MADISON, Wis. – Three former Badgers – Lauren O'Connor, Grace Joyce and Isa Darvin – have been named to the senior national team roster set to represent the United States at the 2025 World Rowing Championships. The championships run September 21-28 in Shanghai, China.
Leading the group is Olympian Lauren O'Connor, who will be representing the U.S. in the women's single sculls. O'Connor won the event at the U.S. Senior and Para World Rowing Championships Trials with a time of 7:31.29.
The Belleville, Wisconsin, native rowed for the Badgers from 2016-20, helping the varsity eight to a 16th-place finish at the 2019 NCAA Championships and a third-place finish at that year's Big Ten championships. She concluded her UW racing career at the 2019 Head of the Charles, where she helped the championship eighth crew place 12th, before COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the spring season.
O'Connor is now a three-time senior U.S. national team member, also racing at the World Rowing Championships in 2023 before qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she helped the U.S. to a ninth-place finish in the women's quadruple sculls.
Badger alumni Grace Joyce and Isa Darvin will also be representing the United States in the women's double sculls event.
Joyce, a Paris 2024 Olympian who competed with O'Connor in the women's quadruple sculls, rowed for both Wisconsin's openweight and lightweight crews during her time as a Badger from 2016-20. Her racing career ended early due to COVID-19, but she helped the second varsity eight to a 12th-place finish at the 2019 NCAA Championships. She also rowed with the UW lightweight eight that finished fourth at the 2018 Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championships and the lightweight eight crew that finished seventh at the 2018 IRA Nationals.
The Northfield, Illinois, native is a six-time U.S. national team member, including owning a pair of under-23 national team appearances, racing in the lightweight double sculls in 2018 and 2019. She earned her first senior national team bid after making the World Championships roster as an alternate in 2022, before racing for the U.S. at the 2023 Pan American Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Joyce, alongside O'Connor, won the quadruple sculls at the 2024 World Rowing Final Olympic & Paralympic Qualification Regatta. She also owns a gold medal in the event from the 2023 Pan American Games.
Joining Joyce in the women's double sculls event is former Wisconsin openweight rower Isa Darvin, who was a Badger from 2017-2021. Darvin began her career as a walk-on before racing with the novice eight crew that placed fifth at the 2018 Big Ten Championships. She also rowed with the varsity eight boat that placed second at the 2019 Cardinal Invite and first at the 2021 event.
The Madison native is now a two-time senior national team member, also representing the United States at the 2023 Pan American Games, where she won gold in the pair and mixed eight events and finished second in the women's four and eight competitions.
2025 World Rowing Championships Team Members
Lauren O'Connor (Belleville, Wis.) – Women's Single Sculls
Grace Joyce (Northfield, Ill.) – Women's Double Sculls
Isa Darvin (Madison, Wis.) – Women's Double Sculls
