The women’s quad features a compact seven-boat contest, but the men’s event brings 18 entries and little room for error at the 2026 World Rowing Under 23 Championships.
Photo 2025 GBR BW4x
Racing runs from 23 to 26 July on Duisburg’s Wedau Regatta Course, where more than 600 athletes are expected. The 2,180-metre venue has staged World Championships, World Cups and the 2020 European U23 Championships.
Both quad events mix returning medallists with new combinations assembled from domestic programmes and the US collegiate system. In the women’s field, Great Britain has one athlete left from its 2025 champion crew. The men’s draw includes the defending Czech champions, an experienced German boat and several crews sharpened by senior World Cup racing.
Britain’s Champion Returns in the BW4x
Liv Cheesmur is the sole returning member of the Great Britain quad that won the 2025 U23 world title. The Molesey BC and Princeton University sculler is joined by Lara Grant, Grace Dawson and Zara Povey, all making their British U23 debuts under returning coach Chris Bartley. Earlier this season Bartley led Reading University Boat Club to a historic Men’s and Women’s Victor Ludorum at BUCS and their first Henley Royal Regatta victories since 1986.
The newcomers arrive with strong domestic results. Grant won the inaugural Danesfield Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, Povey took both Championship Quadruple Sculls and Double Sculls at BUCS Regatta, while Dawson won at Henley Women’s Regatta.
Britain is the defending nation; only Cheesmur returns from last year’s crew. Poland brings greater continuity through Kinga Kusiowska, Rozalia Linowska, Natasha Malicka and Gabriela Stefaniak. Three have raced together across recent medal campaigns, while Malicka won European U23 silver in the quad in 2023.
Italy finished fourth last year and returns Noemi De Vincenzi and Irene Gattiglia from that boat. De Vincenzi won U19 world quad gold in 2024 after taking silver in 2023, while Gattiglia has repeatedly reached the U23 A-final. Aurora Spirito supplies further age-group experience, with coastal international Maria Lanciano making the switch to flatwater competition.
Photo 2025 GER BW4x
Germany also has a credible home-water challenge. Charlotte Burgdorf, the 2025 U23 double bronze medallist, has since raced the single at World Cup I in Seville. Julia Stoeber won U19 single bronze in 2024, while Ewa Victoria Grzimek and Pauline V. Hobe-Gelting make their international debuts.
China may possess the most settled ex-junior combination in the field. Hanlin Xiang, Rongyu Li, Yuhan Lu and Yan Yang raced together at the 2023 U19 World Championships, and three returned to win the B-final in 2024.
The United States selected two-time U23 women’s eight silver medallist Kathryn Serra to move from sweep to sculling alongside Lila Henn, Madison Kieft and Sumner Kerr. It’s a significant technical change for Harvard’s Serra, and a first U23 appearance for the other athletes.
New Zealand Starts a New Combination
New Zealand enters Harriet Thompson, Tegan O’Dwyer, Emma Bagrie and Madison Neale after an arduous selection process, capped by a final time trial at Karāpiro.
Bagrie, who sculls for Stanford University, brings the most international clout having raced at the 2024 and 2025 U19 World Championships. Thompson rows for Washington State University, and O’Dwyer came away from the 2026 New Zealand Championships with five silver medals. Neale took the national Senior Women’s Double title and has already raced in Duisburg at the 2025 University Championships.
For Thompson and Neale, this is an international debut. O’Dwyer is contesting her first flatwater World Rowing event after coastal competition, leaving Bagrie as the crew’s only athlete with World Rowing flatwater championship experience.
“I am just looking forward to seeing what the other countries bring and racing a fast boat,” O’Dwyer said before departure.
Germany and the Czech Republic Set the Men’s Standard
The 18-boat BM4x leaves little margin for error from the opening race. The Czech Republic returns Miroslav Vokalek from the crew that won gold in Poznan last year. He moves from bow to the three seat in a combination that finished fourth against senior opposition at World Cup II.
Germany has two members of its 2025 bronze-medal crew in Yannik Sens and Paavo Tore Schewe. They are joined by Jakob Rastetter, an U19 world silver medallist in the four, and Mads Schmied, who won consecutive U19 titles in the quad and single in 2024 and 2025.
AIN2 also arrives with senior racing behind it. Maksim Hrybouski, Fiodar Shorakh, Raman Shabatsko and Pavel Sinenka finished fourth at the highly competitive Lucerne World Cup, with three members holding European U23 titles.
Great Britain placed fourth in 2025 and selects Matt Long, Josh Matthews, Elliott Donovan-Davies and Nat Gauden. Matthews, Donovan-Davies and Gauden were part of the winning Prince of Wales Challenge Cup crew at Henley, while Long made his senior debut in the double at World Cup I.
Photo 2026 CZE BM4x
Italy has a strong history in this boat class but finished in the C-final last year after a medical substitution. Pietro Zampaglione, a 2024 U19 European champion and twice an U19 world silver medallist in the quad, provides the clearest medal pedigree in its new line-up.
New Zealand’s Clayton Potts, Fynn Allison, Mathew King and Jack Pearson bring close club connections into the larger field. Allison, King and Pearson originated from Dunstan Arm Rowing Club, while King and Pearson raced the double at the 2025 U23 Worlds.
“I’m excited to race against some of the best U23 crews in the world and see how we measure up on the international stage,” Allison said.
Competition begins with Thursday’s heats, with the quad finals scheduled for Sunday, 26 July.
