Defending champions started victoriously, unfazed by the headwinds and shifting waters, on the first day of racing at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Duisburg, but it was a soggy start for one Swiss sculler.
Australia’s Sam Stunell, Italy’s Melissa Schincariol, Türkiye’s Cevdet Ege Mutlu, and Greece’s lightweight women’s double all began their title defences successfully at the Wedau Regatta Course. Thursday’s 45-race programme covered preliminary races and heats across singles, pairs, doubles, fours, quads and eights.
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Australia Leads the PR3 Singles
Australia’s Susannah Lutze won the first race of the championships, taking the PR3 women’s single preliminary well ahead of Spain’s Rocio Fraguela Moas. Uzbekistan’s Dinara Belyanina recovered from an uncertain start and pursued Fraguela Moas through the remainder of the course, finishing third.
All three will return for Saturday’s medal race.
Stunell then established the early order in the PR3 men’s single. The defending under-23 champion won comfortably, with Italy’s Igor Zappa second and Uzbekistan’s 16-year-old Akbarali Abduvaliev third after a strong second half.
Erwan Chamouleau, the 16-year-old Frenchman and youngest athlete at the championships, finished quickly to pass Germany’s Jan Rothlaender for fourth.
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Champions Advance in the Lightweight Boats
Germany’s Nathalie Sendjuk recorded the fastest winning time in the lightweight women’s single, taking the first heat by a clear margin over Peru’s Luciana Segarra. Defending champion Schincariol took the second heat, although her time was slower than Sendjuk’s.
Individual Neutral Athlete Maryia Barysevich qualified in second behind Schincariol. Ela Ersan of the United States and Norway’s Ane Elinsdatter Bergene secured the two time-based places in the six-boat final.
The lightweight men’s single required three heats to establish its semifinal field. Greece’s Angelos Athanasiadis Kaoudis moved from third to first during the third 500m to win the opener, while Portugal’s 19-year-old World Rowing Cup I winner Joao Veloso passed Germany’s Luca Britten before halfway and controlled heat two.
Kazakhstan’s Artem Matussevich won the final heat after an early contest with three-time under-23 medallist Luca Borgonovo of Italy.
In the lightweight crew boats, reigning champions Gavriela Lioliou and Paschalina Mouratidou of Greece won the women’s double preliminary comfortably ahead of France. Serbia and Germany won the two men’s double heats, with Moldova the only crew eliminated from the seven-boat field.
Singles Contenders Survive Close Heats
The openweight women’s single brought several of the expected contenders to the front. Greek 19-year-old Varvara Lykomitrou, already a world champion at junior level and in the under-23 double, held off Ukraine’s Iryna Batsalai in the opening heat. It was an impressive performance from the Ukrainian, one that will surely boost her confidence ahead of the semifinals.
Ireland’s Sophia Young won the second heat after gaining senior experience in the double during this season’s World Rowing Cup series.
“It was good, it was a tough heat,” said Young, speaking to World Rowing after the race. “The course is really nice, you can hear the cheering along the banks.”
Romania’s Bianca-Camelia Ifteni won heat three ahead of Dutch sculler Jente Jongsma. Spain’s Esther Fuerte Chacon completed the heat winners, beating Great Britain’s Megan Knight in the fourth race, which started swimmingly for Switzerland’s Seraina Stirnimann who capsized on the first stroke.
The men’s single opened with one of the morning’s tightest finishes. Germany’s Jesse Ilsemann led for much of heat one, but Greece’s Nikolaos Cholopoulos launched an all-out attack to catch him at the line. Behind them China’s Mingyu Liu rowed through Levi Munster (USA) to take third place.
Portugal’s 2025 bronze medallist Diogo Goncalves led throughout the second heat, cruising to the finish line ahead of Slovakia’s Peter Strecansky, who narrowly retained the other automatic qualifying place ahead of Lithuania’s Mykolas Montvila.
Denmark’s August Wisholm recovered from a slow opening to win heat three, while defending champion Mutlu took the fourth ahead of Spain’s Mikel Mardaras Peters.
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New Pairings Win Opening Heats
The United States led throughout the first women’s pair heat, with Romania coming through the field for second. Australia won heat two by a length from Great Britain, while the AIN crew controlled the third ahead of Greece.
