the Chinese pairing of Yunxia Chen and Ling Zhang, who dominated the 2025 World Rowing Cup circuit with commanding victories at Varese and Lucerne. Their flawless season has established them as clear favourites to claim gold on home waters, following their sixth-place finish in the women’s quad at the Paris Olympic Games last year.
France’s Emma Lunatti and Elodie Ravera Scaramozzino emerge from the 2025 World Rowing Cup season as consistent contenders in the women’s double. Their runner-up performance at Lucerne, combined with their fifth-place finish in the event at the Paris Olympic Games, demonstrates the kind of big-race temperament that could serve them well in Shanghai’s high-pressure environment.
Netherlands’ Roos de Jong and Benthe Boonstra bring impressive individual pedigrees – de Jong’s Varese silver and European Rowing Championship success, along with multiple Olympic sculling medals from Tokyo and Paris, paired with Boonstra’s Olympic gold in the women’s coxless four from Paris, make them a particularly exciting combination despite their relatively new partnership.
Greece’s Evangelia Anastasiadou and Zoi Fitsiou have quietly assembled an impressive 2025 campaign, highlighted by their third-place finish at Lucerne and a strong European Rowing Championships showing. Their Henley Royal Regatta Stonor Challenge Trophy victory earlier this season demonstrates their ability to perform in various environments. Don’t overlook Ireland’s Zoe Hyde and Maggie Cremen, who were fourth at the European Rowing Championships this year. Both athletes are Paris Olympians, combining members of Ireland’s heavyweight and lightweight doubles crews.
Spain’s Aina Cid I Centelles and Virginia Diaz Rivas represent an intriguing wildcard pairing. Virginia Diaz Rivas was tenth in the women’s single at the European Rowing Championships, while Cid I Centelles placed sixth in the women’s pair. The AIN duo of Tatsiana Klimovich and Alena Furman are surely looking to build on their fourth-place finish in Lucerne.
The United States is sending a newly formed pairing to Shanghai, with Isa Darvin and Grace Joyce set to race the women’s double. Grace Joyce is a Paris 2024 Olympian who competed in the women’s quad, while Isa Darvin is a multi-medalist from the 2023 Pan American Games. Joyce’s solid World Rowing Cup performances this season, including fourth at Varese, suggest America could be ready to challenge the established European powers.
Great Britain, a consistent powerhouse in international rowing, has also fielded a new crew for the women’s double sculls. With Paris bronze medalist Becky Wilde having moved to the women’s quadruple sculls, the responsibility now falls to the all-Warrington pairing of Lucy Glover and Cam Nyland. While a new combination, the crew benefits from a deep and successful national system. Lucy Glover brings extensive experience in the women’s quad at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and has won multiple medals at the U23 World Rowing Championships.
Switzerland’s crew of Salome Ulrich and Fabienne Schweizer had a solid start to the quadrennial at the World Rowing Cups earlier this year, placing fifth in Varese and seventh in Lucerne. Schweizer was a member of the Swiss women’s quad, which placed fourth in Paris, so I am keen to see the step up in speed this crew has made leading into the World Rowing Championships. Both athletes have had immense success at the U23 level, and it would be thrilling to see that at the elite level.
Uzbekistan’s combination is another very interesting duo. Tokyo silver medalist Anna Prakaten pairs with lightweight sculler Malika Tagmatova. We are yet to see Prakaten back on her Tokyo form; however, she had a solid World Rowing Cup season in the women’s single, placing sixth in Varese and 12th in Lucerne.
Prediction
While China may hold the favourites’ tag, any of six or seven crews could realistically find themselves on the podium in the minor medals. The Dutch combination has an excellent pedigree, making it my pick for silver. Finally, the Greeks will cap off their spectacular season with bronze.
