Rowing earns 4 medals at U-23 World Championships

AUSTIN, Texas – Highlighted by three gold medals, 4 Texas rowers earned podium finishes on the 2025 U-23 World Rowing Championships on July 23-27 in Poznan, Poland.

Marg Van der Wal and Ilva Boone (Netherlands 2-) gained gold within the Women’s Pair, beating out silver-medalists Lisa Zehetmair and Laura Swoboda of Austria and bronze medalists Clara Hornaess and Frida Werner Foldager of Denmark.

“We had a really good experience this past week at the World Championships,” Marg Van der Wal stated. “After being in the Eight together in the 5-6 pair at Texas, we had to finetune our rhythm to go fast in the pair. This was challenging in the beginning, but we had so much fun trying to get better every session. I still can’t believe we became World Champions.”

“It was great to race with another Texas teammate. We did the full Texas race plan and were still able to the ‘two claps’ after practice. The Dutch National Team coaches know how to do a ‘Hook ‘Em’ sign now.”

Abby Dawson grew to become the third Longhorn to seize gold at this 12 months’s U-23 World Championship with the Great Britain Eight, aiding Great Britain in defending its title within the Eight. Taryn Kooyers, competing with the US Eight, completed runner-up to safe silver. Canada completed third to spherical out the rostrum.

Texas Rowing had an NCAA-best 14 student-athletes competing on the 2025 U-23 World Rowing Championships on July 23-27 in Poznan, Poland. The 14 athletes represented seven completely different nations final week. The 14 athletes who participated included Kooyers (USA 8+), Allie Alton (USA 4-), Phoebe Wise (USA 4-), Holly Davis (Ireland 1x), Giulia Orefice (Italy 8+), Dawson (Great Britain 8+), Rhiannon Luke (Great Britain (2-), Paula Becher (Germany 8+), Nike Utesch (Germany 4-), Chloe Cooper (Australia 8+), Lucy Searle (Australia 8+), Imy Grey (Australia 8+), Boone (Netherlands 2-) and Van der Wal (2-).