Rowers to watch in the Finals at the 2026 World Rowing Indoor Championships, presented by Concept2

An incredible eight age group category World Records were broken during last weekend’s heats. This bodes well for some more record breaking races in the finals being raced on Saturday 28 February in the 2026 World Rowing Virtual Indoor Championships, presented by Concept2.

2026 marks the first time that World Rowing has featured the 1000m, 5000m, and 1 minute races as official World Rowing Indoor Championship events and all eyes will be on these races for more potential records. Also on the line for the competitors are the inaugural World Rowing Indoor Champion titles in these new distances.

All Finals will be broadcast live on the World Rowing website and for those participating there will be an overall ranking as well as age category rankings. First, second and third medals will be awarded in both categories.

Men’s 1 minute

Number of entries: 526
World Record: Cameron Wharram, Canada, 435m

You’ve got to love a new event when the records fall. In the heats there were two new records set. Kenneth McDonald of Ireland set a record for the lightweight men’s 50-54, finishing with 368 metres and Jorma Lehtinen from Finland went 340 metres in the lightweight men’s 70-74.

With a high number of entries, this race includes age groups through to the 80+ competitors with Roger Stainforth of Great Britain, Michael McGuirk of the United States and Bob Fisher of the United States all sitting on identical qualifying distances of 304 metres. This is likely to be one of the most hotly contested finals.

The fastest overall group the 23-39 category had Thomas Vinther of Denmark going 434 metres – just a metre off the world record – in the heats. Vinther did this with a 45 stroke rate pace. He just beat Andrea Panizza of Italy who pulled 428 metres. What will they do this weekend? Bunched in behind the two leaders are Joonas Kuivalainen of Finland and Spyridon Kalentzis of Greece both who scored 420 metres and then just one metre less is Luis Haack and Hanes Loerwald of Germany.

Make sure to watch out for Anders Edquist of Swedent. He’s in the 45-49 category and finished with 422 metres, easily ahead of second place in his category Uwe Kaula of Germany at 407 metres.

Women’s 1 minute

Number of entries: 265
World Record: Vár Guriardóttir Hansen, Faroe Islands, 366m (2026)

During the heats Sharon Anne Jones of Australia set a new record of 318 metres in the women’s 65-69. This puts Jones in a comfortable positing ahead of Paivi Torma of Finland who did 292 metres to come in second.

The overall stand-out performance and fastest time from the heats was the world record holder Vár Guriardóttir Hansen of Faroe Islands who went 364m for the 23-39 age group – just 2 metres outside of her record. Hot on Hansen’s heels will be Kees Karpatskij of Finland and Irmelin Olsson of Sweden who recorded identical distances in the heats just 10 metre behind Hansen.  Three Estonians (Adelle Ader, Terje Leola and Liisa-Marie Laane) follow to round out the top six.

In the 45-49 women, Ella Fox of the United States pulled a powerful 351 metres giving her the seventh best metres overall for the women.

Men’s 1000m

Number of entries: 565
World Record: Andrea Panizza, Italy 2:38.0 (2026)

Italian on-water Olympic rower Andrea Panizza is on fire. In the heats Panizza recorded the fastest time of 2:40.9. He will race in the 23-39 category, but is in for a great battle with Thomas Vinther of Denmark just behind him on 2:41.5. Both of Panizza and Vinther are also going head-to-head in the 1 minute race.

Anders Edquist of Sweden recorded the quickest time for the 45-49 category with a 2:46.5. This places him easily ahead of James Hudson of Great Britain who came through at 2:52.1. Edquist is also competing in the 1 minute.

The Para IAR2 race will have David Zeelenberg of the Netherlands out in front after he went 3:58.7 ahead of Thiebaud Wagner of France who is sitting on 4:09.0 from the heats.

Giovanni Ficarra of Italy, who has World Classic, Indoor, and Coastal titles, finished first in the Lightweight Men’s 23-39 category, in a time of 3:01.4.

Women’s 1000m

Number of entries: 285
World Record: Olena Buryak, Ukraine, 3:04.9 (2018)

In the heats Adelle Ader of Estonia snuck in just ahead of Italy’s Sophie Souwer. They recorded 3:10.7 and 3:11.5 respectively and they will race each other in the 23-39 category. Coming at indoor rowing from different angles, Ader is best known for her CrossFit skills while Souwer is an on-water rower formerly from the Dutch National Team and now competing for Italy.

Vár Guriardóttir Hansen of Faroe Islands will also be competing in this event after finishing fifth in the 23-39 age group.

Doris Meinbek of Estonia continues to impress and with a result of 3:26.0 from the heats, she will lead the way in the 21-22 category. Despite her young age, Meinbek already has a slew of titles including seven World Rowing Indoor Championship titles.A very quick time of 3:24.7 for Nanna Kehr of Denmark gives Kehr the leading time in the 17-18 category.

Lightweight 23-39 category racer, Martyna Radosz of Poland, was first in a time of 3:25.1. She is a multiple time medallist at the World Rowing Cups. Hot on her heels will be Meriam Mamieliekova of Ukraine who’s time is just a fraction slower at 3:25.3

1000m relay

This race will include men, women and mixed categories and following the heats the fastest time was recorded by Finland’s two-person team of Olli-Pekka Karppinen and Joonas Kuivalainen. They describe themselves as just two friends having fun with Karppinen also an on-water national team rower and Kuivalainen owning the title of world’s strongest soldier. They come into the final with a time of 2:34.5.

In the mixed category Denmark’s Var Guriardottir Hansen and Loic Schalbetter of team “2.7kW” came away with the fastest time of 2:39.8. This puts them comfortably ahead of Finland’s Joonas Kuivalainen and Emma Salonen and Joel Naukkarinen and Kees Karpatskij who finished second and third in 2:45.8 and 2:48.8 respectively.

Men’s 5000m

Number of entries: 376
World Record: Tom George, Great Britain, 14:53.9 (2022)

A new record was pulled in the 60-64 category during the heats when Richard Tomlinson of New Zealand set a new standard of 16:48.0. Tomlinson will be the favourite coming into this final.

Overall Benjamin Reuter of Germany posted the fastest men’s 5000m time, with 15:54.6. Reuter will race in the 23-39 category and is nicely ahead of Nocolas Drouart of France who recorded 16:11.2 in the heats.

Tomasz Cichocki of Poland leads the way in the 40-44 category with a time of 15:58.4. Cichocki will be chased by Chris Power of Great Britain who recorded 16:17.4 in the heats.

Women’s 5000m

Number of entries: 127
World Record: Georgie Rowe, Australia, 16:49.4 (2026)

Seasoned indoor rower, Nancy Cook of the United States set a new World Record in the women’s 60-64 category during the heats, posting a new age category record time of 19:21.6. She will be up against fellow American Beth Fingland who timed in at 19:20.2.

Overall, Lina Belanger of Canada posted the fastest time in the heats with an 18:34.3. Belanger competes in the 40-44 category and is an indoor rowing specialist and a two-time Versa competitor. Currently sitting in second in the 40-44 category is Nicola Jones of Australia with 18:46.9.

The 23-39 category has Amy Renwick of Great Britain in the lead after she recorded 18:41.9 in the heats. But this is only just ahead of Terje Leola of Estonia who will be chasing hard with her 18:43.7.