World Rowing Championships

World Rowing Championships
World Rowing Championships
Status	Active
Genre	Rowing World championship
Date(s)	Varying
Frequency	Annual
Country	Varying
Inaugurated	1962
Most recent	2024
Next event	2025
Organised by	World Rowing
Website	worldrowing.com

The World Rowing Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It is a week-long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer and in non-Olympic years is the highlight of the international rowing calendar.

History

The first event was held in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 1962.^[1]^[2] The event then was held every four years until 1974, when it became an annual competition. Also in 1974, men's lightweight and women's open weight events were added to the championships.

Initially, men's events were 2000 metres long and women's events 1000 metres. At the 1984 World Championships in Montreal, Canada, women's lightweight demonstration events were raced over a 2000-metre course for the first time. In 1985, Women's lightweight events were officially added to the schedule and all mmen's and women's events were contested over a 2000-metre course.^{[citation needed]}

Since 1996, during (Summer) Olympic years, the World Rowing Junior Championships are held at the same time.

In 2002, adaptive rowing events were introduced for the following classes of disability: LTA (legs, trunk and arms), TA (trunk, arms), and A (arms-only). In 2009, the A category was replaced by AS (arms and shoulders), and an ID (intellectually disabled) category was added (but then removed after the 2011 Championships). From 2017, the designations AS, TA, and LTA have been changed to PR1, PR2, and PR3.^[3]

Boats

Rowing takes place in 21 different boat classes, apart from during Olympic years when only non-Olympic boat classes race. National teams generally take less interest in the non-Olympic events, as the Olympic events are considered the "premier" events.

The table below shows the boat classes, "O" indicates the boat races at both the Olympics and World Championships. "WC" indicates this is only a World Championship event. After 2007, the coxed fours (4+) no longer runs as a world championship event. Similarly after 2011 the women's coxless four was no longer included, but it was reintroduced in 2013. Lightweight men's eight was removed after 2015.

As a result of the IOC's aim for gender parity, it has been agreed that for 2020 onwards the lightweight men's coxless four will be removed from the Olympics and replaced by women's coxless four.^[4]

At the 2017 FISA Ordinary Congress there were further revisions, removing M2+ and LM4- from the World Championships, and reinstating LW2-.^[5]

Boat		Men	Lwt men	Women	Lwt women
1x	Single sculls	O	WC	O	WC
2x	Double sculls	O	O	O	O
2-	Coxless pairs	O	WC	O	WC
2+	Coxed pairs
4x	Quad sculls	O	WC	O	WC
4-	Coxless fours	O		O
4+	Coxed fours
8+	Eights	O		O

Editions

World Rowing Championships have been held since 1962; first every four years, then annually since 1974 (except 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

Edition	Year	Host city	Host country	Rowing events	Pararowing events
1	1962	Lucerne	Switzerland	7	-
2	1966	Bled	Yugoslavia	7	-
3	1970	St. Catharines	Canada	7	-
4	1974	Lucerne	Switzerland	17	-
5	1975	Nottingham	Great Britain	17	-
6	1976	Villach	Austria	3	-
7	1977	Amsterdam	Netherlands	17	-
8	1978	Copenhagen	Denmark	4	-
8	1978	Cambridge	New Zealand	14	-
9	1979	Bled	Yugoslavia	18	-
10	1980	Heindonk	Belgium	4	-
11	1981	Oberschleißheim	West Germany	18	-
12	1982	Lucerne	Switzerland	18	-
13	1983	Duisburg	West Germany	18	-
14	1984	Montreal	Canada	8	-
15	1985	Heindonk	Belgium	21	-
16	1986	Nottingham	Great Britain	21	-
17	1987	Copenhagen	Denmark	21	-
18	1988	Milan	Italy	7	-
19	1989	Bled	Yugoslavia	22	-
20	1990	Tasmania	Australia	22	-
21	1991	Vienna	Austria	22	-
22	1992	Montreal	Canada	8	-
23	1993	Račice	Czech Republic	23	-
24	1994	Indianapolis	United States	23	-
25	1995	Tampere	Finland	24	-
26	1996	Motherwell	Great Britain	10	-
27	1997	Aiguebelette-le-Lac	France	24	-
28	1998	Cologne	Germany	24	-
29	1999	St. Catharines	Canada	24	-
30	2000	Zagreb	Croatia	10	-
31	2001	Lucerne	Switzerland	24	-
32	2002	Seville	Spain	24	2
33	2003	Milan	Italy	24	4
34	2004	Banyoles	Spain	9	3
35	2005	Kaizu	Japan	23	3
36	2006	Dorney	Great Britain	23	4
37	2007	Oberschleißheim	Germany	23	4
38	2008	Ottensheim	Austria	8	-
39	2009	Poznań	Poland	22	5
40	2010	Cambridge	New Zealand	22	5
41	2011	Bled	Slovenia	22	5
42	2012	Plovdiv	Bulgaria	7	-
43	2013	Chungju	South Korea	22	5
44	2014	Amsterdam	Netherlands	22	5
45	2015	Aiguebelette-le-Lac	France	22	4
46	2016	Rotterdam	Netherlands	7	1
47	2017	Sarasota	United States	21	5
48	2018	Plovdiv	Bulgaria	20	9
49	2019	Ottensheim	Austria	20	9
—	~~2020~~^{[note 1]}	~~Bled~~	~~Slovenia~~	—	—
—	~~2021~~^{[note 1]}	~~Shanghai~~	~~China~~	—	—
50	2022	Račice	Czech Republic	20	9
51	2023	Belgrade	Serbia	19	8
52	2024	St. Catharines	Canada	5^{[note 2]}	1
53	2025	Shanghai	China
54	2026	Amsterdam	Netherlands

