Quads and Pairs progress at the World Rowing Championships
Solid start to day one at World Rowing Championships 2025
Sunday 21 September 2025 – World Championship racing got underway in the early hours of Sunday morning with four Great Britain crews lining up and all progressing at the World Rowing Championships Shanghai.
The men’s quadruple sculls, men’s pair, and women’s pair are all through to semi-finals, while the women’s quadruple sculls are straight into the A final. With eight of the 12 athletes all making their senior Worlds debuts, it was a solid start to Great Britain’s campaign.
Current European Men’s quadruple sculls champions, Cedol Dafydd, Callum Dixon, Matt Haywood, and Rory Harris won their heat, with Callum commenting: “it was very nice to get a race done and dusted, and we’re happy that the regatta is underway. We got off to a good start and then started to extend in the 3rd 500, and held it from there to the finish.”
The Women’s quadruple sculls of Sarah McKay, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson, and Becky Wilde also won their heat, bringing confidence to the new crew combination. Hannah said, “I think as the first race for this crew, it was a good start to our Championship racing. We just wanted to get through the first round, and that’s what we did today, and we’ll need to take it up a notch for the final. It feels really great to be back, and I’m excited for the final.”
James Vogel and Harry Geffen were both making their senior international world championships debuts. The Men’s pair were in the mix and ahead with strong intent from the start, only to lose momentum in the closing stages to finish third. They qualified for the semi-final as one of the fastest crews under the new progression system. James said, “That was so much fun. It was our first race ever together, and I’m looking forward to the next one! It’s exciting being in a new crew with a new crewmate, and we have some time now to work on improving for the semi-finals. There were such small margins between 6th and 12th, so we feel like we have everything to play for and nothing to lose.”
Harry added: “I’ve been working towards making my senior debut, and I feel honoured to have a chance to go out there and lay it down with James. Hopefully, we can put together a good semi-final performance and try to make the A final. That would be pretty awesome.”
Lizzie Witt and Jade Lindo were also happy with their senior World debuts in the Women’s pair, finishing third and progressing to the semi-final on fastest times.
“It’s really exciting,” Lizzie said, “This is a really rewarding project. We hopped in the boat at camp, and it’s been such fun to build the partnership with Jade. We are always finding fun and enjoying every moment together.” Jade added: “I have a lot of trust in Lizzie and we wanted to go and execute a good first race – especially as it was the first race of the championships for Great Britain.”
Racing continues each day until 28 September and is live-streamed on WorldRowing.com. You can also follow the GB Rowing Team Instagram for daily updates from China.
