Searing singles and mixed races highlight final day in Shanghai

The 2025 World Rowing Championships ended on a high, with two of the best single sculls finals in years, a world best time in the PR3 mixed double sculls, and the thrilling introduction of the mixed double sculls and mixed eights.

The Netherlands finished the regatta on top of the medal table, with four gold medals, one silver and one bronze. Great Britain won the most medals in total: three golds, four silvers and a bronze. In total, 25 nations took home at least one medal.

Marchand and Luz set world best to win PR3 mixed double

Germany’s Kathrin Marchand and Valentin Luz have been the outstanding crew in the PR3 mixed double sculls this year, winning the 2025 European Rowing Championships in a blisteringly fast time. After a domestic selection battle against Paralympic bronze medallists Hermine Krumbein and Jan Helmich they earned their seats for the World Rowing Championships and showed why in the final, setting a world best time of 6:58.64 to win by almost seven seconds. Ukraine’s young husband-and-wife duo of Dariia Kotyk and Stanislav Samoliuk took silver, rowing down Great Britain and holding off Australia’s Lisa Greissl and Sam Stunell in the closing stages of the race.

Luz said: “It’s amazing, definitely. I was really nervous before the race, similarly nervous as in Paris last year, but we managed perfectly, I would say.”

Results: GER, UKR, AUS, GBR, AIN, FRA

Uzbekistan’s young combination of Dinara Belyanina (aged 16) and Akbarali Abduvaliev (15) took the B-final win ahead of Brazil.

Murtagh edges out Henry in finish of the championships

The closest finish of the 2025 World Rowing Championships came in one of the very last races, the final of the women’s single sculls. Lauren Henry has been the form sculler all season, but Fiona Murtagh (Ireland), new to sculling, has been on a rapid improvement curve and her start obliterated the field in the final. Murtagh had a one-second advantage by 500m which she extended in the second quarter, giving herself a clear-water lead. Henry made her move in that second 500m, but while that meant she started dropping the chasers, she could not dent Murtagh’s advantage. It was only coming into the final 500m that the European champion started to close the gap, and Murtagh was clearly struggling in the closing metres, but Henry had left it just a fraction too late – Murtagh claimed victory by 0.03 seconds in a photofinish for her first world title.

Murtagh said: “I’m lost for words. I knew it was going to be a really difficult race, and I knew I had to put as much in between (Henry) in the middle of the race as I could, because she’s a phenomenal athlete and she’s got a really good sprint. Then I hit the red buoys and I caught a bit of a wobble and I was like ‘oh no, have I lost it?’ But I dug deep and crossed the line and we were right beside each other, I really didn’t know who’d won it until I looked at the screen and saw my name. I’ve never won a major regatta. This is huge and I’m in shock.”

Results: IRL, GBR, DEN, LTU, GER, ESP

Canada’s Katie Clark finished seventh overall after holding off Paige Badenhorst (South Africa) in the sprint for the line in the B-final.

Ntouskos claims first world title, Zeidler second

Since he won the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in 2021, Greece’s Stefanos Ntouskos has never managed to reach the top of the podium again – plenty of second places and A-finals, but no wins. That changed on Sunday in Shanghai when he rowed down defending world champion Oliver Zeidler to claim Greece’s first gold medal in the men’s single sculls, and their first world gold medal in any boat class since 2014. The middle of the race was key for Ntouskos, who hit the front at 1500m just ahead of Dutchman Simon van Dorp and Zeidler. He then found enough power to hold on to that advantage, as van Dorp slipped back and Yauheni Zalaty (AIN) charged into the medals. Less than two seconds split the three medallists on the line, but it was the Greek who had the win.

After the race, the athletes involved in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games final, which was delayed when Zalaty’s bus broke down, were honoured with the International Olympic Committee’s Fair Play award.

Ntouskos said: “It’s great for me. I didn’t believe it, but closer and closer into the finish line, I just said ‘keep going’. It’s an incredible feeling, I cannot describe it. I gave it everything and I’m super-super happy, I’m world champion.”

Results: GRE, GER, AIN, NED, LTU, URU

Romanian Mihai Chiruta won the B-final, with Denmark’s Bastian Secher second after Lorenz Lindorfer (Austria) faded in the last 500m.

Ireland become first mixed double sculls champions

Ireland finished the 2025 World Rowing Championships on a high with a second gold medal as Fintan McCarthy and Margaret Cremen claimed the win in the mixed double sculls. Switzerland’s Celia Dupré and Raphael Ahumada led out of the blocks, but an excellent middle 1000m from the Irish took them into the lead and they held a comfortable margin with 500m left of the track. Roos de Jong and Melvin Twellaar (Netherlands) also had a solid middle and moved past the Swiss, with their final quarter closing significant ground on the Irish – but the Skibbereen Rowing Club duo held on for gold. Dupré and Ahumada were just able to cling to bronze against a stern test from Italy.

McCarthy said: “It was a great race, so much fun. We always train against each other, the girls in the double and I’m in the single, in some capacity, and they’re always kicking my ass, so it was nice to have my ass kicked in the same boat today.”

Results: IRL, NED, SUI, ITA, CHN, ROU

The B-final win went to Katheryn Flynn and Jacob Plihal of the USA, who had been off the pace in their heat but improved significantly for their second race. Kathryn Glen and Benjamin Mason took eighth overall for New Zealand.

Romania win blistering mixed eights final

There was no doubting the winners of the mixed eights: Romania led by over a second by 500m and just stretched out that advantage to the finish, posting the fastest splits in each 500m section of the race. They finished in 5:34.46. Italy took second place, and New Zealand claimed third after improving significantly from their heat. The win means Simona Radis and Maria Magdalena Rusu both go home with two gold medals from Shanghai, after also winning the women’s pair.

Radis said: “It feels great. It was a very good race and a great result. We go home with a gold, and now we can relax and enjoy the vacation.”

Results: ROU, ITA, NZL, USA, NED, GER

Switzerland, coxed by women’s quadruple sculls rower Olivia Nacht, took the B-final win over Czechia – with the Czechs clinging on throughout. China were third and Hong Kong, China’s first-ever eight at a World Rowing event finished fourth.