Finalists from 66 nations to compete in the 2022 World Rowing Virtual Indoor Championships Finals

Finalists have now been confirmed for the 2022 World Rowing Virtual Indoor Championships, presented by Concept2 (WRVICH). Going virtual for the second year, the Championships have athletes from 66 countries competing. They have qualified from around the globe through either one of 19 sanctioned events, or individual qualification.

The event will take place from 25-26 February. World Rowing is grateful to our partners for the event, Concept2 and Tencent Cloud, whose continued partnership will help provide global live-streaming, video-on-demand, and other technological support.

The 2022 WRVICH has attracted a wide range of athletes from different sporting backgrounds – including CrossFitters, former NFL players, discus throwers, as well as the existing on-water and indoor rowing community.

The 2021 open men’s World Champion, Ward Lemmelijn of Belgium is back to defend his title and will be joined by his younger brother Lode who is competing in the under-23 category for 2000 metres.  The former women’s world record holder Olena Buryak of Ukraine is entered in the 500m and open women’s 2000m. Buryak is also the 2019 and 2020 World Rowing Indoor Champion. She will compete against Kirsten Kline of the United States, the reigning World Champion in the open women’s 2000m, and Zhang Peixin of China, 2019 World Rowing Junior Champion.

There is formidable competition in the men’s 500m with the 2020 and 2021 winner, Phil Clapp of Great Britain, who will be going for a third consecutive win. His competitors include, notably, former NFL player Matt Stankiewitch of the United States.

Finland’s Joel Naukkarinen is entered in four events including the men’s 500m, 2000m, team (three minutes), and mixed team (three minutes. Naukkarinen is World Rowing’s February Rower of the Month., who just set new Finnish records in the men’s 500m and 10 000m.

The event will also feature para racing races in the PR1, PR2 PR3, and PR3-II categories, on both 500m and 2000m. The oldest competitor is Georges Basse, 96 years old from France – Basse is a regular competitor at the World Rowing Indoor Championships, and has many times been the oldest competitor.

The WRVICH is the pinnacle event for indoor rowers, with the title of World Champions up for grabs. It was originally planned as a hybrid event to take place in Hamburg, Germany, but the global pandemic forced the event to become fully virtual. The virtual racing software will be once again be operated by race management company Time-Team of the Netherlands, as was done in 2021.

While racing, competitors will know their placing as their indoor rower will be running in ‘race mode’. This will allow them to see their position in a race on the rowing machine’s monitor. They can also have a live race tracker set on a laptop or external device. All competitors will be competing on Concept2 machines.

There will be live streaming of racing on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 February. This will be host-produced by World Rowing Productions and available to watch on www.worldrowing.com and World Rowing’s YouTube channel.

For more information: https://worldrowing.com/event/2022-world-rowing-indoor-championships
For a full list of entries: https://worldrowing.entries.regatta-systems.com/wrich/2022