Stephansen smashes six minutes

The Dane knocked a staggering 3.3 seconds off his own world record that he set just one week ago. Stephansen’s new world record for 2000m on the indoor rowing machine is 5:58.5.

Stephansen, 20, set the record during the Danish Indoor Rowing Championships with a large crowd of spectators at the venue and 4,500 people tuned in on the internet to watch the live race streaming.

This is the third time Stephansen has broken the lightweight indoor rowing world record. He became the record holder last year at the CRASH B Sprints World Indoor Rowing Championships in February 2008 when he broke the record held by Italy’s Elia Luini. Then a week ago Stephansen broke the record again at the Euro Open. Chairman of the Danish indoor rowing organising committee Reiner Modest commented that at the Euro Open Stephansen’s coach did not allow his charge to go under six minutes.  

At the Danish championships Stephansen revealed his true speed. Starting the 2000m piece at half-slide with a stroke rate in the high 40s, Stephansen set his first 500m split at 1:28.8. For the body of the piece Stephansen held a 37 – 39 stroke rate and an average split of 1:30.6. In the finals sprint, with the roar of the crowd behind him, Stephansen increased his stroke rate to 40, then 42 and continued to raise his rate hitting 49 strokes per minute. Stephansen’s final 500m average was 1:28.4.

Stephansen said in the Danish rowing press release, “I was pushed to my very limits when I beat the world record in Rome last week where it really hurt especially in my legs. It was better here in Denmark and I had a good feeling all day. I could see that I could get under 6:01 when I reached the 1000 metre mark and I gave it my all for the last 300 metres and luckily I was under six minutes as well."

"It's really a fantastic feeling for me right now. The crowd helped me a lot and they really pushed me along to be able to break six minutes. It is definitely the best to be able to beat the record at home in front of a Danish crowd."

Watch Stephansen set the record:

Full list of results from the Danish indoor rowing nationals.