"VAN" (Sports Desk - 15.06.2026) :: USA topped the 2026 World Rowing Cup II medal table with six gold and five silver medals in a commanding set of performances across a range of boat classes, including World Rowing Cup best times in the women’s four and women’s quadruple sculls.
The stiff tailwind blowing down the course in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, also led to two more World Rowing Cup best times in the men’s pair and men’s double sculls.
The USA won all three women’s sweep events – the pair, four and eight – as well as the women’s quadruple sculls, men’s single sculls and mixed double sculls.
Their performance means they now top the overall World Rowing Cup standings ahead of World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne. The USA won all three women’s sweep events – the pair, four and eight – as well as the women’s quadruple sculls, men’s single sculls, and mixed double sculls. They added silver in the men’s and women’s single sculls, men’s pairs, women’s double sculls and the men’s eights.
New Zealand’s reigning men’s pairs world champions, Oliver Welch and Benjamin Taylor, fell just 0.55 seconds short of breaking the world best time set by their compatriots Hamish Bond and Eric Murray at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Their time of 6:09.04 was a comfortable World Rowing Cup Best Time as they outrowed USA2 and Italy.
Valent and Martin Sinkovic (CRO) are the world best time holders in the men’s double sculls, having set the mark of 5:59.72 at the 2014 World Rowing Championships. They were a whisker slower in Plovdiv, posting a World Rowing Cup best time of 6:00.97 to return to the top of the podium for the first time since they won the men’s pair at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and the first time in the double sculls since the 2023 European Rowing Championships.
Italy claimed three gold medals on Sunday, in the women’s double sculls, men’s quadruple sculls and men’s eight. Serbia’s Jovana Arsic won her first World Rowing Cup gold medal in the women’s single sculls, saying a change in training structure had led to her feeling happier in the boat than ever before.
China were also gold medallists on day 3, winning the men’s four ahead of Romania and New Zealand in a World Cup debut for half the young crew. Uzbekistan beat Türkiye to win in the PR3 mixed double sculls.
The 2026 World Rowing Cup season concludes in two weeks in Lucerne, Switzerland, as nations look for a final test of line-ups ahead of the 2026 European Rowing Championships and the 2026 World Rowing Championships.
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