41 Athletes selected for U23 World Rowing Championships

Great Britain announces nine returning world champions and 23 making their U23 debut to travel to Duisburg, Germany

Great Britain has named 10 boats that will take on the world at the World Rowing U23 Championships taking place in Duisburg, Germany, 23 – 26 July.

In 2025, Great Britain topped the medal table, winning four gold medals in Poznan, Poland.

The Men’s Four features three athletes who won gold at last year’s U23 World Rowing Championships. Ben Mead, Tristan Wenger, and Cameron Tasker were all part of last year’s winning Eight, and they join up with Marcus Chute, who will race at his third U23 World Rowing Championships having previously been selected in the Men’s Quadruple Scull and Pair. Chute, who graduates from Princeton University will stroke the crew when they compete in Germany.

After finishing her first year at Princeton University, Liv Cheesmur returns to the Women’s Quadruple Scull. Cheesmur claimed gold with coach Chris Bartley last year, a performance they’ll look to repeat in Duisburg. They’re joined by three athletes making their debuts for Great Britain. Molesey BC’s Lara Grant won the inaugural Danesfield Challenge Cup at Henley last week, and joining her is Reading University BC’s Zara Povey, who won Championship Quadruple Sculls and Double Sculls at BUCS Regatta. Rounding out the quartet is Edinburgh University BC stalwart and Henley Women’s Regatta winner Grace Dawson, who learned to row at the Scottish University.

Rounding off the Women’s Sculling team is Meg Knight. The Reading University BC sculler will race in the Single Scull having previously competed in the Quadruple Sculls and Double Sculls at U23 level. This will be her fifth time representing Great Britain, having raced at the U19 World Rowing Championships and U19 European Rowing Championships

Coxing the Men’s Eight will be Nat Toms, who made history in 2023 as the first woman to cox a British Men’s Eight, steering the U19 crew to gold. She’ll be joined by Harvard teammate Kynan Tallec-Botos, who makes his debut in red, white, and blue. Osian James, the University of California, Berkeley Golden Bear, brings experience from last year’s U23 Men’s Four, and he’ll be joined by six others making their U23 debuts. Patrick Wild is fresh from winning the Boat Race and the Temple Challenge Cup in his first year at Cambridge University, and Kai Schlottman is the other athlete studying in the UK. He was part of the Brookes outfit that won Championship Eights at BUCS Regatta.

Christian Reese, Matt Johnston, Alex Perkins, and Tom Corbett all return from their studies at Yale University, Dartmouth College, Princeton University, and Stanford University, respectively, and bring a wealth of U19-level experience as well.

Back in the coxing seat of the Women’s Eight is Nikita Jacobs, the Washington Husky who won gold in this event last year. Joining Jacobs from last year’s winning crew are Matilda Drewett and Alice Baker. The crew is bolstered by Maddie Greenstock, who won gold in the Women’s Four in Poznan last year. Lola Crampin, Izzie Kennedy, Allegra O’Sullivan and Ellie Sillar will all make their U23 debuts for Great Britain when they race in Duisburg. Martha Shepherd brings great experience having won three silver medals at U19 level, as does Izzie Kennedy who won gold in the U19 Women’s Eight three years ago.

Ellie-Kate Hutchinson returns to the Women’s Four, having won gold last year and gold in 2024 in the Women’s Eight. After racing in the Women’s Pair last year, Texas Longhorn Rhiannon Luke returns to the Women’s Four, the boat in which she won silver at the 2023 U19 World Rowing Championships. Luke is joined by Texas teammate Amelia Gleed, who makes her debut for her country. Syracuse University’s Acorn Cassidy will make her U23 debut after winning silver in this boat at the 2024 U19 World Rowing Championships.

Having won the Prince of Wales Challenge Cup at last week’s Henley Royal Regatta, Freddy Foxwell will race in the Men’s Double Sculls. He’ll team up with Isaac Morris, one of the great talents to come through the Yorkshire Performance Development Academy.

Josh Matthews, Elliott Donovan-Davies, and Nat Gauden will continue in the Men’s Quadruple Sculls having won at Henley with Foxwell. The trio are joined by Reading University BC’s Matt Long, who made his senior debut racing in the Men’s Double Sculls at World Rowing Cup I in Seville.

The Men’s Pair is an all-Brown University and Thames RC affair after Tom Griffin and Isaac Thurnham spent the season in Bruno’s Varsity Eight. Thurnham is back in the U23 squad having raced in the four 12 months ago, while Griffin returns to international duty after winning silver in the U19 Men’s Eight in 2022. Rufus Biggs is also the Ever True Men’s Crew Associate Head Coach in Providence, Rhode Island and will be guiding Giffin and Thurnham as they take on the world.

