Naukkarinen’s indoor rowing skill at virtual sprints 

The indoor rowing domination by Finland’s Joel Naukkarinen continued with the 2023 World Rowing Virtual Indoor Sprints.

Held in March, not long after Naukkarinen competed in the World Rowing Indoor Championships, the Finn finished first man and the fastest overall for the 1000 metre distance. This follows his Versa Challenge win at the World Rowing Indoor Championships.

Naukkarinen says he has now ‘retired’ from indoor rowing to focus on flat-water rowing with the aim of going to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. As his parting shot before retiring, Naukkarinen posted on social media his grand finale:

“Ten days and eight records on the slides. These were my last pieces as a part of my retirement.”
Friday: Half marathon + rowing on the water
Saturday: rowing on the water
Sunday: 10k and 1min (20min pause between) + rowing on the water
Monday: Strength training
Tuesday: 30min and 500m (20min pause between)
Wednesday: Easy steady state + strength training
Thursday: 60min
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 1000m + strength training
Sunday: Marathon

Over 6000 people took part in the virtual sprints, double the number that took part in 2022. Of these 1137 were juniors and 80 were para athletes. They hailed from 76 countries with the biggest contingent coming from French Polynesia. They had nearly 800 entries.

Morgane Toullec from France was the fastest overall woman. She finished in a time of 3:18.

There were a number of new World Reccords. Luke Wollenschlager (South Africa) broke the Men’s 50-59 heavyweight record by a tenth of a second from Andy Benko (2:49.1).

Among the para rowers, there were two new records set. Anika Pretorius of South Africa won the Women’s 19–29-year-old PR3-VI. Yvonne Naffin of New Zealand set a record in the women’s 70–79 PR3.

Records among the men included; Mohamed Bilel Guerbaj of Tunisia who was first in the men’s 30–39 PR3-SA in a time of 4:10.9. Elouan Laporte (France) set a record in the men’s junior 13–14 PR3-II. Frederick Chidester of the United States set the record for the men’s 80–89 PR3

There were also para records (still to be verified) set

• Raymond Robinson (GBR) in Men’s 40-49 PR3-II
• Michal Deal (USA) in Men’s 60-69 PR1
• Ethan Wurges (USA) in the Junior Men’s 13-14 PR3
• Alexis Myrcik-Foisnel (FRA) in Men’s Junior 12 PR3-II

The oldest person to take part was Valarie Coleman from Great Britain who won the women’s 90+ in a time of 6:17.3.

For full results: https://log.concept2.com/challenges/indoor-sprints/2023/