“Dreams come true” for U23 athletes

Great Britain win four gold medals and top medal table at World Rowing U23 Championships in Poznan

Great Britain has added gold medals in the Women’s quadruple sculls, the Men’s eight and Women’s eight, to the Women’s four gold to finish the 2025 World Rowing U23 Championships in style, top of the medal table with twenty-six athletes returning home from Poznan as U23 World Champions.

The Women’s quadruple sculls (BW4x) saw a sculling masterclass from Olivia Cheesmur, Poppy Baker, Finn Stratton and Ellie Cooke. They went into the final as the fastest qualifier and led from the start to take the crown by clear water, almost 3 seconds ahead of Germany and Poland.

“It feels amazing, it feels like a dream come true. We’ve put so much work in,” Ellie said to World Rowing after their race. “The Polish came out hard but we held on. We knew we had some more in the tank through the middle and are really pleased with how we raced that today,” Finn added. Both Finn and Ellie had won U23 World bronze in Canada in 2024, and were thrilled to have improved to take the title in Poznan.

Women’s quad celebrate winning gold

The Women’s eight (BW8+) got off to a strong start and maintained the lead throughout. The crew of Lily Wood, Ailish Harkin, Abigail Dawson, Alice Baker, Matilda Drewett, Anna Grace, Jess Weir, Olivia Hill and cox, Nikita Jacobs were almost clear water ahead by the 1km, and confidently held off a final surge by the USA to retain the U23 title.

With Abigail, Alice and Olivia returning from the crew which won gold in St Catharine’s last year, the group were jubilant speaking with World Rowing after collecting their medals. Olivia said “It’s special to defend the title, we just went out and didn’t look back. We’re so happy with how it all went!” Nikita added, “It was a great race. The girls did an amazing job, just going out and executing what we talked about the whole time.”

Great Britain have been U23 World Champions in the Men’s eight (BM8+) every year since 2019.

Determined to maintain a six year record, the crew of Josh Brangan, Tristan Wenger, Gabriel Obholzer, Richard Hawes, Cameron Beyki, Harry Geffen, Ben Mead, Cameron Tasker and cox, Tom Bryce, kept focus despite initial pressure from the pack to pull ahead at the 1km and held off a final charge from New Zealand to retain the title.

“Each year has had different challenges, but I think this was our best year, our best run-in, we came in with a lot of confidence having done it before,” said Gabriel, now a three-time under 23 World Champion in the British men’s eight. Tom added: “Thanks to the support staff and coaches, we couldn’t do it without them.”

Men’s eight have won U23 gold for six consecutive years

For the second consecutive year, Great Britain are U23 World Champions in the Women’s four (BW4-). Maddie Greenstock, Imogen Cabot, Ellie-Kate Hutchinson and Jessica Martin were first out of the blocks and maintained the lead throughout, to cross the line over three seconds ahead of Romania and New Zealand.

Speaking to World Rowing after the race, Jessica, who is now a two-time U23 World Champion in the women’s four, having also won gold in Canada in 2024 said: “It’s teamwork. It’s about enjoying it, working together, and that’s all you need. Hard work and teamwork.”

“We trusted each other and trusted the race plan. We’ve only been rowing together for around three weeks but got the job done today,” added Ellie-Kate. She is also now a two-time U23 World Champion having won gold in the women’s eight in Canada last year.

Women’s four started the gold rush on Saturday

Marcus Chute and Theo Bell gave it their all in the Men’s pair (BM2-) final. The race for silver and bronze saw three crews cross the line together, with the GB boat narrowly missing out on the podium, finishing fourth by the smallest of margins, just 0.08 seconds.

The Men’s four (BM4-) saw William Morgan-Jones, Osian James, Isaac Thurnham and George Lauchlan finish fourth in another close race, where they were pipped on the line, just 0.12 seconds behind Romania.

The Men’s quadruple sculls (BM4x) was another hard fought battle, with Harry Ruinet, Max Bird, Elliott Donovan-Davies and Matt Long keeping close to the pack but finishing just outside the medals in fourth.

Men’s quad cross the line in fourth

Rhiannon Luke and Chloe Sheppard finished second and eighth overall in the Women’s pair (BW2-) B final. The Women’s double sculls (BW2x) of Ellie Dash and Megan Knight won their C final, placing 13th overall. The Men’s Double sculls (BM2x) of Nat Gauden and Jack Cadwallader finished fourth in their C final, placing 16th overall.