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By Rupert Guinness with the Rowsellas in Shanghai
Australia will be well represented in the Para-rowing events at the 2025 World Rowing Championships in Shanghai, with both of two boats regarded as medal hopes.
Triple Paralympic medallist and five-time World Champion Erik Horrie OAM PLY, 45 and an Australian team member since 2011, will again race in the Men’s PR1 Single Scull.
Australia will be represented in the PR3 Mixed Double Scull by Sam Stunnel in the stroke seat and Lisa Greissl in the bow.
Men's PR1 Single Sculls
Horrie has arrived in Shanghai in top shape off the back of winning World Cup Gold at Varese and Lucerne, followed a solid preparation back in Australia.
His coach, James Loveday - who is also the Para Head Coach - is excited to see how Horrie will respond to the “new approach” he has taken to his preparation for Shanghai.
“He's tracking really well,” Loveday said. “We’ve looked at some of the performances in which he succeeded in the last 15 years and learned where his training's been strong.
“We have also started to identify areas where we think we can make improvement.
“We spent a little less time racing in the domestic season, then used the World Cups to see what things look like and they went well.”
Horrie is a medal challenger, but success will not only be defined by a medal win.
Loveday regards the world titles as an important platform from which he and Horrie will learn where he and his opposition are at with the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympic in mind.
“The world championships are obviously performance touch points,” Loveday said. “They will give us a clear guide on how things are going and where other people are at.”
To achieve that, Loveday’s primary wish is for Horrie to stick to their agreed race plan.
“Success is seeing a true, honest, flat out, best two ‘K’ we can do on finals day,” Loveday said.
Men’s PR1 Single Sculls
Sculler: Erik Horrie OAM PLY (#759)
Coach: James Loveday
Provisional race schedule
Monday September 22 - Heats
Friday September 26 - Finals
PR3 Mixed Double Sculls
Australia’s new-look PR3 Mixed Double Sculls crew of Sam Stunnell and Lisa Greissl have been quick to assert themselves as one of medal contenders in Shanghai.
In both World Cup regattas at Varese and Lucerne, Stunnell and Greissl won Silver.
Coach Christine MacLaren, who coached Jed Altschwager OAM PLY and Nikki Ayers OAM PLY to Paralympic Gold in the boat in 2024, said she is excited by this new combination:
“They've been training well off the back of their first international competition,” MacLaren said.
“They learned a lot from the racing in Varese and Lucerne to take back to Australia, worked on it there. They are more race ready than they were in the World Cups.”
While both scullers are making senior world title debuts, Stunnell, 19, won Gold in the PR3 Single Sculls at the 2025 World Rowing Under 23 Championships and Greissl, 41, was a Para Team sculling reserve for the 2023 world titles and 2024 Paralympics.
MacLaren said the balance of youth and experience between the two is a great asset.
“It is 100 per cent Ying and Yang,’” MacLaren said. “They both learn off each other. They bring different things to the boat, to the training and the racing which is a good thing.”
Australia is seeded first from 14 entries in Shanghai but MacLaren knows the crew must step up.
“There are crews that are incredibly fast and medalled at the Paralympics last year, but we've also got 14 crews. We can't sit back. You never underestimate a crew,” she said.
PR3 Mixed Double Sculls
Stroke: Sam Stunnell
Bow: Lisa Greissl
Coach: Christine MacLaren
Provisional race schedule
Thursday September 25 - Heats
Friday September 26 - Semis
Sunday September 28 - Finals
How to Follow the 2025 World Rowing Championships
The first races will start September 21 at 12:05 AEST. The medal races start September 25 at 16:05 AEST.
Here is how to follow the event on mobile, tablet, or desktop:
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The provisional time table for the events can be found here and entries for all the events can be found here.
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Live race tracker and LIVE audio will be available for ALL races on www.worldrowing.com.
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LIVE video streaming will be available on the World Rowing website on Sunday September 21 from 12:00 AEST. The video streaming will start 5 minutes before the first race.
