China’s Chen Yunxia: starting anew

In a Chinese squad starting the Los Angeles 2028 Olympiad with plenty of fresh new faces, two more familiar ones stand out. After six seasons almost exclusively racing in the women’s quadruple sculls, Chen Yunxia and Zhang Ling have jumped into the double sculls for the 2025 season – and instantly started winning.

Chen and Zhang, together with Lyu Yang and Cui Xiaotong, won gold at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, capping off a two-year unbeaten run in the women’s quad. They were dominant in Tokyo, winning the final over Poland and Australia by over six seconds. And the following year that dominance continued, with another World Rowing Championships gold medal in 2022.

But then other countries started to catch up; bronze at the 2023 World Rowing Championships ensured China’s place at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, but the following year at Vaires-sur-Marne, they had to fight through the repechage to make the final – where they finished sixth.

Now Chen and Zhang are back on the world stage, and flying. They won gold at both the 2025 World Rowing Cups in Varese and Lucerne in the women’s double sculls, heading a quality field.

“In the 2024 Paris Olympics, our results were not very ideal,” admits Chen. “I still appreciate we made a lot of effort for the Olympics, although the results were not as expected.

“Lucerne feels like a starting point for me in the next Olympic cycle.”

Chen says there is “no special reason” for the switch to the double sculls, and she is unsure what boat she and Zhang will be in for the Los Angeles Olympic Games – or even the upcoming World Rowing Championships in Shanghai.

Shanghai will be the first time that Chen gets to race the whole world in front of a home crowd. The 29-year-old was born in Tongliao, Inner Mongolia, and started her sporting career in athletics.

“This is still a very wonderful journey for me,” she explains. “I used to practice long jump and triple jump. At that time, my body was in the growth period.

“Long jump and triple jump have strict requirements for optimal body shape and because I was growing horizontally – with broad shoulders – instead of taller at that time, my coach later decided to recommend me to try rowing.”

Chen says she particularly enjoys the team aspect of rowing, and especially appreciated the mutual support she received from being in a quad.

“When one of us encounters some difficulties, we can encourage each other. If I am tired, someone can help me,” she adds. “I feel very good about mutual encouragement. Maybe this spirit will help us achieve success in the future.”

The Chinese squad spent the summer around the World Rowing Cups training in Italy, but are now back in China, at the national training centre in Shenyang, north-east of Beijing.

However, Shanghai remains one of the epicentres of the sport in China, and the Shanghai Water Sports Centre has hosted a number of major events previously – including the 2018 FISU University Rowing Championships. Chen is optimistic that plenty of local fans will come to support their team in September, especially members of the many Shanghai clubs.

“It is very important to promote rowing in China; because of this upcoming event, I still want more people to know about rowing,” she says.

“The development of rowing is also very important. There are many rowing clubs in Shanghai now. In fact, it is better promoted than other places because only Shanghai has the most rowing clubs.  So I think rowing will get better and better in China.”

Although her home in Tongliao is almost 2,000km by road from Shanghai, Chen is also looking forward to her family coming to cheer her on.

“It’s very important to have support – a family can cheer you on. For international competitions, it’s more difficult to travel and they rarely watch it,” she says.

Chen also wants to encourage supporters from other nations to travel to China for the World Rowing Championships, suggesting a bit of sightseeing around the competition. Shanghai is of course famous for the Bund – the long boulevard along the banks of the Huangpu river – as well as its skyscrapers and the Nanjing Road shopping area.

“I think Zhujiajiao Ancient Town, close to the sports venue, is also very interesting because there are plenty of dining options including our famous Shanghai dumplings, xiao long bao, as well as rou zong (rice dumplings),” she says, with a grin.

Fuelled by those dumplings, expect Chen and her teammates to be flying the flag high for their team come September, when they welcome the world’s best to Shanghai.

Translation by Guy Horne/H&A Media