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Australia’s comeback attempt from a 2-0 deficit fell short on Sunday when Belgium’s Raphael Collignon beat Aleksandar Vukic in the decisive fifth match in Sydney to secure a 3-2 win in their qualifying tie and a place in November’s Davis Cup Final 8.

U.S. Open quarterfinalist Alex de Minaur, who had hoped for a “comeback story” despite Saturday’s losses, beat Zizou Bergs in straight sets to level the second-round tie after Australia’s Jordan Thompson and Rinky Hijikata had won the doubles match.

But Collignon, who beat world number eight De Minaur on Saturday, shook off a first-set stumble against Vukic to win 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-3.

ALSO READ: India beats Switzerland, seals spot for next year’s Qualifiers

Belgium became the seventh team to reach the Final 8 after Argentina, Austria, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, and defending champion Italy, which qualified as the host.

Denmark, which took a 2-0 lead over Spain in Marbella on Saturday, is one win away from becoming the eighth team to qualify.

The Final 8 will take place in Bologna from November 18 to 23.

Published on Sep 14, 2025

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard Sailing turned in another impressive program-wide performance, taking first place at the NEISA Open Singlehanded Championship and Hatch Brown Trophy, and placing two in the top five of the NEISA Women’s Singlehanded Championship. The Crimson also finished in the upper half of the team standings at the Regis Trophy after several solid results at the two-division regatta.

NEISA Open Singlehanded Championship | Cranston, R.I.

Robby Meek successfully defended his NEISA Open Singlehanded Championship title, cruising to victory with a final score of 30, which was 27 points better than runner-up Jake Homberger of Boston College. The two finished Friday 1-2 in the standings with only three points separating the two (9-12). Meek, who went 1-7-1 on Day 1, pulled away on Saturday with a 3-3-2-1 in Races 4-7. An eighth-place finish in Race 8, temporarily stalled his momentum, but he answered it with a closing performance of 1-1-2 in the final three races. With the win, Meek secured the conference’s automatic bid to the ICSA Singlehanded National Championship, which will be hosted by Old Dominion in November. In three seasons, Meek has finished second (2023), first (2024) and first (2025) at this event.

NEISA Women’s Singlehanded Championship | Cranston, R.I.

Sophia Montgomery finished in second place at the NEISA Women’s Singlehanded Championship, completing the 12-race regatta with a score 35. The senior was in first place after one day of action, posting an 8 (1-2-2-3), but started slow on Day 2, going 4-6-9 in Races 5-7. Montgomery, however, got on a roll in the final five races (2-1-3-1-1) to give herself a chance, but fell five points short to Okyanus Arikan of Rhode Island (30). Montgomery finished her NEISA singlehanded career with four top-four finishes, winning the event in 2022, coming in second twice (2021, 2025) and recording a fourth-place performance a season ago. Kate Danielson, meanwhile, placed fourth with a final score of 59. The sophomore, who was the runner-up in 2024, posted top-5 finishes in 10 of 12 races. Of those 10, three were second-place efforts (Race 1, 4, 10).

Hatch Brown Trophy | Cambridge, Mass.

The Crimson won the one-day, 18-team, three-division event with a score of 41 on the Charles River. The performance marked Harvard’s first Hatch Brown win since 2017. Justin Callahan made his 2025-26 debut with first-year Jacob Posner and the duo was impressive, rebounding from a fifth-place finish in Race 1 with victories in Race 2 and 3. Their final score of 7 was tops in the A-division. Mitchell Callahan and Rosella Irfan turned in a finish line of 3-5-9 to record a 17, which was matched by Harrison Strom and Christina Chen (8-6-3) over in the C-division. M. Callahan-Irfan ranked fifth among B-division duos, while Strom-Chen ranked fourth in the C-division.

Regis Trophy | Cambridge, Mass.

Harvard (72 points) finished seventh of 18 teams at Boston University-hosted Regis Trophy, which featured two divisions. Zoey Ziskind and Peyton Hadfield improved as the day went on, posting a final line of 7-6-5-1-4 to finish the one-day event with a 23, which ranked third among all A-division competitors. Caroline Straw and Theresa Straw, meanwhile, turned in three top-8 performances (Race 1 – 8^th, Race 2 – 7^th, Race 5 – 6^th) to record a score of 49. 

Up Next

Harvard is scheduled to compete at the NEISA Match Racing Championships (New London, Conn.), Hoyt Trophy (Cranston, R.I.), Mrs. Hurst Bowl (Hanover, N.H.) and Hood Trophy (Medford). All four regattas are slated for Saturday, Sept. 20-Sunday, Sept. 21.
 

New event. Same old Sydney McLaughlin-Levron.

McLaughlin-Levron cruised to the women’s 400m semi-finals in 49.41 at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025 on Sunday (14 September).

Making her worlds debut in the 400m flat, the two-time Olympic 400m hurdles champion won her heat without much of a challenge, taking her foot off the pedal well before the finish for the second best time of the heats.

“It’s amazing to be back to Tokyo,” said McLaughlin-Levrone, who won the first of her two golds here at Tokyo’s National Stadium.

“I was focused on the first half of the race tonight and ran it well. I did it relaxed.”

World leader Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain led the 24 semi-finalists with a mark of 49.13. Jamaica’s Stacy Williams was third overall with a personal best of 49.59.

The top three from each of the six heats went through plus the six fastest times advanced.