Australia’s Imogen Grey said it was her first race in the combination. “It was a really exciting race. It was our first time racing the pair together, so it was a good experience to get out there and see what we can do.”
Great Britain’s men’s pair also won on its first competitive appearance together. China started fastest, but Romania and Britain passed them during the second 500m before the British crew took command.
“We had no idea how fast anyone else is,” Britain’s 2022 U19 JM8+ silver medallist Tom Griffin said. “We were happy with our middle thousand, we knew it was going to be a long race, so we just tried to find a good base rhythm and sit there as long as we could.”
Greece won the second heat, with Belgium claiming the other automatic place in a close finish. Australia beat Italy in heat three.
Doubles Deliver Tight Qualification Races
Poland won the first women’s double heat ahead of France. Sixteen-year-olds Tatiana Cherkosova and Aleksandra Grigoreva, racing as AIN2, comfortably took heat two, while Greece’s Dimitra Kontou and new partner Eleni Diavati won the third ahead of Lithuania.
Germany then defeated defending champions Italy in a close opening heat of the men’s double. Ireland’s 2025 junior world champions Jonah Kirby and Jack Rafferty won the second following a sprint against Romania.
Portugal controlled heat three despite the difficult conditions, with Türkiye taking second. Greece won the final heat before Belgium secured the last automatic place ahead of Latvia and the United States.
Fours open the afternoon
Racing moved into fours, quads and eights in the afternoon. Three medical substitutions were confirmed before racing: Dominic Casey replaced Fionn McDonnell in Ireland’s BM4-, Teuntje Mollee replaced Liza Kooi in the Dutch BW8+, and Julius Watzka replaced Leon Gronbach in Germany’s BM8+.
The USA won the opening women’s four heat, with South Africa moving into second through a strong second 1000m. Defending champions Great Britain controlled heat two by a safe margin over the Netherlands. Ellie-Kate Hutchinson, a member of last year’s winning British crew, returned in the boat.
Ireland led the final heat at halfway before Spain moved its bows in front by 1500m and stretched away. Ireland resisted Austria’s closing charge to take the other automatic qualifying place.
“The conditions were challenging, but we did a good job of staying together, staying calm and using them to our advantage,” said USA four athlete Claire van Praagh after her crew achieved its target of reaching the A/B semi-finals.
The men’s four heats produced the afternoon’s tightest qualifying margin. The USA won heat one, while Romania’s sprint secured second place by 0.11 seconds over Germany. Australia and China advanced directly from heat two; defending champions Great Britain won the third heat, with Chile taking second.
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China eliminated from the women’s quad
With seven women’s quads competing for six final places, China were the only crew eliminated. The USA won heat one ahead of Italy, while Germany also progressed from that race. Great Britain took heat two after an early contest with Poland, but China’s third-place time was slower than New Zealand’s mark from the opening heat.
Poland led the men’s quad qualifiers, winning heat one as Australia rowed through Czechia with a late push. Germany beat Switzerland in heat two, before Great Britain bested the two AIN crews in the final heat.
“We were very close to the best crews in the world,” said Poland’s Michal Randa, referring to the crew’s B-final appearance at the first World Cup in Seville. “Now we just proved that our form is not a coincidence.”
Eights Supply a Fast Finish to Day One
Great Britain and the USA capped Thursday with wins in the men’s eight heats as the first day of racing in Duisburg came to a close.
Six-time under-23 champions Great Britain held off New Zealand in heat one. The USA then won a close second heat against Australia, who had produced the quicker start. Germany and Poland also secured places in the six-boat medal race on Sunday, while Italy, the Netherlands and Czechia will race the B-final.
“We were a bit rocky out of the start but then we really trusted our base rhythm, really walked through the Germans in the middle of the race,” said New Zealand’s Oliver Leach. “In the final we’ve really just got to work on that start and continue what we’re doing through the middle and end of the race.”
In the women’s eight preliminary race, the USA led defending champions Great Britain from the get-go. The British were outgunned but managed to retain an overlap at the line. Germany finished third on their home water ahead of Italy, Canada and Netherlands.
