The Hot Favourites at the Rowing World Championships 🥵
Events with Runaway Leaders at 2025 World Rowing Championships.
While some events promise nail-biting finishes, others have clear standout favourites that rowing fans are backing with overwhelming confidence.
Based on predictions from hundreds of rowing enthusiasts, all trying to prove their towpath prowess, these are the events where certain crews have established themselves as the undisputed favourites to win gold.
What Makes a "Hot Favourite"?
A hot favourite is defined by:
Commanding support (60%+ predictions)
Massive gaps to second place (40%+ lead)
Overwhelming consensus among predictors
These are the events where upset victories would truly shock the rowing world.
(And provide an opportunity in Fantasy Rowing for those people who know something that everyone else doesn’t)
The Untouchables: Great Britain's Dominance 🇬🇧
PR3 Mixed Coxed Four - 83.4% Support
The Hottest Favourite of All Championships
Great Britain: 83.4%
United States: 6.1%
Gap: 77.3% - the largest margin in any event
Why they're untouchable: GB's Paralympic mixed coxed four has been virtually unbeatable, and the prediction data reflects their complete dominance in this classification.
Men's Eight - 82.0% Support
The Heavyweight Heavyweight
Great Britain: 82.0%
Australia: 5.7%
Gap: 76.4%
Why they're untouchable: Great British eights have been the gold standard in rowing's flagship event for men and women all season, in all tiers of the sport. Nothing is guaranteed, but a different result to this would send shockwaves through the rowing community.
Women's Single Sculls - 77.3% Support
Great Britain: 77.3%
Netherlands: 15.3%
Gap: 62.0%
Why they're untouchable: Britain's women's single sculler, Lauren Henry, has established herself as a sculler with technical superiority that makes her nearly unbeatable on her day - or at least this is the word on the towpath!
Other events where Great Britain are hot favourites:
Women's Quad - 69.5% Support
PR1 Men's Single - 66.0% Support
Men's Quad - 62.3% Support
The International Hot Favourites 🌏
Not every runaway favourite wears British colours and perhaps the largely British user base skews the predictions in favour of the home team… only time will tell!
Here are the favourites from other nations:
Lightweight Women's Double - 63.2% Support
People's Republic of China: 63.2%
Tunisia: 15.8%
Gap: 47.4%
Lightweight Men's Double - 69.5% Support
Germany: 69.5%
People's Republic of China: 26.4%
Gap: 43.1%
What Does This Mean for Viewers?
If you're looking for guaranteed excitement, these maybe aren't your events. The hot favourites represent:
Exhibitions of excellence - watching world-class crews perform at their peak
Technical masterclasses - seeing how the best crews execute perfect races
Potential record-breaking - dominant crews often push boundaries
However, we need to talk about…
The Upset Potential 😱
While these crews are overwhelming favourites, rowing is still a sport where:
Weather conditions can level the playing field (although not literally, usually it’s the other way around) 🌊
Race day nerves affect even the best crews
Tactical racing can spring surprises
Equipment failures can change everything (London 2012 anyone?)
The Bottom Line
While competitive events will provide the drama and uncertainty that makes our sport compelling, these hot favourite events represent something equally valuable: the chance to witness sporting excellence at its absolute peak.
Sometimes, watching perfection unfold is just as thrilling as watching chaos!
And the World Championships will give us all of this and more!
Looking for more data?
The prediction data for ever crew in every event is available within the app which you can download here:
NOTE: Data based on 482 fantasy predictions for the 2025 World Rowing Championships. Hot favourites defined as crews with 60%+ support and 40%+ gaps to second place.