Cool Rowings challenge Olympic Champions on ITV

The team that took the British Rowing Indoor Championships by storm face off against Emily Craig MBE and Imogen Grant MBE in the new series of You Bet!

For many, the idea of racing a pair of Olympic Champions is just a pipedream. That’s all it was for Maureen Nay and the rest of the Cool Rowings team. Based out of the Mercury Shopping Centre in Romford, Cool Rowings aims to bring more diversity to the sport of rowing.

It was whilst being interviewed on Sunday Morning Live on BB1 that they caught the eye of a producer from ITV who immediately jumped at the opportunity to feature the team on the new series of You Bet.

Founded by the UK’s first champion of Gladiator Weininger Irwin, the team immediately became a priority for ITV to get on board.

“At this point, she didn’t know what the challenge was or what it would be, but she knew she wanted to get us on the show, explained Maureen.

“There was the appeal of seeing us on BBC1, seeing us on rowing machines in action, and also the competitiveness of getting the presenters, Miss Hazel, and Aaliyah all racing over 250m.

“They called us and started talking to our seniors, and they were enamoured by their character and said to everyone that if they knew of a challenge, that would be great, as they wanted to include us. They also knew that Weininger was the winner of  Gladiators, so she wanted to bring all of this together.

“That’s where I came in. I thought that we want to drum up enough people watching, then we need somebody famous or perhaps some Olympic Champions. I thought I’d just throw it out there and see what happens, but not to race them on water because we just row indoors!”

The day of filming is one that won’t be forgotten any time soon. Cool Rowings faced off against reigning Olympic Champions Emily Craic and Imogen Grant, who took to the water whilst Weininger and the team raced on Concept 2 machines on land. Add in the charismatic quarter of Stephen Mulhern, Oti Mabuse, Danny Jones, and Greg Rutherford, and a huge amount of fun was had by everyone involved.

“I don’t know if they filmed it, but just before we started, Weininger started singing. There was singing and clapping going towards the ergs, and then Dani, Oti, and Greg joined in. I hope they captured it because we all started singing and clapping, and it became a chant, one big party! The energy was off the charts, and the banter between Miss Hazel and the rest of them was great,” continued Maureen.

For Weininger and Maureen, this opportunity is also about getting as many eyes on rowing as possible.

“I’m hoping for a tsunami of interest in regard to getting into the sport,” explained the Gladiator winner.

“Our aim is to get diversity, age, and ability right across the board interested and then guide them, if they want to, onto the water so that the sport can be more accessible and diverse too.”

“The whole Cool Rowings ethos is to bring more diversity to this fantastic sport. We want more people to be engaged. We are an official British Rowing Go Row Indoor club, and we want more people to be aware that we are based at the Mercury Shopping Centre in Romford. We’re doing some very interesting things in regard to rowing. One of the things that I’ve spoken about before is getting a younger audience, not necessarily using the rowing machine, but doing something a little bit different. That’s our aim, to engage and get people into the sport but also engage a younger audience. We are pretty creative with our approach in getting people into indoor rowing.

This idea of involving young children in rowing is something that Maureen built upon.

“We’ve gone into infant schools using no rowing machines, gone into secondary schools but used the ergs, and it’s all to generate interest in the sport.” She said.

“Our aim is to get them interested, even though we’re indoor, we can then lead them onto a pathway to the water, but you have to get them interested. You can’t throw a five-year-old on the water; you can’t throw a seven-year-old on the water. 11 and above, probably yes, but you can make sure they are interested and that they have the rowing action, so that when they do go onto the water, it’s not as daunting. Our aim is to get diversity, age, and ability right across the board interested and then guide them, if they want to, onto the water so that the sport can be more accessible and diverse too.”

After last year’s unforgettable experience, Cool Rowings will be returning to BRIC in December. They were one of the stars of the show at this festival of indoor rowing and will be aiming to build on their performances. For Weininger, though, he already has his sights set on 2026.

“We are actively speaking with potential sponsors that will back us in putting on the first of its kind, Cool Rowings Red Nose National Primary Schools Regatta. We’ve got the how; all we want is the sponsors to back us and let us lead on it and take it from there.”

For Weininger, it all boils down to a simple saying: “We’re calling all Olympians, World Champions, novices, and spectators to come down to the historic town of Romford to check us out, to have a go and have a row!”

You can catch Cool Rowings on ITV’s You Bet! – watch now on  ITVx 

36

36 players have plied their trade for both teams: Alphonse Areola, Serge Aurier, Milan Biševac, Jules Bocandé, François Brisson, Zoumana Camara, Clément Chantôme, Charles-Édouard Coridon, Éric Cubilier, Stéphane Dalmat, Frédéric Déhu, Jean Deloffre, Nicolas Douchez, Pierre-Alain Frau, Bernard Héréson, Arnaud Kalimuendo, Bonaventure Kalou, Bernard Lama, Loïck Landre, Nicolas Laspalles, Ronan Le Crom, Jérôme Leroy, Danijel Ljuboja, Patrice Marquet, Jean-Eudes Maurice, François M’Pelé, William N’Jo Léa, Pascal Nouma, Alex Nyarko, Stéphane Pédron, José Pierre-Fanfan, Thierry Rabat, Bruno Rodriguez, Daniel Xuereb, Christian Zajaczkowski and Pascal Zaremba. Trained at Paris Saint-Germain and a Lens player since this summer, Odsonne Édouard has played neither for the capital club’s first team nor for that of RC Lens.