By Rupert Guinness, Australian Rowing Teams Media Manager
The Rowsellas’ 2026 World Rowing Championships campaign on the Bosbaan International course in Amsterdam continued in positive fashion on Thursday with three more crews making the next rounds, two of them into the A-Finals.
On Day 4 of the regatta that finishes on Sunday, the Semi-Finals saw the Women’s Four win their race and the Women’s Quadruple Sculls finish third. Both crews qualified for Saturday’s A-Finals, while Erik Horrie PLY OAM also won his PR1 Men’s Single Sculls Heat to make the Semi-Finals on Friday.
Two medal opportunities await the Rowsellas on Friday with the Men’s Pair and PR3 Mixed Double Sculls both in A-Finals.
The Australian Rowing Team (ART) featured in its first A-Final on Thursday, the PR3 Mixed Coxed Fours, where Australia was second midway but couldn’t sustain their pace and finished fifth.
The World Rowing Championships are the 2026 pinnacle for the Rowsellas, but the event will also provide Rowing Australia (RA) with a key measure of how the ART is tracking for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The team’s continued progress in these World Rowing Championships reflects months of planning, preparation training and racing, supported by a high-performance system that continues to benefit from the longstanding commitment of Hancock Prospecting and RA Patron Mrs Gina Rinehart AO.
RA is also incredibly grateful for the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), Australian Sports Commission (ASC), and Australian Government, whose investment and support enables athletes and coaches in RA’s High Performance Program to perform on the world stage and represent Australia with pride.
In the Women’s Four, Australia’s Giorgia Patten OLY, Bronwyn Cox OLY, Jacqueline Swick OLY, and Georgina Rowe OLY led from the start to win their Semi-Final. Most impressive though was their response to a big push by Netherlands going through 1000m when the margin between the two boats was only 0.22s
The Australians rowing with a sustained rhythm confidently pulled away in the third 500m to lead the Dutch by 2.67s at 1500m and hold that margin all the way to the finish line.
With the top three going into the A-Final, Australia won (6:35.52) from Netherlands (6:38.15) in second and Germany (6:44.19) in third.
In the medal race, the James Harris coached Australians will meet Netherlands and Germany again, as well as the United States who won the other semi-final (6:34.05) from Romania (6:42.06) and Great Britain (6:45.13) in that order.
Cox, in the two seat, credited their performance to calmness and trust. “We did a really good job executing calmness through the middle ‘K’,” Cox said after the race.
“That is a big thing that we've been working on… and trusting our race plan. I think we did a really good job executing that too.
“It was good to have that tussle with the Dutch, especially through the middle ‘K’. There was a lot of trust in our race plan, a lot of calmness; and we all knew that it was under control. So, it was easy to move together when we needed to.”
Asked what the crew’s approach leading up to and in the A-Final will be, Cox said: “Stick to our plan and recover as much as we can and trust each other.”
In the Women’s Quadruple Sculls, the crew of Romy Cantwell, Jean Mitchell OLY, Annabelle McIntyre OAM OLY and Emily Sheppard continued their remarkable development as a new crew to finish third in their Semi-Final.
Netherlands won (6:22.91) from Great Britain (6:25.52) in second and Australia (6:27.43) third.
Coached by Jamie McDonald, the Australians, in Lane 2, had a great start.
While Netherlands, 2025 World Champions in Lane 4, took a three second-plus lead by the 500m, the gap between 2025 World Silver medallists Great Britain, in Lane 3, and Australia was only 0.32. At 1500m, the margin between Great Britain and Australia was still less than a second.
Cantwell, racing in the bow seat, said the crew treated the race like an A-Final.
“We went out and treated it like an A final,” Cantwell said. “We had an amazing first ‘K’. Then in the last part of the race, well, [speaking for] myself, I was just trying to remain in a safe position and get through without disturbing the run of the boat or doing anything to mess off our placing.”
Cantwell said having the experience of two Olympians in the middle of the boat – McIntyre and Mitchell – has had a huge impact for her and Sheppard who is in the stroke seat and competing in her first Senior World Championships.
“I'm so happy. I can't believe where we have come from,” said Cantwell who won a Bronze Medal in the Single Sculls at the 2025 World Rowing Under 23 Championships before making her Senior World Rowing Championships debut that year in the boat at Shanghai, finishing fifth in the B-Final to rank 11th.
“If someone had told me, I would not have believed it earlier. But I had a lot of faith in our crew coming into this competition, because we've got such good experience in the middle pair [McIntyre and Mitchell] since they came in.
“Having that Olympic experience in it has been amazing for us as a crew. We can be a little bit less nervous and put everything on the line for the last race.”
Cantwell, a Jopling Family Rowing Scholar at Melbourne University where she is in her third year studying a Doctor of Medicine, said her journey to where she is now could not have happened without the support network around them.
