"VAN" (Sports Desk - 30.08.2026) :: The penultimate day of the 2026 World Rowing Championships brought six exhilarating finals, headlined by three crews breaking the world best time in the women’s fours.
Exactly 12 years to the day after New Zealand established the previous record of 6:14.36 at the 2014 World Rowing Championships, the USA set a new marker of 6:09.87 to defend their women’s fours title. In a close race for the medals, both Australia (6:12.40) and the Netherlands (6:13.74) also went under the old standard, as the event continues to build five years on from its Olympic debut in Tokyo.
The USA had a strong day, winning the men’s fours final too in a sprint finish against the Netherlands. 2025 champions Great Britain had to settle for bronze after leading through the middle 1000m by the smallest of margins.
Italy and the Netherlands, respectively, defended their men’s and women’s quadruple sculls titles. But both races were tight. In the men’s final, Germany led out before the Italians moved through; Great Britain took bronze. Meanwhile, the British women claimed a second successive silver behind the Dutch.
There were more successful title defences in the PR1 single sculls. Starting the day’s finals, Benjamin Pritchard (GBR) won the PR1 men’s single sculls in a World Rowing Championships best time of 8:50.46, followed home by Erik Horrie (AUS) and Roman Polianskyi (UKR). The win continues Pritchard’s unbeaten streak, which now stretches back to the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Both Horrie and Polianskyi completed their set of World Rowing Championships medals: Horrie has previously won gold and bronze medals, but never silver; Polianskyi has collected gold and silver, but never bronze.
And Anna Sheremet (UKR) was untouchable in the PR1 women’s single sculls, also setting a World Rowing Championships best time of 9:48.91. That was only a second slower than the World Best Time established in 2023 by Birgit Skarstein (NOR), whose mantle Sheremet has firmly taken on.
Laurence VandeVyver (BEL), a former club rower turned handcyclist turned para-rower, took silver on her international debut. Claire Ghiringhelli (SUI) won her first World Rowing Championships medal with bronze.
The day ended with semifinals for the men’s and women’s singles, where defending men’s champion Stefanos Ntouskos (GRE) missed out on the final. He was beaten to third place by Victor Marcelot (FRA), who became the first Frenchman to make this stage of the event since 1987.
Men’s Olympic champion Oliver Zeidler (GER) and silver medallist Yauheni Zalaty (AIN2), and 2025 women’s world champion and silver medallist Fiona Murtagh (IRL) and silver medallist Lauren Henry (GBR) are all through to the final alongside reigning Olympic champion Karolien Florijn (NED).
The heats of the men’s and women’s eights and mixed double sculls raced as time trials to ensure fairness. The USA were the quickest women’s eight, Great Britain posted the fastest men’s eight time, and Roos de Jong and Simon van Dorp (NED) are in pole position in the mixed double sculls, just ahead of defending champions Ireland.
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