In the Women’s Pair, both Anna Cowell and Valentina Fenton will make their U23 debuts. Both Cowell and Fenton raced at the Coupe de la Jeunesse in 2022 and 2023, respectively, and now attend Princeton University and Stanford University.

“The 2026 U23 team goes to Duisburg with over 50% new vests in the team, alongside four coaches new to the U23 set up,” explained GB Rowing Team Head Coach for the Olympic Pathway Pete Sheppard.

“The World Rowing U23 Championships provides an exciting racing opportunity for the next generation of potential Olympians. We’re excited to see how they step up once the racing starts.

“As usual many clubs and coaches have supported the development of these athletes over the last 12 months to provide them with this opportunity. We’d like to say thank you to all those clubs, coaches, parents and volunteers that work tirelessly in the background.”

*Note: Due to internal testing, this team differs to that published by World Rowing on Thursday 9 July 2026

The GB Rowing Team to race the World Rowing U23 Championships

Men’s Eight (BM8+) 
Matt Johnston (Leander Club / Dartmouth College)
Osian James (Leander Club / University of California Berkeley)
Kai Schlottmann (Oxford Brookes University BC / Llandaff RC)
Christian Reese (Thames RC / Colet BC / Yale University)
Kynan Tallec-Botos (Leander Club / Harvard University)
Alex Perkins (Leander Club / Princeton University)
Tom Corbett (Leander Club / Stanford University)
Patrick Wild (Cambridge University BC)
Nat Toms (cox) (Sabrina Club / Harvard University)
Coach: Patrick Duggan (Radley College)

Women’s Eight (BW8+)
Lola Crampin (Molesey BC / University of California, Berkeley)
Izzie Kennedy (Durham University BC)
Allegra O’Sullivan (Tideway Scullers School / Oxford Brookes University BC / University of California, Berkeley)
Matilda Drewett (Molesey BC / Stanford University)
Alice Baker (Leander Club / Stanford University)
Ellie Sillar (Cambridge University BC)
Maddie Greenstock (Molesey BC / Stanford University BC)
Martha Shepherd (Oxford Brookes University BC / Hinksey Sculling School)
Nikita Jacobs (cox) (Molesey BC / University of Washington)
Coach: Sam Tuck (Molesey BC)

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (BW4x)
Liv Cheesmur (Molesey BC / Princeton University)
Lara Grant (Molesey BC)
Grace Dawson (Edinburgh University BC)
Zara Povey (Reading University BC)
Coach: Chris Bartley (Reading University BC)

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (BM4x)
Matt Long (Reading University BC)
Josh Matthews (Edinburgh University BC)
Elliott Donovan-Davies (Leander Club / Hartpury University and College BC / Stanford University)
Nat Gauden (Leander Club / University of California Berkeley)
Coach: Pete Sheppard (GBRT)

Women’s Four (BW4-)
Amelia Gleed (Leander Club / University of Texas at Austin)
Acorn Cassidy (Leander Club / Syracuse University)
Ellie-Kate Hutchinson (Leander Club / Bann RC / Syracuse University)
Rhiannon Luke (Leander Club / University of Texas at Austin)
Coach: Helen Brown (GBRT)

Men’s Four (BM4-)
Ben Mead (Leander Club / Cambridge ’99 RC / Yale University)
Tristan Wenger (Thames RC / Princeton University)
Cameron Tasker (Leander Club / University of Washington)
Marcus Chute (Windsorian BC / Princeton University)
Coach: Will Fletcher (Durham University BC)

Men’s Double Sculls (BM2x)
Freddy Foxwell (Edinburgh University BC)
Isaac Morris (Leeds RC / York City RC)
Coach: Stu Heap (London RC)

Women’s Pair (BW2-)
Valentina Fenton (Thames RC / Stanford University)
Anna Cowell (Leander Club / Sir William Perkins’s School RC / Princeton University)
Coach: Holly Young (Durham University BC)

Men’s Pair (BM2-)
Tom Griffin (Thames RC / Brown University)
Isaac Thurnham (Thames RC / Brown University)
Coach: Rufus Biggs (Brown University)

Women’s Single Sculls (B1x)
Megan Knight (Reading University BC)
Coach: Ben Wellburn (Nottingham Performance Development Academy)

Team Management and Support Staff
Anna Liddell – Team Manager
Moiz Moghal – Team Doctor
Laura Sainsbury – Physiotherapist
Becky Davison – Physiotherapist
Lois Fileman – Physiologist