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By Rupert Guinness with the Rowsellas in Shanghai
The Rowsellas signed off on their 2025 World Rowing Championship campaign with a thrilling come-from-behind Bronze medal in the PR3 Mixed Double Sculls.
The Christine MacLaren coached crew of Lisa Greissl and Sam Stunnell, who were competing in their first world championships, were fourth at 1500m in the A-Final.
But the duo unleashed a courageous and decisive surge in the final 500m.
Racing in Lane 5, they chased down the 2024 Paralympic Games Silver medallists, Great Britain, and then they passed them with 250m to go to secure the Bronze.
Germany (6:58.64) won Gold from Ukraine (7:05.33) who took Silver and Australia (7:06.60); followed by Great Britain (7:09.41), AIN (7:12.26) and France (7:17.23).
The Australians’ Bronze was the second of two medals for the Rowsellas in these world titles. The first was Erik Horrie’s Bronze in the PR1 Men’s Single Sculls won on Friday.
Afterwards, Stunnell, 18, explained how their race unfolded.
“Coming out of the blocks the field had a bit of a jump on up us and through the ‘K’ [1000m mark] it felt, ‘We’ve got to go now’. We felt we were under a lot of pressure in that middle ‘K.’“We told ourselves, ‘Today we are going to be brave’ and that is exactly what we did.“We had a strong second ‘K’ and at 500m [to go] it was just blood, sweat and tears. We were going to give everything, no matter what, and we have come away with a medal.”
Greissl, 41 and who made the call for their medal-winning push, said the crew that is in its first year together has learned with every row, race and regatta.
“We’ve both learned a lot off each other,” Greissl said. “I’ve learned [about going to] that extra next level of digging deep, and bravery and confidence.“I saw us coming on ‘GB’ and I knew our last 500 was always strong. So, I made the call to try and dominate and saw us gaining.“We just took our instinct, took our trust, and did whatever we did to get in front of GB.”
Meanwhile, also racing for the Rowsellas on Sunday, was Under 23 Worlds medallist Romy Cantwell in the Women’s Single Sculls B-Final.
Another from the Rowsellas who was racing in their first world championships, Cantwell placed fifth for a world ranking of 11th.
Cantwell’s coach Jamie McDonald was all praise for Cantwell, saying: “Romy came from the Under 23s into the Senior ranks with that opportunity, and she’s just grabbed it.“She is a great athlete who absolutely loves racing, and she is up for it all the time.“She’s got immense strength under her rhythm. She has that ability to keep driving the boat and she’s now just finished 11th in the world. She really put it on the line today.”
