The 2025 World Rowing Championships got off to a strong start on Sunday in Shanghai, with heats and preliminary races in six events in warm, tailwind conditions.

The racing session will be followed by the official opening ceremony, a celebration of rowing in the heart of Shanghai.

Hosts claim preliminary race wins

Racing at the 2025 World Rowing Championships got underway with the preliminary races for the lightweight women’s and men’s double sculls. Hosts China had a stellar start, with Zou Jiaqi and Fu Ling taking an open-water lead by 500m and extending it to a comfortable advantage by the finish. Alessia and Valeria Palacios of Peru took second, but there was little to choose between the pack and the race for the medals will be tight.

It was a similar picture in the lightweight men’s double sculls, where Li Yawei and Sun Man were first, followed home by Indonesia, Germany, and Georgia.

Tight racing in pairs heats

The men’s and women’s pairs heats would see the first crews relegated to C and D-finals, and both events produced close racing.

On the women’s side, Romania’s European champion duo of Maria Magdalena Rusu and Simona Radis set the fastest time by almost six seconds (6:51.72, just four seconds off the world best time), winning heat 3 ahead of Switzerland. France’s Emma Cornelis and Hezekia Peron impressed in heat 1, beating European bronze medallists Italy on the line, while Serbia claimed first in heat 2 ahead of Chile. The USA, Great Britain, Czechia, Lithuania, Australia and Denmark completed the semifinal line-up while Ireland, AIN, and Hong Kong China race the C-final.

New Zealand’s Oliver Welch and Benjamin Taylor posted the fastest time in the men’s pair heats (6:16.60), winning heat 4 ahead of South Africa. France, Romania, and Spain were the other heat winners with both France and Spain coming through in the second half of the race to take victory on the line; Sweden, Ireland, and Switzerland took second in the first three heats. The Netherlands, Great Britain, Lithuania, and Denmark all progress based on time.

Narrow misses in quads

Very little separated the crews progressing from those missing out in both the quadruple sculls events. Reigning champions Great Britain won heat 1, just over a second ahead of Romania; the British were slow off the start but had moved into a marginal lead by 500m which they then managed to extend. Germany were the quickest crew in the first half of heat 2, but the Dutch found more pace in the second 1000m and took the win in the fastest time of the two heats (6:13.02).

China had a bright start to the first men’s quadruple sculls heat, but faded as Great Britain found their rhythm to take the win ahead of the USA. Italy posted the fastest time of the three heats (6:38.09) to win heat 2 over Ukraine, while Germany and Poland took the two spots from heat 3. Croatia and Ireland will contest the C-final, while all other crews progress to the semifinals.

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Close racing and fast times on day 1 of the 2025 World Rowing Championships

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