Greece topped the medal table at the 2026 World Rowing Under-23 Championships on Sunday, closing the four-day regatta in Duisburg with four gold and two silver medals.
The USA matched Greece’s gold total and finished with one silver and one bronze, while Great Britain collected three titles and three silvers. The final day of racing also brought first medals in lightweight single sculls for Peru, Portugal and Kazakhstan, two German victories on home water, and a seventh consecutive British triumph in the men’s eight.
2026 World Rowing Under 23 Championships
Sendjuk Takes Her Chance at Home
Nathalie Sendjuk delivered Germany’s first victory of the day in a tightly contested lightweight women’s single sculls final featuring defending champion Melissa Schincariol of Italy and Maryia Barysevich, racing as an Individual Neutral Athlete.
The opening stages kept the leading contenders close, but Sendjuk’s middle 1000m changed the shape of the race. She was more than three seconds clear by 1500m before holding her form as the contest for the remaining medals tightened behind her.
Barysevich took silver, while Luciana Zegarra made the strongest late charge. The Peruvian surged through the final 500m to claim bronze, finishing 0.26 seconds ahead of American Ela Ersan and securing Peru’s first medal in the event. Schincariol slipped to fifth.
“It’s incredible. It’s my home country and it’s been the hardest past six months of my life, and now I’m here, standing being a world champion,” Sendjuk told World Rowing.
Germany struck again in the lightweight men’s double sculls as Naveen Alexander Shah and Maximilian Ruehling converted their 2025 silver into gold. They attacked from the start and remained clear, leaving France and Serbia to fight over the other podium positions.
Leo Desmolles and Albin Delacommune pushed France through for silver in the closing quarter. Serbia took bronze, its first medal in this boat class, after appearing capable of holding second through the middle of the course.
Veloso Times His Charge
Portugal’s Joao Veloso arrived in Duisburg with senior-level form after winning World Rowing Cup I in Seville in May. An assured final performance saw Veloso, who turned 19 three weeks ago, add the lightweight men’s single sculls world under-23 title to his win record.
Mikita Karneyeu, racing as a neutral athlete, had a quick start but Greece’s Angelos Athanasiadis never looked out of contention, and made ground through the middle thousand. Veloso sculled through from fifth place, ramping up the pressure from around 750m in, and crossed halfway in third. He only took the lead in the final quarter.
Athanasiadis held on for silver. Artem Matussevich claimed bronze, giving Kazakhstan its first medal in the event, while Veloso became Portugal’s first medallist and champion in the boat class.
“It just shows that all my effort and all my teammates’ efforts are finally being rewarded,” Veloso said.
Greece Keeps Control of the Lightweight Women’s Double
Paschalina Mouratidou and Gavriela Lioliou extended Greece’s command of the lightweight women’s double, leading throughout to secure the country’s fourth consecutive title in the event.
For Mouratidou and Lioliou, it was their second straight championship together. France’s Rose Gallen collected another silver, this time alongside Elena Chevrier da Costa, while Germany’s Melina Reinke and Charlotte Bergmann beat Italy for bronze.
“We’re very happy with what we did today,” Lioliou said. “It was a very nice race, we enjoyed it very much and we’re very happy to keep the title.”
Greece also claimed the first-ever under-23 mixed double sculls, finishing ahead of Romania. Germany took bronze.
Britain’s Eight Makes It Seven
Great Britain’s new men’s eight crew arrived in Duisburg seeking a seventh consecutive title. A problem at the start, when the boat slipped out of its starting shoe, delayed the race but did not disturb the defending champions.
The British eight led by a canvas at 500m with the USA applying pressure and Australia also inside the leading group. Britain edged away through the middle 1000m, but by the smallest of margins, leaving the Americans close enough to challenge throughout the closing quarter.
Great Britain extended the margin in the last 500m, crossing the line in 5:31.94, with the USA 1.04 seconds behind. New Zealand, last at the first marker and fourth at halfway, rowed through Australia to take bronze in 5:34.98.
“You always know it’s going to be a tough race in a championships, and the only thing you can do at that point is just pull hard,” Britain’s Matthew Johnston said.
Natalia Toms became the first British woman to cox a men’s eight to gold at both under-19 and under-23 level. “All you can really do is deal with the hand you’ve got,” Toms said of the delayed start. “I felt like, if anything, we came out the other side of that start much stronger than the other crews because we kept our heads cool.”
American Eights Close with Two Golds
The USA women’s eight established open water during the third 500m and won in 6:05.70, finishing 6.36 seconds ahead of Great Britain. Germany claimed bronze after pressuring the British crew through the sprint.
The result extended the American BW8+ podium sequence to 20 consecutive editions of the under-23 championships. Katherine Nordheim said the crew’s trust had allowed it to deliver under final-day pressure.
The American mixed eight then became the first champions in the new event. Athletes from the gold-medal women’s four and bronze-medal men’s four combined under cox Michael Kain, established an early advantage and resisted Romania’s finishing charge to win in 5:52.47.
Those two victories completed what USRowing described as the country’s best performance in Olympic boat classes at an under-23 world championships.
Young Takes Silver Behind Romania’s History Maker
Romania’s Bianca-Camelia Ifteni won the women’s single sculls after overhauling Spain’s fast-starting Esther Fuerte Chacon, while 18-year-old Sophia Young (IRL) took silver. It’s the first time Romania have medalled in the women’s single sculls at the under-23 worlds.
The Belfast sculler was outside the leading three through the first quarter and remained third at 1500m. She then moved past Fuerte Chacon to secure silver, Ireland’s second medal of the championships after Jonah Kirby and Jack Rafferty took bronze in the men’s double on Saturday.
There was more history made in the men’s single sculls. Portugal’s Diogo Goncalves, who fell to Olympic champion Olli Zeidler in the final of the Diamond Challenge Sculls at Henley Royal and has been looking sharp in the World Cup series this season, delivered a well-timed effort in Duisburg to secure his country’s first gold medal in this boat class. Overall, it was the third gold medal of the championships for Portugal: BM2x, BLM1x, and BM1x.
Germany’s Jesse Ilsemann started fast, but faded through the second half, while the defending champion from Turkey, Cevdet Ege Mutlu, was unable to get a foothold in the final. The minor medals were fought over by Italy’s Marco Selva, Greece’s Nikolaos Cholopoulos and Denmark’s August Wisholm. Cholopoulos won silver 0.06 second ahead of the Dane, who finished 0.22 seconds up on Italy.
Goncalves said: “The race was so crazy. It’s an incredible race. It’s an incredible feeling, it’s a moment so special in my career.”
