Tuesday Takeaways: Plovdiv World Cup Delivers More 2026 Thrills

The second World Rowing Cup of the 2026 season saw a small, but quality field turn up in Bulgaria for what turned into some spicy racing. It set the stage perfectly for the World Rowing Cup finale in Lucerne in a fortnight.

Here’s the debrief!

Still on top

The only crew which managed to go back-to-back with World Rowing Cup wins was New Zealand’s men’s pair. Oliver Welch and Benjamin Taylor were dominant throughout the weekend, but their winning margins did not stop them from delivering world-class performances.

Helped by a friendly tailwind on Sunday, they were within 0.6 seconds of breaking the world best time set by their “idols”, Hamish Bond and Eric Murray, all the way back at the London 2012 Olympic Games. In fact, Welch and Taylor were well under world best time pace to 1000m before fading a little, and they were clearly surprised by how fast they had actually gone. They are undoubtedly the crew to beat this season.

Back on top

If the Kiwis have remained on top, other crews made long-awaited returns to the podium in Plovdiv. Martin Sinkovic declared, with a huge grin, “We are not dead!” after he and brother Valent won the men’s double sculls. Remarkably, with over 50 international medals to their name, this was the Croatians’ first event win since the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and their first win in the double since the 2023 European Rowing Championships. They celebrated by swapping partners with Kiwis Finn Hamill and Ben Mason for the row back to the pontoons.

The women’s single sculls also saw two athletes back on the podium after some time away. Jovana Arsic (Serbia) won her first World Rowing Cup gold, and her first medal at a World Cup since 2021; her last medal was gold at the 2024 European Rowing Championships in this event. Meanwhile bronze medallist Anna Prakaten (Uzbekistan) rowed a good race to put herself back on a World Rowing podium for the first time since her Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games silver, almost five years ago (although she has won Asian medals in the interim).

Smiles all round

Speaking of Arsic, she confided after her race that she was the happiest she has ever been training and racing. Matteo Sartori in the Italian men’s eight said the “vibes were good” in his crew. And the mixed zone was full of smiles, hugs and reunions, and teammates cheering each other on – Sartori’s comment could be expanded to the whole regatta. The vibes were good.

Fast times occupy minds

The Kiwi pair were not the only crew interested in the time they had posted. The Sinkovics were also just off their own world best time, while the USA women’s four and women’s quadruple sculls crews both set World Rowing Cup best times. With the tailwind obviously making conditions speedy, several medallists were keen to quiz the World Rowing media team about their times while waiting for the presentations. (We were happy to help, of course!)

New generation make a splash

While the likes of the Sinkovics, Arsic and Prakaten are now well into their 30s (“you don’t look 33!” marvelled Grace Joyce of the USA, catching up with her fellow single sculls medallists), Plovdiv did provide an opportunity for some youngsters to make an impact. 16-year-old Akbarali Abudvaliev and his doubles partner Dinara Belyanina of Uzbekistan raced fearlessly in the PR3 mixed double sculls to take the win, albeit in a two-boat race against Türkiye – props also to Abudvaliev for serving as team translator for Uzbek medallists on Saturday, all with a big smile. In the lightweight women’s single sculls, victory went to 18-year-old Kim Jiseon of the Republic of Korea.

And of the 12 men’s four medallists, the oldest was Kiwi Campbell Crouch at 25 years old, with both the gold (China) and silver (Romania) medallists all under 23. Rowing’s future looks very bright.

Who will take the World Rowing Cup crown?

In the last four years, either the Netherlands (2022 and 2024) or Great Britain (2023 and 2025) have won the overall World Rowing Cup. Neither nation was racing in Plovdiv, and without those rowing giants the USA have stormed into the lead with 67 points. New Zealand have 58 points, and Romania 57. The Netherlands, with 51 points, sit fourth. Great Britain need a huge showing in Lucerne to be in the running, as they sit seventh now with 40 points.

New Zealand are not planning to race in Lucerne, instead returning home to prepare for the World Rowing Championships, although the men’s pair did secure the individual event win as they sit 10 points clear of Romania and the USA in the table. So there is all to play for on the Lake of the Gods.

See you there in two weeks’ time!