Historic day in Varese with first titles, a world best time and mixed eights

The first day of finals at the 2025 World Rowing Cup in Varese, Italy, produced plenty of historic moments – with a world best time, a first-ever World Rowing Cup gold medal for Uruguay, and the first-ever running of the mixed eight at an official World Rowing event.

Racing concludes on Sunday 15 June with minor finals from 10:00 CEST followed by 14 A-finals in para-rowing and Olympic events.

Germany’s Kiewik secures gold

After the withdrawal of Mexican Angeles Gutierrez on medical grounds, Germany’s Thyrza Kiewik had to scull over solo to claim the gold medal in the PR2 women’s single scull. Kiewik beat Gutierrez comfortably in Friday’s preliminary race.

Result: GER

O’Donnell claims maiden World Rowing Cup win

After two silver medals in the World Rowing Cup in 2024 in the PR2 mixed double sculls, Tiarnan O’Donnell was making no mistakes in his quest to win gold in the PR2 men’s single sculls. He had a good lead at halfway, chased hard by three young scullers – 18-year-olds Artem Vikhliaev of Ukraine and Yigit Dogukan Bozkurt of Türkiye, and Uzbekistan’s 20-year-old Diyorbek Boybolsinov. Bozkurt was third at 500m but had dropped back by halfway. Boybolsinov had a bit more in the tank and claimed silver in a sprint finish ahead of the young Turk.

Result: IRL, UZB, TUR, UKR, GBR, CZE

O’Donnell said: “I’ve been competing internationally for 10 years in wheelchair basketball and now in rowing, and I’ve never come first in anything, it’s either been bronze or silver. So this morning I was like ‘that has to change, I’ve been doing this for too long’. It means a lot.”

Brazil celebrate superb gold

As in the preliminary race, Brazil were fastest out of the blocks in the PR3 mixed coxed four final. Four of this crew finished eighth at the Paralympic Games in Paris last summer. While, as in the preliminary race, the USA never let Brazil out of their sights, in the final Brazil’s halfway push was decisive and took them out in front of the USA. Coxed by Emelie Eldracher and stroked by Ben Washburne, who both won silver in Paris, the USA had to settle for another silver, with Italy taking a popular bronze medal.

Result: BRA, USA, ITA, UZB, ESP

Brazil’s Alina Dumas said: “It was quite an interesting experience, we had a lot of fun. It was a tough race, the USA was close to us the entire race, we were always trying to stay just a bit ahead to make sure that we could cross the finish line first.”

Gold for Germany in PR3 mixed doubles

After Australia won the PR3 mixed double sculls preliminary race, it looked like Lisa Greissl and Sam Stunell would be favourites for the final. But Paralympic bronze medallists Jan Helmich and Hermine Krumbein of Germany had other thoughts, and after a close first 1000m they stretched out their lead to open water to claim victory. Australia took silver, with Brazil’s Diana Barcelos and Jairo Krug third.

Result: GER, AUS, BRA, UZB, JPN

Krumbein said: “It went pretty well, especially since we didn’t have that much preparation before. It surprised both of us a little. It’s always a good feeling if you can grow above yourself a little bit in the race. We’re very satisfied with our race today.”

Lechuga reaches top of podium for first time

Kenia Lechuga of Mexico has been on the scene for a while, and she won World Championship silver in 2023, but she has never stood on top of the podium. She changed that in Varese with a confident performance in the lightweight women’s single sculls, finishing clear ahead of European champion Lara Tiefenthaler of Austria. Maia Lund (Norway) won bronze.

Result: MEX, AUT, NOR, URU, ITA, UZB

Lechuga said: “It’s 19 years in rowing for my first gold. I’m happy because I have been training very hard, and I think the best things are yet to come. This year I feel strong and more confident.”

Kluver takes first senior win for Uruguay

A confident performance from the start by Felipe Kluver gives him his first senior win – and a first World Rowing Cup gold for Uruguay – three years after he won gold in the lightweight men’s single sculls at the 2022 World Rowing Under23 Championships. He held off all the pushes from Hin Chun Chiu of Hong Kong, China, who took silver. Meanwhile Luca Borgonovo (Italy 2) won bronze, showing that he is a name to watch – he is only 20 years old, and beat his older brother Giovanni in the process.

Result: URU, HKG, ITA2, SVK, UZB, ITA1

Kluver said: “After winning here three years ago, this is such a special moment for me. I want to thank my family, my coaches and everybody who is supporting me. I hope rowing will get more recognition in Uruguay now, because we desperately need it. But I am just so, so happy.”

