diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 88cce1c0..8bc4fd8e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ jobs:
           - meson
         compiler:
           - llvm
-          - gcc@13
+          - gcc@14
         include:
           - ldflags: "-Wl,-ld_classic"
           - compiler: llvm
@@ -127,9 +127,9 @@ jobs:
             cxx: /opt/homebrew/opt/llvm/bin/clang++
             # ldflags: -L/opt/homebrew/opt/llvm/lib
             enable_ruby: enable
-          - compiler: gcc@13
-            cc: gcc-13
-            cxx: g++-13
+          - compiler: gcc@14
+            cc: gcc-14
+            cxx: g++-14
             # -fdeclspec is only supported by llvm's clang!
             enable_ruby: disable
     steps:
@@ -309,6 +309,8 @@ jobs:
         set -ex
         apt-get --yes --force-yes update
         apt-get --yes --force-yes install autoconf automake libtool python3-pip python3-all-dev python3-numpy cython3 fpc gfortran gcc swig lua5.3 liblua5.3-dev ruby-dev default-jdk clang
+        # ensure cython3 is used on debian and ubuntu with old versions of meson
+        echo "CYTHON=cython3" >> $GITHUB_ENV
         set +ex
       env:
         DEBIAN_FRONTEND: noninteractive