Image Credit: World Rowing
2025 was a fascinating year. With just two World Rowing Cup events and the first year of the new four-year cycle, there were lots of takeaways and talking points. With the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles approaching, we all know that all racing will be over 1500m. At the World Rowing Championships in Shanghai, we began to see glimpses of what might happen in three and a half years.
One nation that has grabbed this proverbial bull by the horns is the Netherlands. Their men’s eight performance was sensational and a real statement of intent at the beginning of the new Olympiad. Before Great Britain won both the 2016 and 2024 Olympic titles, and Germany won in London, they had won every World Rowing Championship in each respective Olympic cycle. The asterisk to this is that the Germans also won 2017, 2018, and 2019, but come Tokyo, it was New Zealand who won ahead of the Germans in second place.
The significance of this can’t be underestimated. The Dutch have started this new Olympiad red-hot, and recent history would favour them to ride this wave all the way to Los Angeles. 2026 will be an insightful litmus test for this suave and classy outfit as we return to the traditional three World Rowing Cups before heading to Amsterdam and a home World Rowing Championships for the Netherlands.
From the largest sweep boat to the smallest. Welcome to the new Kiwi Pair on the block. Benjamin Taylor teamed up with Oliver Welch and blew the field away in Shanghai. They started their campaign with such intent, setting the fastest time in the heats before winning their final by five seconds ahead of Romania. We should have known they were going to have a breakthrough season after they won World Rowing Cup Varese, beating the reigning Olympic champions, Martin and Valent Sinkovic, in the process. Their only loss came at the hands of the Romanians a few weeks later in Lucerne.
Welch was just 22 years old when he crossed the line in September and watched the rest of the world catch up to him. They’re not just a crew to watch, they’re a crew to get to know and embrace because they’ll be around for a long time.
I’m aware that this piece has so far fallen short, selecting only the winners of two of the three sweep events from the World Rowing Championships. I offer no apology for the fact that I’m about to do the same for the men’s four. 2025 marked a new chapter and new beginnings for the whole world, and all the crews so far have caught the attention of the world, making everyone sit up and say, ‘Wow.’ Continuing on the theme of copping out, we arrive at the Great Britain men’s four. Shanghai was electric. There’s been justification for picking the Dutch and the Kiwis previously, and I could very easily say this crew is one to watch purely because they are a British men’s four. What made the performance so special was that they didn’t race together at the European Rowing Championships or the two World Rowing Cups. They just arrived at the World Rowing Championships and conquered all before them.
Great Britain had a dynasty in this boat class, winning in Sydney, Athens, Beijing, London, and Rio. While Australia and the United States have blotted that run of form, the Brits are back on top, and it will be problematic to dethrone them.
To throw a curveball into the mix, I present Lithuania. Both their men’s pair and four reached the A-final in Shanghai. It was a positive step forward for the pair of Dovydas and Domantas Stankunas, who have rowed together on the international stage since they were juniors back in 2017.
Their men’s four were fourth in Shanghai, and with two sweep boats performing in the upper echelons of men’s sweep rowing, 2026 could be a fruitful year for the Lithuanians.
