By Nick Jones with the Rowsellas in Shanghai
Australia’s Men’s Pair, Women’s Pair and Men’s Double Sculls will line up at the 2025 World Rowing Championships in Shanghai determined to make their mark.
For both Pairs, this will be the first time racing internationally in their current combinations, while the Men’s Double Sculls continue to build on momentum from the European campaign.
Women’s Pair: Building confidence in new waters
The Women’s Pair have impressed in their preparation for Shanghai, showing strong commitment and progress under coach Xavier Dorfman.
“They want to show, I think, first to themselves that they [are] at this level, and they can do good things. So, they engage a lot, really focused,” Dorfman said.
Their training block has been a highlight.
“They finished [staging camp] quite well… very, very happy for them about how they react, how they engage themselves in training,” Dorfman said.
“Our target is to join the A final in the World Championship… honestly, if they can join in the A Final, it would be a big success. And then after, when you are in the A final, you don’t know, anything can happen… all the doors are open.”
Women’s Pair
Stroke: Eleanor Price (#898)
Bow: Taylor Caudle
Coach: Xavier Dorfman
Provisional race schedule
Sunday September 21 - Heats
Tuesday September 23 - Semis
Thursday September 25 - Finals
Men’s Pair: A familiar partnership at a new level
The Australian Men’s Pair brings together two Melbourne University products with a long history of rowing alongside each other.
Coach Nick Mitchell said: “They actually rowed this Pair at U21s. They were also in the Under 23 Four that won Silver two years ago… so they come with a huge amount of underage pedigree and a huge amount of understanding of what they’re trying to do.”
Mitchell highlighted their complementary strengths.
“They are very different human beings, personality wise, but they’re very complementary to each other in terms of how they row their stroke.”
For Fraser, who missed the European tour through illness, Shanghai represents an important moment.
“Fraser has had a challenging season and brings a lot of energy to the group as he makes his debut as a senior athlete… really excited to have him in the boat with Nick [Smith].”
The Pair enter their first World Championship campaign together with a clear goal.
“We’re looking to progress from race to race… we still feel like there is more speed to be found in the combination,” Mitchell said.
“We’re certainly looking for being top nine, push into the A final.”
Men’s Pair
Stroke: Nicholas Smith
Bow: Fraser Miscamble
Coach: Nick Mitchell
Provisional race schedule
Sunday September 21 - Heats
Tuesday September 23 - Semis
Thursday September 25 - Finals
Men’s Double Sculls: Long bond, fresh opportunity
The Men’s Double Sculls enter Shanghai after racing in Varese, Lucerne and Henley, where they gained valuable international experience.
Mitchell said he was encouraged by their development.
“We’re really happy with the progress. They’ve continued to push themselves to make changes… and I’m really pleased with the mindset that they’ve brought to that.”
The boat features two long-time friends and training partners from Adelaide.
“These two boys have been friends for a significantly long time, training partners and have been racing in doubles together for a long time,” Mitchell said.
“The synchronisation that they bring and their ability to understand each other in few words… I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The depth of the field in Shanghai is not lost on Mitchell.
“The Double Scull field is incredibly strong and incredibly deep. I would expect that in most of the races this week we will have five or six crews level at the 1000 metre mark,” Mitchell said, naming New Zealand, Romania, Serbia, Italy, Ireland, and Belgium among the main contenders.
For the crew, success will be measured by performance rather than medals.
“If we continue on the trajectory that we’ve been on… we’ll walk away really, really happy from that. We are trying to put ourselves into the A final, and then the field is so even that it’s all open as we enter that last 500 metres.”
Men’s Double Sculls
Stroke: Mitchell Reinhard
Coach: Nick Mitchell
Provisional race schedule
Monday September 22 - Heats
Wednesday September 24 - Semis
Friday September 26 - 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:
The provisional time table for the events can be found here and entries for all the events can be found here.
Live race tracker and LIVE audio will be available for ALL races on www.worldrowing.com.
LIVE video streaming will be available on the World Rowing website, Foxtel, and Kayo Sports on Sunday September 21 from 12:00 AEST. The video streaming will start 5 minutes before the first race.