"VAN" (Sports Desk - 01.06.2026) :: The final day of racing at 2026 World Rowing Cup I in Seville produced a series of close races and surprise results, leaving Germany on top of the medal table and the Netherlands leading the points standings.
Germany won both the men’s and women’s quadruple sculls, the men’s single sculls, and the mixed double sculls to give them four gold medals. But three golds, three silvers and two bronze medals for the Netherlands, plus a strong performance across the board, meant the Dutch lead the World Rowing Cup points standings with 51 points to 40 for Great Britain.
While Germany have reached the women’s quadruple sculls podium regularly in recent years, including winning 2025 World Rowing Championship bronze, the German men have not featured at the sharp end of this event since the Rio 2016 Olympic Games when they were gold medallists. The women’s strong start took them to a narrow victory over Great Britain, while the men pushed past the Netherlands.
Meanwhile Olympic champion Oliver Zeidler, back to full training after a disrupted 2025 season, was untouchable in the men’s single sculls, taking a huge victory ahead of Yauheni Zalaty (AIN) and Belgian Tristan Vandenbussche.
Dutch wins came in the men’s eight, the women’s four and the men’s double sculls, as the nation continued to show strength in depth across all boat classes. Their men’s eight backed up their 2025 world title with another strong showing, seeing off an early challenge from Germany and a later one from Great Britain, to secure victory.
Melvin Twellaar and Simon van Dorp, two of the tallest and most powerful men in rowing, made full use of their strength to see off world silver medallists Serbia and another impressive Belgian boat in the men’s double sculls. The women’s four, meanwhile, had enough juice in the tank to defend against a good Australian sprint.
Great Britain missed out on wins in two of the events in which they have recently been strongest, the men’s eight and women’s quadruple sculls, but did secure victory in the men’s four and the women’s single sculls. The latter event saw photofinishes for both gold and bronze, but Lauren Henry was able to edge out Viktorija Senkute (LTU) for top spot.
In all, 10 nations won gold medals in the 17 events contested in Seville, and 18 won at least one medal – including Venezuela, whose silver in the mixed double sculls is a first.
The World Rowing Cup series continues between 12-14 June in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
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