| World Rowing Championships | |
|---|---|
| Status | Active |
| Genre | RowingWorld championship |
| Date | Varying |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Country | Varying |
| Inaugurated | 1962 |
| Most recent | 2025 |
| Next event | 2026 |
| Organised by | World Rowing |
| Website | worldrowing |
TheWorld Rowing Championships is an internationalrowingregatta organized byFISA (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.
The first event was held inLucerne,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'slightweight 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 inMontreal, 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 men's and women's events were contested over a 2000-metre course.[citation needed]
Since 1996, during (Summer)Olympic years, theWorld Rowing Junior Championships are held at the same time.
In 2002, adaptive rowing events were introduced for the following classes ofdisability: 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]
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]
For the 2025 World championships further changes were made to the roster of boat classes with the removal of the LM2-, LW2-, LM4x, LW4x and the addition of the mixed 2x and mixed 8+[6]
| Boat | Men | Lwt men | Women | Lwt women | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1x | Single sculls | O | WC | O | WC |
| 2x | Double sculls | O | WC | O | WC |
| 2- | Coxless pairs | O | O | ||
| 2+ | Coxed pairs | ||||
| 4x | Quad sculls | O | O | ||
| 4- | Coxless fours | O | O | ||
| 4+ | Coxed fours | ||||
| 8+ | Eights | O | O | ||
World Rowing Championships have been held since 1962; first every four years, then annually since 1974 (except 2020 and 2021 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic).
| Times hosted | Host country |
|---|---|
| 5 |  Canada |
| 4 |  Germany (includingWest Germany), Great Britain, Switzerland |
| 3 |  Austria, Netherlands, Yugoslavia[a] |
| 2 |  Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, United States |
| 1 |  Australia, Croatia, Finland, Japan, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, South Korea |
Source:[7]
Rowing (1962–2025)[edit]
| Pararowing (2002–2024)[edit]
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| 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 |
incomplete list
| Rower | Total | Scull | Sweep | Disciplines | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # of disciplines |    | # of disciplines | | # of disciplines | | Scull | Sweep | |
| Michiel Bartman | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | M4x | M4+, M8+ |
 Nicoleta-Ancuța Bodnar | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | W2x | W4-, W8+ |
| 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+ |
| Simona Radiș | 4 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | W2x | W2-, W8+, mix8+ |
| 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 andValent Sinković are the first crew in rowing history that in the same composition won gold medals at World Championship in sweep and scull rowing.[8]
| Australian rowing |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Canadian rowing | ||
| New Zealand rowing | ||
| UK rowing |
| |
| Henley Royal Regatta | ||
| US rowing | ||
| World Rowing events | ||
| Types of rowing | ||
| Lists | ||
