Monday debrief: Bosbaan delivers epic World Rowing Championships

The 2026 World Rowing Championships will go down in history as an exciting and memorable regatta, showcasing the best of our sport and setting the stage for an enthralling Olympic and Paralympic qualification year in 2027.

Here is the debrief after a week of thrilling, historic results on the Bosbaan.

The regatta in numbers

• 814 athletes represented 64 nations
• 10 world titles were defended
• Four world best times were set (men’s eight, women’s eight, women’s four, mixed double sculls)
• 22 nations won at least one medal
• Three more World Rowing Championship best times (PR1 men’s single sculls, PR1 women’s single sculls, women’s pair) were set

Dutch deliver amid party atmosphere

When Simon van Dorp and Roos de Jong crossed the finish line in first place after the mixed double sculls – in an extraordinary time of 6:15.80 – they ensured the hosts would end the regatta on top of the medal table. The Netherlands’ fourth gold medal put them ahead of Germany, the USA and Romania and ensured the thousands of orange-clad fans in the packed grandstand would go away in a celebratory mood.

The Dutch matched their gold medal tally from Shanghai last year, having defended the men’s eight and women’s quadruple sculls titles and replaced the women’s double sculls and women’s eight titles with the men’s and mixed double sculls.

Delivering on home water is always a challenge, and arguably there were some misses – de Jong and Benthe Boonstra were the regatta’s poster girls, their faces giant on the advertising hoardings, but found themselves outsprinted by an outstanding Irish crew in the women’s double sculls. And the women’s eight failed to win a medal. But overall, the Dutch showed their own strength and depth in rowing off to the world fantastically well, backed up by hordes of helpful, friendly volunteers in orange and the fans who came to watch. Dank u wel, Amsterdam.

USA driven to new heights through Dutch leadership

While he might have been wandering around in navy, there was another Dutchman celebrating on the Bosbaan. Josy Verdonkschot joined US Rowing as their high performance director in January 2022. Four years on, his hard work is paying off as the US soared to their best results at a World Rowing Championships for a long time. Gold medals in the men’s and women’s fours, the latter in a world best time, and the first win in the PR3 mixed coxed four were bolstered by six bronze medals – including the women’s quad. There is a sense that things are building in the USA as they look towards their home Olympics in two years’ time.

Radis and Adam, the history-makers

Simona Radis and Adriana Adam were responsible for all three of Romania’s gold medals, in the women’s pair, eight, and mixed eight. “It was really crazy, and it wasn’t easy, it was pretty hard,” Radis said after the mixed eight win. The duo become the first in history to win three gold medals at a single World Rowing Championships, aided of course by the introduction of the mixed events.

Radis, at the age of just 27, now has eight world titles. If she defends all three of the 2026 titles next year, she will become the single most successful rower of all time when it comes to world gold medals. Few would bet against that happening.

Not just about the big nations

It’s easy to talk a lot about the big rowing nations like the Netherlands, but Amsterdam was a success for several smaller ones too. Top of the list was Mexico. They came with five athletes, and four went away with a medal. Kenia Lechuga has for years been the standard-bearer for Mexican rowing, and she finally picked up lightweight women’s single sculls gold, 11 years after making her debut at a senior World Rowing Championships. Lechuga is now planning to go openweight and focus properly on racing the women’s single sculls at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

She was joined at the top of the podium by Aylin Ibarra and Melissa Marquez in the lightweight women’s double sculls. Albeit in a small field, Ibarra and Marquez dominated the race. And Alexis Lopez added bronze in the lightweight men’s single sculls.

And then there’s Uzbekistan. The victory of Shakhzod Nurmatov and Sobirjon Safaroliyev in the lightweight men’s double sculls went viral in the Central Asian nation, and sets them up well for the forthcoming Asian Games. It was Uzbekistan’s first-ever medal at a World Rowing Championships.

Starting a legacy

Two nations, Somalia and Syria, sent their first athletes in history to a World Rowing Championships. While Abdirahman Hassan (SOM) and Sukaina Atal and Devi Lockwood (SYR) finished towards the bottom of the standings in their respective events, they are trailblazers for the nations they represent.

Lockwood, based in the USA, has ambitions to grow the newly formed Syrian Rowing Association as her country opens up following recent regime change. The association is so new that Atal and Lockwood’s unisuits got stuck in customs and they had to race in t-shirts and leggings. We hope it is not the last time we see Syrian or Somalian athletes on the world stage and they, and other development nations, keep on building the sport on the ground at home.

The side project

It’s tough being a spare at a World Rowing Championships – you have to stay fit and ready to jump in a boat at short notice, having already dealt with the challenge of not being selected for a crew. So we thoroughly enjoyed seeing a men’s eight formed of spares rowers from five countries head on to the water towards the end of the week. They enjoyed themselves too!

Behind the triumphs

Every athlete who makes it to a World Championships has faced challenges, injuries, illness and sacrifice to make there. But some have extra hurdles to overcome and the raw honesty displayed by Great Britain’s PR1 men’s single sculls champion Benjamin Pritchard after his victory was notable. After finishing his race Pritchard paddled not to the victory pontoons but to the usual landing pontoon, and instead of getting on to dry land, dunked himself in the water. The reason became clear during his post-race interviews: a spinal cord injury can mean you have no control over bowel function and Pritchard’s bowels had, in his words, “released” on the way to the start for his final. He put it to the back of his mind, went out there and dominated the race nevertheless. Go and watch his interview on Instagram and just be even more impressed by one of the most remarkable athletes on the scene right now.

And finally …

It would be remiss to debrief the regatta without mentioning the weather. We had three and a half days of a stiff headwind and crews complaining about the length of their races. Then we had a day of delays to avoid thunderstorms, and finally, two days with a nice tailwind but bucketloads of rain. Luckily, nobody’s spirits were too badly dampened, including the fans’, and while it wasn’t quite the height of summer, the weather did help deliver the four incredible world best times that were set on Saturday and Sunday. The Bosbaan’s reputation as a fast course remains intact.