^ ^a ^b Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
^ Excluding Under 23 and Under 19 Championships.

Hosts (1962–2024)

Times hosted	Host country
5	Canada
4	Germany (including West Germany), Great Britain, Switzerland
3	Austria, Netherlands, Yugoslavia
2	Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, United States
1	Australia, Croatia, Finland, Japan, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, South Korea

Medals

Source:^[6]

Rowing (1962–2024)


Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	East Germany	94	45	25	164
2	Italy	93	72	55	220
3	Germany	84	75	74	233
4	Great Britain	77	74	64	215
5	United States	65	79	91	235
6	New Zealand	56	36	29	121
7	Australia	47	49	48	144
8	Romania	41	44	46	131
9	Soviet Union	35	44	29	108
10	Denmark	34	27	33	94
11	France	32	45	28	105
12	Canada	28	34	45	107
13	West Germany	24	23	25	72
14	Netherlands	20	48	44	112
15	Switzerland	17	16	15	48
16	China	17	10	23	50
17	Ireland	17	8	12	37
18	Norway	15	7	12	34
19	Poland	14	22	17	53
20	Belarus	11	6	10	27
21	Bulgaria	9	12	14	35
22	Austria	9	6	10	25
23	Czech Republic	7	15	12	34
24	Greece	7	13	10	30
25	Croatia	7	6	5	18
26	Spain	6	9	16	31
27	Ukraine	5	6	10	21
28	Hungary	4	6	6	16
29	Slovenia	4	5	6	15
30	Finland	3	4	4	11
31	Lithuania	3	3	2	8
32	Belgium	2	7	8	17
33	Sweden	2	4	6	12
34	South Africa	2	2	4	8
35	Russia	1	8	9	18
36	Chile	1	3	1	5
37	Japan	1	2	1	4
38	Argentina	1	1	5	7
39	Brazil	1	1	2	4
40	Serbia and Montenegro	1	1	1	3
41	Mexico	1	1	0	2
42	Czechoslovakia	0	11	11	22
43	Cuba	0	2	1	3
44	Estonia	0	1	6	7
45	Serbia	0	1	5	6
46	Yugoslavia	0	1	4	5
47	Slovakia	0	1	2	3
48	Paraguay	0	1	0	1
48	Peru	0	1	0	1
50	Moldova	0	0	2	2
50	Turkey	0	0	2	2
52	Portugal	0	0	1	1
52	Zimbabwe	0	0	1	1
Totals (53 entries)		898	898	892	2,688

Pararowing (2002–2024)


Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Great Britain	23	8	3	34
2	Australia	16	8	6	30
3	Ukraine	12	6	8	26
4	United States	7	10	7	24
5	Netherlands	6	6	1	13
6	Norway	6	1	1	8
7	France	5	11	10	26
8	Brazil	4	3	2	9
9	Canada	3	3	2	8
10	Hong Kong	3	0	0	3
11	Russia	2	2	7	11
12	Italy	1	12	6	19
13	Germany	1	4	8	13
14	Israel	1	3	3	7
15	China	1	1	0	2
16	Ireland	1	0	1	2
17	Poland	0	3	7	10
18	Austria	0	3	0	3
19	Belarus	0	1	2	3
19	Portugal	0	1	2	3
21	Spain	0	1	0	1
22	Greece	0	0	1	1
	New Zealand	0	0	1	1
	South Africa	0	0	1	1
Totals (24 entries)		92	87	79	258

