Shanghai beckoned in 2021 but the rowing world was shut out by China’s Covid precautions and draconian quarantine rules. Now, four years later, the city which describes itself as the heart of rowing in China is putting on its best show for the rowers of all continents.
The drama is being enacted on the Dianshan Lake, a massive body of water to the west of Shanghai central, four times the size of Varese and 130 times bigger than the Rotsee. Out of the watery expanse, a suitably Rotsee-sized chunk has been enclosed on the southeastern edge to deliver a neat rowing course with the boathouses to the left as you look from the grandstands, with racing running right to left. Bumpy conditions but reasonably flat water under an overcast and muggy sky made for a nervy first session.
In a change to the usual schedule — and probably due to the local mayor’s calendar — the opening ceremony took place four hours after the end of the week’s first session of rowing rather than the day before, but it gave an interesting flavour to the day.
A celebratory shindig at the “Water Courtyard” on the slowly-flowing Taipu River was based around a team parade in boats, which apparently the local organising committee insisted upon. Just one representative per country, two to an elderly sampan propelled by a single stern-standing Venetian style sculler, the rowing reps waving flags and doing their best toothpaste-advert smiles as they passed the assembled dignitaries. This was a long chunk and rather tedious but the flanking intro and finale sections improved matters.
At the start after some surprisingly error-free rowing-based cartoon videos and a high-octane K-pop flavoured entry dance had come a story clip about a lonely little AI robot called Ting Ting who liked the idea of watersports but was stymied by the risk of short-circuiting. Spotting an advert for these championships in his home city he embarked on a despondent tramp through Shanghai, eventually finding a gym where he could learn to row on an erg, his dogged persistence to get it right bigging up the ceremony’s nod to the inherent traits found in top rowers.
And then with a sense of mimicking Olympic ceremonies which move from virtual to reality, Ting Ting slid from the screen to the water in front of us. A real coup for his designers, a metal version of the film robot was ‘stroking’ a quad with plenty of body swing but naturally no leg action, in a juniors row-past. On the good side he was pretty steady on the rate (his bow three clearly had trouble following the ultra-slow cadence) but it was at this point we discovered not even AI-powered robots can learn to square and feather, so his spoons were just sliding along the water without any attempt to catch. Impressive, nevertheless.
The speeches were short and to the point, the whole thing finished early at a sleek 45 minutes (always a bonus) and the finale pumped up the action, a Chinese drum team raising the adrenaline while the 2025 theme pop song rang out with gusto. Finished off with an exuberant troop of juniors waving massive event flags as they weaved around the audience, and a brief fireworks burst against the evening sky, it was a lesson in pithy and effective ceremony-planning.
Day One: 2025 World Rowing Championships in Pictures
Earlier in the day those members of the rowing world who hadn’t yet been to an event this summer got introduced to the new World Rowing guillotine format of the heats. For those who haven’t spotted it, repechages have been done away with (so this may be the last time that particular French noun is used) and in each heat the one, two or three quickest crews get straight to the semi or quarterfinal. The rest are decided purely on time across all heats and the losers immediately relegated to the C final or worse. No second chances and all boats in the event racing one another from the first millisecond.
As a result the tight times in the women’s quads stretched their impact across both races. With two straight to the final and only two more places left it became a straight battle between Poland, Switzerland, Canada and New Zealand. Result: the Canucks and Kiwis just edged the other two out, albeit in two different races. The Maple Leafers were a tiny 0.34 seconds ahead of Poland, who just nipped in before the Swiss, but neither could escape the B-final.
The opposite effect cropped up in the men’s quads where the third heat didn’t go quickly enough. This shut out Ireland’s foursome and Croatia, who as recently as 12 years ago were the best in the world, everyone else getting through. The system does risk crosswind impact being bigger, but since the top two (in this case) do get automatic spots regardless of time, the risk isn’t that different from leaving it to be decided in a repechage which might be equally hit by weather.
The races for lanes in the very undersubscribed men’s and women’s lightweight doubles gave wins to China, with a commendably sturdy second to Indonesia in the men’s event.
The other events in action were the pairs, the Dutch and British men both leading for the first half of their races before being overhauled yet still going quickly enough to clinch places via third. This was due to the quality of the Spanish (in the GBR heat) and French (in the NED heat) who sprang formidable sprints in time to clinch wins, with the Swedish and Swiss behind them respectively. It was no surprise to see Romania lead through heat two, with Ireland towed into second, and the Kiwis produced the fourth win with a respectable performance from South Africa behind them.
Romania’s latest formidable women’s pair is Simona Radis and Maria Rusu, who promptly set the quickest time whilst winning their race, leaving the rest in their dust. France and Serbia won the other two races but it was Ireland, Hong Kong and the individual neutral athletes who lost out.
Tuesday sees more small boats in action: doubles, fours and singles, including the PR1 para-singles. The PR1 W1x is disappointingly undersubscribed, leaving a straight final without any of the top three from Paris — all veterans of the racing scene who have earned either a year out or retirement. Warmer weather on Monday and getting humid ahead of what may be thunderstorms on Tuesday.
