2026 World Under 23 Championships—Duisburg, Germany
A comprehensive set of images of the Australian crews at this regatta by photographer Benedict Tufnell can be found on the Australian Rowing Images website.
The World Under 23 Championships were conducted in Duisburg, 23-26 July 2026. Australia was well represented including in PR3 events. With three gold medals and 2 silver, it was a good result for Australia.
The focus of this team was obviously this event, but Rowing Australia also regards this squad as the first stages of building the 2032 Olympic team for Brisbane.
The team comprised 32 and almost half of those had raced in 2025 Championships and four who had raced in the 2025 Under 19 Championships.
RA Head of Pathways, Jason Lane said the World Championships results confirmed RA is heading in the right direction with its Pathways Program.
“These results are a strong endorsement of the direction of our Pathways Program and the commitment being shown by our athletes, coaches and support staff across the country,” Lane said.
“To have seven of our 10 crews progress to A-Finals and come away with five medals demonstrates both the quality of talent coming through and the depth we are building across the Australian rowing system ahead of future senior international campaigns.”
Imogen Grey and Lucy Searle show off their gold medals
Selection
The selection process evolved further from the initial approach of some years ago with separate Australian and US based selected crews to a far more integrated approach. The Australian selection trials were conducted at Penrith in conjunction with the senior selection trials. The US trials took place in Princeton after a 10 day camp. Whilst some crews were selected through these processes, the rest were subject to further trialing in Italy under Martin Aitken before being settled. RA Head of Pathways, Jason Lane said “Selection for the Under 23 Australian team has occurred over several stages and in multiple locations.” It even included a British based rower.
Medal Standing
Australia finished well in equal fourth place using a gold medal ranking. Greece won with 4 gold and 2 silver and Germany finished with the largest number of medals taking 2 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze. Follow this link for the full medal standings.
| Rank by gold | G | S | B | Total | Rank by total |
| GRE | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 | =2 |
| USA | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 | =2 |
| GBR | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | =2 |
| AUS | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| POR | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | =7 |
| GER | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 1 |
| ROM | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| FRA | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | =7 |
Men's Four off the start
Daily Results Sheets
Australian Team
Women's Single -Ninth
Sarah Bourke (QLD)
Cch: Don McLachlan (QLD)
Women's PR3 Single - Gold
Susannah Lutze (VIC)
Cch: Christine McLaren (ACT)
Women's Double Scull - Sixth
Bow: Sophie Malcolm (QLD)
Str: Eliza Bridgefoot (QLD)
Cch: Don McLachlan (QLD)
Women's Pair -Gold
Bow: Lucy Searle (NSW)
Str: Imogen Grey (NSW)
Cch: Hally Chapman (RA)
Women's Four - Eighth
Bow: Leila Gaston (NSW/Uni Texas)
2: Hannah Richardson (NSW/Uni Tennessee)
3: Chloe Nevins (VIC)
Str: Sarah Marriott (VIC/Stanford Uni)
Cch: Tim McLaren (NSW)
Men's PR3 Scull - Gold
Sam Stunnell (SA)
Coach: Christine MacLaren (RA)
Men’s Quad - Seventh
Bow: Oliver Evans-Wood (SA)
2: Tobias Elias (NSW)
3: Max Currie (VIC)
Str: Jasper Boyce (SA)
Cch: Beth Bryan (SA)
Men's Pair - Silver
Bow: Jack Hansen-Knarhoi (WA/Harvard Uni)
Str: Lachlan Brown (WA)
Cch: Randall Martin (QLD)
Men’s Four - Silver
Bow: Alec Hoskin (NSW)
2: Matthew Cashman (QLD/Princeton Uni)
3: Daniel Cashman (QLD/Princeton Uni)
Str: Montgomery Martin (QLD)
Cch: Randall Martin (QLD)
Men's Eight - Fourth
Bow: Winston Hooper (VIC)
2: Thomas Foley (VIC)
3: James Frederikson (NSW/Dartmouth Col)
4: Henry Belcher (SA)
5: Rory Menzies (NSW/Uni California Berkeley)
6: Andrew Weightman (QLD)
7: Edward Nutt (NSW/Princeton)
Str: Matias Moloney (NSW)
Cox: Thomas Shaw (QLD)
Cch: Franz Imfeld (NSW)
Team management
Team manager: Stef Maraun (NSWIS)
Head coach: Jason Lane (RA)
Team doctor: Dr Rob Buckley
Physiotherapist: Lauren Fornasaro
Australian on the Jury: Chris Tucker (NSW)
Sam Stunnel celebrates another World Championship in the PR3 single
Result summaries by event
Men's Lightweight Double Scull
Women's Lightweight Double Scull