Brazil add another gold

Brazil’s Gessyca Guerrera and Michel Gomes had already shown their speed in the preliminary race, and they again led out the final of the PR2 mixed double sculls over competitors Mexico (Miguel Angel Nieto and Liliana Gallo). That order did not change and it was Brazil who claimed another para-rowing gold medal.

Result: BRA, MEX

Cadot and Bireau set world best time in PR3 M2-

Last year Gregoire Bireau won bronze at his home Paralympic Games in France’s PR3 mixed coxed four. He has now teamed up with Olympian and Paralympian Laurent Cadot to form a fast PR3 men’s pair, and their experience showed as they opened up a 3.5 second lead by halfway. They continued to keep moving, eventually setting a world best time of 6:49.85 – breaking Cadot’s own marker from 2022. Behind, it was a two-boat battle for silver between Great Britain’s PR3 mixed coxed four Paralympic champion Joshua O’Brien and debutant Connor Smith, and Italy’s Marco Frank and Stanislau Litvinchuk. Italy had the sprint finish to win silver.

Result: FRA, ITA1, GBR, ITA2, GER, JPN

Cadot said: “It was a very good race. We haven’t rowed together for long, and we’re happy to be here, especially in such a beautiful place with a magnificent body of water and superb conditions. Everything came together to bring us joy, and that was the case yesterday and it ended today with a beautiful victory and another world best time.”

Henry unchallenged; Prakaten wins second singles semi

Great Britain’s Lauren Henry continues to dominate the women’s single sculls, winning her semifinal by over 17 seconds ahead of Ruiqi Li of China and Belgian Mazarine Guilbert. The second semifinal was much closer; Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallist Anna Prakaten of Uzbekistan had the lead at 500m but the rest of the field were hanging well in there. By halfway Juliane Faralisch (Germany) had clawed her way into qualification contention, alongside Canada’s Katie Clark and Brazilian Beatriz Cardoso. And Faralisch kept the pressure on, almost catching Prakaten by the finish; Clark managed to keep her bows in front of Cardoso’s to claim the third spot in the final.

Teammates on top in men’s single sculls

The first men’s single sculls semifinal was close. While Simon van Dorp (Netherlands) led early on, he never managed to get properly clear of the chasing pack. Jacob Plihal (USA) and Tim Brys (Belgium) kept the pressure on and took the other two qualifying places. Not to be outdone, van Dorp’s teammate Melvin Twellaar won the second semifinal to set up a tantalising clash in the final. Jonas Slettemark Juel (Norway) and Wei Han (China) were second and third, pushing Twellaar all the way.

Exciting semifinals for pairs

Chilean twins Antonia and Melita Abraham led out their women’s pair semifinal, but the Netherlands’ Nika Vos and Linn van Aanholt took the win in the closing stages, with Great Britain third. Italy’s European silver medallists Laura Meriano and Alice Codato won semifinal 2, over Czechia and Australia 1.

On the men’s side, New Zealand’s pair continue to look strong with a comfortable win in semifinal 1, but the race for second and third was exceptional – Croatia’s Loncaric brothers coming through in the last quarter to claim second, ahead of Italy. Olympic champions Martin and Valent Sinkovic won semifinal 2 in a mad sprint finish where Switzerland took second and Netherlands 2 third, just ahead of Denmark 2 and Sweden.

Italy and Switzerland in pole position for doubles final

Finishes were tight in the semifinals of the men’s double sculls, especially in the second semifinal as New Zealanders Finn Hamill and Benjamin Mason charged at race leaders Niels Torre and Gabriel Soares of Italy. Italy held on to win, with Australia 1 finishing a little way back in third. Switzerland’s Kai Schaetzle and Raphael Ahumada won the first semifinal, with Poland second and Belgium third.

Australians quickest, Dutch get two fours into final

The Australian men’s four led the way in the first semifinal, able to control the race as Netherlands 2 pushed into the finish. New Zealand claimed the third spot in the final from lane 6, ahead of Germany. Great Britain were in front early on in the second semifinal, chased by Netherlands 1 and the USA. When the Dutch sprinted, the British chose not to respond and seemed content to take second place, with three-seat James Vogel commenting afterwards that the medals are won on Sunday. The USA slipped back in the third quarter, but had enough of a margin ahead of the chasing pack that their place in the final was not in doubt.

USA win mixed eights thriller

Varese saw the first-ever mixed eight raced at an official World Rowing event, with a three-boat test race featuring Italy, the USA and Germany – all athletes doubling up from other events. The USA and Germany were quickly out in front of Italy, and it was bowball to bowball most of the way down the course. The USA eventually claimed the win by a canvas. The mixed eight will make its World Rowing Championship debut in Shanghai in September.