"VAN" (Sports Desk - 29.09.2025) :: The 2025 World Rowing Championships in Shanghai, China, ended on a high with two astonishingly close single sculls finals, a world best time in the PR3 mixed double sculls, and the successful introduction of elite mixed events.
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 from the 23 events on offer.
The closest finish of the regatta came in the women’s single sculls final. European champion Lauren Henry (Great Britain) has been setting the fastest times in the event all season, but Ireland’s Fiona Murtagh – having switched to sculling for the first time this year – has been on a steep learning curve and showed how much she has progressed with an outstanding row.
Murtagh opened out a clear-water lead by halfway with only Henry close to staying in touch, but the Briton was still 2.31 seconds back with 1500m gone. Henry closed and closed in the final quarter as Murtagh was visibly struggling, but the Irish sculler had done enough and claimed a debut championships gold by 0.03 seconds in a photofinish. Frida Sanggaard Nielsen (Denmark) was third.
The men’s single sculls final was almost as good. Defending champion Oliver Zeidler set the early pace, but the rest of the field did not let him escape. Tokyo 2020 champion Stefanos Ntouskos found the most speed, racing into the lead in the last 500m from an outside lane and taking his first world title and the first gold medal for Greece at a World Rowing Championships since 2014. Yauheni Zalaty (AIN) took bronze.
In the PR3 mixed double sculls, Kathrin Marchand and Valentin Luz of Germany backed up their 2025 European Rowing Championships title with victory in a world best time of 6:58.64.
The regatta ended with the first-ever mixed double sculls and mixed eights races at a World Rowing Championships. Ireland won the double sculls, and Romania the mixed eight. Romanian stroke Simona Radis was the only athlete to win two gold medals in Shanghai, having claimed the win in the women’s pair earlier in the week.
The 2025 World Rowing Championships were officially declared closed later in the evening at a lively closing ceremony with a view over Shanghai's famous Bund.
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