2025 World Rowing Under 19 Championships: Crews to watch

The 2025 World Rowing Under 19 Championships is nearly upon us! 594 athletes from 47 nations will very soon be taking to the water in Trakai, Lithuania. Ahead of the racing getting underway, here’s a look at some of our ones to watch…

Under 19 Women’s Single Sculls (JW1x)
27 entries

This is the biggest boat class of the Championships and will undoubtedly be highly competitive. One name to be sure to watch out for is Greece’s Varvara Lykomitrou. Not only did she win gold in the women’s double scull at last year’s World Rowing U19 Championships, she also claimed gold in that boat class at this year’s World Rowing U23 Championships – just a couple of weeks ago! Lykomitrou was also on top of the podium at the European U19 Championships earlier this season and she will meet once again with the silver and bronze medallists from that event – Esther Fuerte Chacon of Spain and Maria Hauser from Austria.

Under 19 Men’s Single Sculls (JM1x)
26 entries

All three medalists from this season’s European U19 Championships will come together again, but will the order stay the same in Trakai? Austria’s Paul Schinnerl took the gold on that occasion but Hungary’s Barnabas Botond Kup and Czechia’s Tomas Kala, who were the silver and bronze medalists respectively, will undoubtedly be out for revenge. Keep an eye also on the German sculler Mads Schmied who won gold in the quad at last year’s U19 Championships so will certainly be hoping to be on the podium again this year.

Under 19 Women’s Pair (JW2-)
13 entries

This boat class will see five out of the six A finalist boats from this season’s European U19 Championships, all in unchanged combinations. All three medalists will look to add World medalist to their European medalist titles. The gold medalists at the Europeans were Romania’s Teodora Lehaci and Denisa Mihaela Vasilica, clearly following in the footsteps of many other very strong Romanian women’s pairs. Meanwhile, France’s Manon Ahyee Labart and Kassandra Pividori will be hoping to turn their European silver into World gold.

Under 19 Men’s Pair (JM2-)
20 entries

Once again, we see many of the finalists from the 2025 European Rowing U19 Championships in unchanged combinations travelling to Trakai. The Serbian pair of Milan Cvetkovic and Milan Stevanovic will be looking to repeat their success but will undoubtedly face pressure from Turkiye’s Muhammed Enes Kilic and Can Yuce, who are both just sixteen years old. The bronze medalists from the Europeans won’t take part in Trakai, which will open up the field. It’ll be worth keeping an eye on the British pair – whilst they didn’t race at the Europeans, they have both raced at two previous editions of the World Rowing U19 Championships, winning silver together in the men’s four last year. Don’t overlook Spain either. Whilst they didn’t make the A final at the Europeans, Ramon Palomino Goenechea did win bronze in this boat at the 2024 World Rowing U19 Championships.

Under 19 Women’s Double Sculls (JW2x)
18 entries

 Let’s start with Greece, by far the boat with the most experience, and also reigning European U19 Champions in this boat class. Eleni Diavati’s sculling strength is obvious, having won silver in the single scull at this year’s World Rowing U23 Championships last month. Her partner, Nefeli Ntara is competing at her third World Rowing U19 Championships, having won silver in the pair in Canada last year.

Under 19 Men’s Double Sculls (JM2x)
24 entries

Another boat class stacked with talent but eyes are, once again, drawn initially to the Greek boat. Konstantinos Giannoulis and Iason Mouselimis raced in both the quad and the double at the recent U23 Championships and, whilst they didn’t make the final in either, they did win gold at the European Rowing U19 Championships in May this year and Giannoulis is reigning U19 World Champion in this boat class. Silver medalists from the Europeans, Italy, come with a slightly different line-up to Trakai to see if they can challenge the Greeks whilst Ireland’s Jonah Kirby and Jack Rafferty will also be hoping to be on the podium again. It’ll be worth keeping an eye also on the German boat. Whilst they weren’t at the Europeans Felix Krones won gold in the quad and Julius Klein silver in the double at last year’s World U19 Championships, so they are no strangers to the podium.

Under 19 Women’s Four (JW4-)
14 entries

Romania are the reigning U19 World Champions in this boat class, but come to Trakai with a completely different crew to last year. Italy, on the other hand, who took gold at this year’s European U19 Championships, have multiple medalists from last year’s World U19 Championships, albeit from different boat classes. The USA didn’t contest this boat class last year, but their crew this year has three of the reigning U19 World Champions from the women’s eight so they’ll undoubtedly be competitive. The GB crew also features two silver medalists from their eight last year so will be worth keeping an eye on. Don’t overlook Austria either; the silver medalists from the European U19 Championships this year will be hoping to add to their medal collection.

Under 19 Men’s Four (JM4-)
16 entries

All three medal-winning crews from the European U19 Championships will travel to Trakai hoping to repeat their success. The unchanged line-ups from Romania, Italy and France will, however face opposition from the likes of  Great Britain, the crew containing two World U19 Champions from last year’s men’s eight, and Australia. Two of the Australian crew won gold in the U19 men’s coxed four last year, the boat class now having been discontinued.

Under 19 Women’s Quadruple Sculls (JW4x)
13 entries

Italy are the reigning U19 Champions in this boat class, but the crew only contains one returner from last year – Valentina Mascheroni. Italy finished fourth at the European U19 Championships earlier this year, but Mascheroni was in the single scull on that occasion, so it will be interesting to see how they go with her on board. At that Europeans, it was Poland that claimed victory, and the crew will travel unchanged to Trakai. Three of them having finished fourth in this boat class at last year’s World Rowing U19 Championships, they will be determined to make the podium this time. Once again, Greece will be worth keeping an eye on. Having won a silver in the quad at the European U19 Championships a couple of months ago, Paschalina Mouratido won gold in the U23 lightweight women’s double scull just a couple of weeks ago.

Under 19 Men’s Quadruple Sculls (JM4x)
21 entries

This boat class arguably sees the most returners from this season’s European U19 Championships – including the gold and silver medal-winning crews. Poland claimed gold at those Championships so will be hoping to repeat their success, but the silver medalists from Switzerland will be out for revenge. Italy took bronze at the Europeans, but the line-up is slightly changed this time and now features Pietro Zampaglione who won silver in this boat at last year’s World U19 Championships.

Under 19 Women’s Eight (JW8+)
6 entries

With just six entries, the field is arguably wide open in this one. Italy are bound to be impressive with seven of this year’s European U19 champions from this boat class coming to try and repeat their success. They are joined by cox Riccardo Doni, the only male cox in the field, who already has two World U19 medals to his name, having coxed the U19 men’s coxed four in 2023 and 2024. Romania took silver at the European U19s and whilst the crew is slightly changed, all of the crew members have plenty of experience. Watch out too for the USA crew – four of the crew having won bronze in the women’s coxed four at last year’s World U19s. And of course, don’t forget Australia and Great Britain who are bound to field quality crews.

Under 19 Men’s Eight (JM8+)
9 entries

This boat class is bound to be exciting. Gold and silver last year were won by Great Britain and the USA, who both field brand new line-ups. Germany took bronze on that occasion and have three returners. All three nations are no strangers to top-quality men’s eight racing. Italy meanwhile took gold in this boat at the 2025 European U19 Championships so it will be interesting to see if they can make the podium again.