2026 World Rowing Cup I: Crews to watch

The senior international rowing season finally kicks off this weekend with World Rowing Cup I in Seville – a long-awaited return to Andalusia for the first time since the 2002 World Rowing Championships.

A big field of athletes from 37 nations will compete in Seville, hoping to impress their coaches in the run-up to August’s World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam. There are plenty of World Rowing Cup debutants, mixing it up with established names, including a strong contingent from Argentina and Venezuela. And there are plenty of changes from the crews we last saw battling it out on flat water, at the 2025 World Rowing Championships in Shanghai.

Stacked sculling fields

One of the most exciting events in Seville is the women’s single sculls. Back in 2002 Bulgaria’s Rumyana Neykova set a World Best Time of 7:07.21 – now the oldest best time in the record books for events still being contested.

Last year at the 2025 European Rowing Championships, Great Britain’s Lauren Henry came within three seconds of Neykova’s time. Henry had an exceptional season but was beaten by Fiona Murtagh of Ireland by just 0.03 seconds in Shanghai.

Both scullers are back in the single, but for the first time face a challenge from reigning Olympic champion Karolien Florijn. The Dutchwoman took 2025 out but returns for Seville, alongside her teammates, world double sculls champions Roos de Jong and Benthe Boonstra. And there are a host of other top-quality athletes also in the field, including current and former under-23 world champions Aurelia-Maxima Janzen (Switzerland) and Alexandra Foester (Germany), among others. Just making the final will be a challenge.

The men’s single sculls has attracted the most entries, with 30 scullers taking to the water. The filed includes Ireland’s Fintan McCarthy, wanting to replicate the success of fellow former lightweight Stefanos Ntouskos of Greece, the reigning world champion.

However, the fastest men in the world on indoor rowing machines will not directly race in Seville. In February Olympic single sculls champion Oliver Zeidler (Germany) broke the 2k world record, only for the Netherlands’ Simon van Dorp to lower the record further just a month later. But van Dorp has teamed up with Melvin Twellaar for the double sculls in Seville.

That event is fascinating, with 2025 world champions Miroslaw Zietarski and Mateusz Biskup (Poland), and silver medallists Martin Mackovic and Nikolaj Pimenov (Serbia), both racing. And back in the double sculls are Martin and Valent Sinkovic of Croatia, for the first time since the 2023 World Rowing Championships.

Also switching back to two blades after a year of sweeping are Olympic women’s double sculls champions Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radis of Romania. Their competition includes the AIN world bronze medallists, Tatsiana Klimovich and Alena Furman, while the Netherlands are fielding three doubles that include three members of their world champion women’s quadruple sculls crew. Marieke Keijser features in Netherlands 2, making her return to flat water competition almost five years from her last appearance when she won lightweight women’s double sculls bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The Polish men’s quadruple sculls crew is the only unchanged unit in this event this season; none of the women’s quadruple sculls are identical to 2025, although three members of each of the British, Polish and Romanian crews are back.

Standouts in sweep

On the sweep side, several events are open for new athletes to make their mark. Romania are still fielding three women’s pairs – two of them doubling up into the eight – with Romania 1, Adriana Adam and Maria Lehaci, the most experienced. Meanwhile France’s world silver medallists Emma Cornelis and Hezekia Peron will want to show they have gained speed over the winter.

The Netherlands won the women’s eight in Shanghai last year and four members of that crew return, while both silver medallists Romania and bronze medallists Great Britain bring back four rowers and their coxswains.

Men’s pairs world champions Oliver Welch and Benjamin Taylor (New Zealand) will face both familiar opponents, such as Switzerland and Spain, as well as new combinations in Seville. Spain’s Jaime Canalejo and Javier Garcia are perhaps the host nation’s best chance of a medal on the Guadalquivir river.

In the men’s four, world champions Great Britain have stayed together as a unit, while all other nations that have entered this event for Seville have rejigged their line-ups.

The Netherlands’ men’s eight, which triumphed in Shanghai, has just one change: Ralf Rienks comes in for Eli Brouwer, who has moved to the four. Great Britain have added three members of their under-23 world champion eight in a bid to close up the 2.26 second gap to the Dutch. Coxswain Tom Bryce moves over from the British PR3 mixed coxed four; his crewmate Ed Fuller is also competing in Seville, making his debut in an Olympic-class event, the men’s double sculls.

Racing at World Rowing Cup I begins on Friday 29 May at 09:05 CEST. The first medals will be won in in the lightweight men’s and women’s single and double sculls on Saturday 30 May, with the rest of the A-finals – including the mixed double sculls – on Sunday 31 May.