Multiple medallists

Athlete	Nation	Born				Tot.
Daniele Gilardoni	Italy	1976	11	1	1	13
Matthew Pinsent	Great Britain	1970	10	0	2	12
Steve Redgrave	Great Britain	1962	9	2	1	12
Franco Sancassani	Italy	1974	9	2	1	12
Francesco Esposito	Italy	1955	9	1	1	11
Giuseppe Di Capua	Italy	1958	8	3	1	12
Andrea Re	Italy	1963	8	1	2	11

Scull and sweep medalists

incomplete list

Scull and Sweep World Champions

Rower	Total		Scull		Sweep		Disciplines
Rower	# of disciplines		# of disciplines		# of disciplines		Scull	Sweep
Michiel Bartman	3	4	1	1	2	3	M4x	M4+, M8+
Karolien Florijn	3	4	2	3	1	1	W1x, W4x	W4-
Ronald Florijn	3	4	1	1	1	2	M2x	M4-, M8+
Daniele Gilardoni	2	13	1	12	1	1	LM4x	LM8+
Mario Gyr	2	2	1	1	1	1	LM2x	LM4-
Katherine Grainger	5	8	3	6	2	2	W1x, W2x, W4x	W2-, W8+
Kathleen Heddle	4	5	2	3	2	2	W2x, W4x	W2-, W8+
Elisabeta Lipă	5	13	3	9	2	4	W1x, W2x, W4x	W2-, W8+
Marnie McBean	5	7	2	3	3	4	W2x, W4x	W2-, W4-, W8+
Nico Rienks	2	4	1	2	1	2	M2x	M8+
Franco Sancassani	3	12	1	10	2	2	LM4x	LM2-, LM8+
Simon Schürch	2	2	1	1	1	1	LM2x	LM4-
Greg Searle	4	7	1	1	3	6	M1x	M2+, M4-, M8+
Diederik Simon	2	2	1	1	1	1	M4x	M8+
Martin Sinković	3	9	2	6	1	3	M2x, M4x	M2-
Valent Sinković	3	9	2	6	1	3	M2x, M4x	M2-
Olivia van Rooijen	2	3	1	3	1	1	W4x	W8-
Henk-Jan Zwolle	2	3	1	1	1	2	M2x	M8+
Michael Buchheit	3	5	1	1	2	4	LM2x	LM4-, LM8+

Martin and Valent Sinković are the first crew in rowing history that in the same composition won gold medals at World Championship in sweep and scull rowing.^[7]

References

^ The Origins of the Championships, Rowing History, Australia.
^ Previous Venues Archived 11 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine, 2010 World Rowing Championships, New Zealand.
^ "Summary of proposed changes to the FISA Rules of Racing, related Bye-Laws and Event Regulations" (PDF). FISA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
^ "2017 FISA Extraordinary Congress concludes". FISA. 11 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
^ "Rule 36 – World Rowing Championship Programmes" (PDF). FISA. 2 October 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 October 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
^ "BEST sports DB – World Rowing Championship". bestsports.com.br.
^ "Sportske novosti – FOTO: MINISTAR OBRANE PRIMIO 16 VRHUNSKIH SPORTAŠA PRIČUVNIKA HRVATSKE VOJSKE, MEĐU NJIMA I BRAĆU SINKOVIĆ 'Vidim veliki napredak na svim razinama'". 17 September 2018.

External links

Official website of the World Rowing

[covid-6] Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[nou23u17-7] Excluding Under 23 and Under 19 Championships.

[1] The Origins of the Championships, Rowing History, Australia.

[2] Previous Venues Archived 11 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine, 2010 World Rowing Championships, New Zealand.

[3] "Summary of proposed changes to the FISA Rules of Racing, related Bye-Laws and Event Regulations" (PDF). FISA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.

[4] "2017 FISA Extraordinary Congress concludes". FISA. 11 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.

[5] "Rule 36 – World Rowing Championship Programmes" (PDF). FISA. 2 October 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 October 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2017.

[8] "BEST sports DB – World Rowing Championship". bestsports.com.br.

[9] "Sportske novosti – FOTO: MINISTAR OBRANE PRIMIO 16 VRHUNSKIH SPORTAŠA PRIČUVNIKA HRVATSKE VOJSKE, MEĐU NJIMA I BRAĆU SINKOVIĆ 'Vidim veliki napredak na svim razinama'". 17 September 2018.

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