“It's great having the support of James Harris [RA Head Women’s coach] under this new program, and of Mrs Gina Rinehart and Hancock Prospecting,” Cantwell said. “Because of this support I've been able to study at Melbourne University this year and take part in the World Cup campaign, and World Championships.”
Earlier, in the heats of the PR1 Men’s Single Sculls, Erik Horrie PLY OAM won his race comfortably (10.01.98) to book his place in Friday’s Semi-Finals.
Horrie, who won the PR1 Men’s Single Sculls in 2014 when the World Championships were last held on the Bosbaan, took an early lead and extended his advantage with every stroke. In second place was Germany’s Marcus Kemp (10:45.01) followed by Argentina’s Lucas Nicolas Poggi (11:45.06) in third.
Horrie’s time was the third fastest of the three heats. The two faster times were by World Champion Benjamin Pritchard, who won Heat 1 (9:47.23) and Ukraine’s Roman Polianskyi (9:56.30) who finished second to Pritchard.
Coached by Chris Holliday, Horrie, whose length of stroke was there from start to finish, was happy; especially with how he responded to the conditions.
“You've got to make sure that you get the most out of your stroke,” Horrie said. “That's what we were looking at and playing around with on a few things.
Horrie continued: “[We’ve made] A bit of setup change because of the conditions. This week, we've had very strong, gusty headwinds. So, the setup is a lot different in our headwind compared to a strong tailwind, which we had here in 2014. [Today] was a headwind, which was a lot stronger in the first ‘K’, but also very inconsistent gusts coming into the finish area.”
While Horrie finished well ahead of Kemp, he said he did not ease up to save energy for the next knock-out round: “It's all nice getting out and getting a lead, but you still need to work on stuff. We're still working on the technique.
“You never take the opposition for granted. You could get a bad stroke, or it goes wrong for some reason. You can lose your spot if you switch off. It's about making sure that you work on what you're trying to work on for the final.”
Looking ahead to the Semi-Final, Horrie says he will race as he did today: “I don't think you need to rewrite ... or redesign the colour-in book. It's as it is, and you follow the plan that we've been working on and what we've been doing.”
In the PR3 Mixed Coxed Four A-Final, the crew of Susannah Lutze PLY, Toby Goffsassen PLY, Cormac Hayes, Wallis Russell and cox Hannah Cowap PLY threw their all into their tilt for a World Rowing Championship medal.
Coached by James Loveday and Caroline Pijpers, Australia was third at 500m and second at 1000m where Great Britain led but then fell off the pace to finish fifth. In an upset, the United States won (6:46.60) from Great Britain (6:47.87) whose second place was the nation’s first loss in the boat in 15 years, followed by France (6:50.73), Italy (6:52.34), Australia (6:56.03) and Germany (7:23.37).
In the Men’s Four Semi-Finals, Australia, dogged by equipment issues shortly before racing, placed fifth to miss out on the A-Final and move to the B-Final.
The A-Final slots went to Netherlands (5:58.70), Germany (6:00.15) and New Zealand (6:00.42). China (6:02.09) finished fourth, followed by the Tom Laurich and Noel Donaldson coached Australian crew of Nikolas Pender, Benjamin Canham OLY, Paddy Holt OLY, and Benjamin Scott (6:10.13).
In the Men’s Quadruple Sculls Semi-Finals, the Australian crew of Hamish Danks, Johnson Daubney, Jackson Free and Marcus Della Marta – coached by Nick Mitchell – also missed out on an A-Final after placing fifth (5:55.60).
They were beaten by Italy (5:45.85) who won, Netherlands (5:46.42) in second, Poland (5:46.76), third and Croatia (5:47.57), fourth. Spain (5:57.64) was sixth.
The Australian Quadruple Scull will also finish their campaign in the B-Final.
Who’s Up for Australia on Day 5 – Friday
1:15PM (9:15PM AEST) - Women’s Single Sculls Quarter-Final 3: Tara Rigney OLY. Coach Alfie Young
1:55PM (9:55PM AEST) – Women’s Pair B-Final: (b) Emmie Frederico, (s) Katie Easton. Coach: Xavier Dorfman
4:16PM (12:16AM AEST) – PR1 Men’s Single Sculls Semi-Final 2: Erik Horrie PLY OAM. Coach: Chris Holliday
4:43PM (12:43AM AEST) – Men’s Pair A-Final: (b) Angus Dawson OLY, (s) Alexander Hill OLY OAM. Coach: Chris O’Brien
4:58PM (12:58AM AEST) – PR3 Mixed Double Sculls A-Final: (b) Ella Marshall, (s) Sam Stunell. Coach: Christine MacLaren
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Photo Credit: Patrick Boere Photography