"VAN" (Sports Desk - 29.08.2026) :: Ireland’s women’s double sculls crew of Zoe Hyde and Margaret Cremen denied the Netherlands the chance to celebrate back-to-back world titles as the 2026 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam continued on Friday.
Racing in the second session of the day was delayed for an hour and 45 minutes thanks to thunderstorms sweeping over the Bosbaan, and it was still raining during the first finals. But by the time the women’s double sculls took to the course conditions were perfect, setting the stage for a thrilling race.
Defending champions Roos de Jong and Benthe Boonstra (NED), the poster girls for the regatta, led out, but Ireland stayed with them and never allowed their opponents to get more than half a second ahead. The Irish push into the finish proved decisive, and Hyde and Cremen claimed the first gold medal in this boat class for their nation. Salome Ulrich and Fabienne Schweizer took bronze, the first women’s double sculls medal for Switzerland in history.
However, the Dutch did have a gold medal to celebrate, after an assured performance from Melvin Twellaar and Simon van Dorp in the men’s double sculls. Twellaar and van Dorp took a decisive lead in the second 1000m to move away from Serbia’s Martin Mackovic and Nikolaj Pimenov, who took a second successive silver.
Belgium profited from a mistake by Great Britain at 1200m to row through for bronze, finishing off a strong season for Aaron Andries and Tibo Vyvey and a first men’s double sculls World Championships for Belgium.
Earlier on, Romania, New Zealand and Germany all defended their titles in the women’s pair, men’s pair and PR3 mixed double sculls respectively. Simona Radis (ROU) took her sixth world championship gold medal; both she and her pairs partner Adriana Adam could win an unprecedented two more as they are also racing in the women’s eight and mixed eight over the weekend.
Oliver Welch and Benjamin Taylor (NZL) are also racing again, as stern pair in the New Zealand men’s eight.
France and the USA completed the women’s pair podium; Australia and Italy won silver and bronze in the men’s pair; and Ukraine and Australia repeated their 2025 silver and bronze medals in the PR3 mixed double sculls.
Racing at the 2026 World Rowing Championships continues on Saturday with minor finals from 10:05 CEST and six A-finals from 11:10 CEST. In the afternoon, there are semifinals in the women’s and men’s single sculls, and heats for the women’s and men’s eights and the mixed double sculls, starting at 15:05 CEST.
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