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10/21/2026

Side-by-side action with some of the fastest women in the country.

Incredible footage captured by and shared by !

This ground-level tracking shot puts you right on the water at the in Mission Bay, San Diego. The Women's Varsity 8+ final delivered an absolute heavyweight clash featuring powerhouse programs , , and battling it out stroke for stroke. Showcasing exactly what championship-level NCAA speed looks like from the shoreline, angles like this capture the true synchronicity and relentless drive required to move an eight at this caliber.

What is your favorite regatta to race at during the spring season? Drop your answers below.

Most rowers spend a career in one lane: sweep or sculling. Marnie McBean mastered both.Guinness recorded her in 2000 as ...
10/21/2026

Most rowers spend a career in one lane: sweep or sculling. Marnie McBean mastered both.

Guinness recorded her in 2000 as the first woman in history to win a World Rowing gold or silver in all three sweep events and all three sculling events: pair, four, eight, single, double and quad.

Here’s how she did it. Canada paired her with Kathleen Heddle, and together they won world gold in both the pair and the eight in 1991. At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, they won gold in both again. Then McBean did what few champions do: she changed boats. She switched to the single in 1993 and won world silver, then returned to the double with Heddle and won world gold in 1995. At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the pair won the double sculls again, and she added bronze in the quad.

The totals: three Olympic golds, one Olympic bronze, and eight World Championship medals. In 2002, FISA awarded her the Thomas Keller Medal, the highest honour in international rowing, for an outstanding career and exemplary conduct.

She was due to race the single at the 2000 Olympics but withdrew shortly before the Games with a back injury, which only adds to what she did before it.

That’s what a legend looks like in this sport: a rower who could win in a pair, row an eight, race alone, and make each boat look easy.

Who’s the most complete rower you’ve ever raced with or against? Tell us below.

movement.At this week's World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals, over 50 countries and hundreds of elite athletes are competing...
10/20/2026

movement.

At this week's World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals, over 50 countries and hundreds of elite athletes are competing on the beach. The sheer variety of nations taking up coastal rowing proves the sport is expanding far beyond quiet rivers and sheltered rowing lakes. It is officially hitting open coastlines worldwide.

With this format locked in for the upcoming LA28 Olympics, we are seeing federations from every continent invest heavily in coastal sculling equipment and beach sprint training. The international rowing community is getting a lot bigger, and the racing is getting a lot faster.

Are you tracking the live race results from Qingdao this week? Which country are you backing? Let us know in the comments.

10/20/2026

Flawless rhythm and elite boat control on the water.

We really appreciate for sending us this incredible clip, giving us a perfect opportunity to break down her exceptional sculling technique.

Watching this sequence frame-by-frame reveals a true masterclass in the single scull. During the recovery, her movements are perfectly relaxed and controlled, allowing the shell to run freely without checking the boat's momentum. As she approaches the catch, the blade placement is sharp and immediate, locking in a solid connection that translates instantly into a powerful, sustained leg drive. Through the finish, the tap down is clean and seamless, setting up a beautifully balanced glide into the next stroke.

What is your favorite drill to refine your blade work and connection in the single? Drop your thoughts below.

Peter Cipollone, Victoria Stefania Petreanu, John Stillings, Martin Sauer, Lesley Thompson, Adrian Ellison, Sam Bosworth...
10/20/2026

Peter Cipollone, Victoria Stefania Petreanu, John Stillings, Martin Sauer, Lesley Thompson, Adrian Ellison, Sam Bosworth, Zoe de Toledo, Katelin Snyder, Kristen Kit, Henry Fieldman, Mary Whipple, Bobby Moch, Simon Dickie and Sue Brown.

15 coxswains. One seat that decides races. 🎙️

They never pull an oar, but they steer the boat, call the moves, read the race and keep eight rowers together when everything hurts. The smallest person in the boat carries some of the biggest decisions.

A few of the names above:

🥇 Mary Whipple coxed the US women’s eight to Olympic silver in 2004, then gold in 2008 and 2012.

🥇 Sam Bosworth coxed the New Zealand men’s eight to gold at Tokyo 2020. In 2017 he became the first male cox to win an international elite event in a women’s crew.

🥇 Simon Dickie coxed the New Zealand eight at the 1972 Munich Olympics, and he is the cox the Kiwi eight is still compared to.

🇨🇦 Kristen Kit steered Canada’s women’s eight at Tokyo 2020.

Every one of them made their crew faster without touching an oar.

Who is your favorite coxswain of all time? Tell us in the comments 👇 And tag the cox who got you through your toughest race.

Like Mario Kart on the open ocean.If you think standard river racing is stressful, try navigating a tight slalom course ...
10/20/2026

Like Mario Kart on the open ocean.

If you think standard river racing is stressful, try navigating a tight slalom course in breaking surf with another boat inches from your oars.

Beach sprint rowing relies heavily on raw boat handling skills. The slalom phase is where races are won or lost. One aggressive turn can secure the lead, but one bad wave can wash you completely off course.

As this open-water format gains traction ahead of the LA28 Olympics, it's completely changing how rowers think about steering and race strategy.

Have you ever taken a rowing boat into the surf? Drop your worst steering story in the comments.

The Most Intense 3 Minutes in RowingStandard 2K tests and 6K head races hurt, but they don't prepare you for adding a fu...
10/20/2026

The Most Intense 3 Minutes in Rowing

Standard 2K tests and 6K head races hurt, but they don't prepare you for adding a full-speed track sprint on soft sand before and after navigating heavy ocean surf.

The World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals are completely changing our sport. The racing is fast, chaotic, and brutal. Traditional flat-water rowing strategies don't apply here. One bad wave, a missed buoy turn, or a single stumble on the sand can throw away a world title in a fraction of a second.

As this open-water discipline heads toward its official Olympic debut at the LA28 Games, it’s drawing a whole new type of athlete to the sport— rowers who can sprint, read the surf, and handle a boat in rough water.

Who on your crew team has the foot speed and boat handling skills to survive a beach sprint dash? Tag them below.

The loneliest start line at the Head of the Charles belongs to the scullers.Singles and doubles launch from Magazine Bea...
10/19/2026

The loneliest start line at the Head of the Charles belongs to the scullers.

Singles and doubles launch from Magazine Beach, a quieter spot near the start of the course. no giant crowd, no loud announcer, just a grassy bank, a boat on the water, and someone who has been preparing for this moment for months. If you stand close enough, you can hear the gate click and the blade touch down.

A sculler doesn’t have a crew to carry them through the bad moments. no cox to call the turn, no seven other people to lean on when the legs go. Every decision is yours. Every stroke is yours. When the voice in your head says to ease off, you are the only one who can answer it.

That’s the thing about sculling. Nobody sees most of the work. The 5 a.m. launches in the cold, the quiet laps in the fog, the miles nobody counted. Then one weekend a year, you push away from the bank and let three miles tell the truth.

Are you a sculler, a sweep rower, or both?

There is one stretch of the Charles where crews finally get to just row.After the corners and the bridges and the consta...
10/19/2026

There is one stretch of the Charles where crews finally get to just row.

After the corners and the bridges and the constant steering, the river opens into a long straight section between River Street and Western Avenue. People call it the Powerhouse Stretch, and the name fits. There’s nowhere to hide and nothing to blame. The only thing left is the stroke and how long you can hold it.

This is where a boat shows what it’s made of. The crews who spent winter mornings on the erg, the ones who ground out the long steady pieces when nobody was looking, start to move away. The ones who skipped the dull work feel it here. There is no corner to rescue a bad rhythm, only the next stroke and the one after it.

You can’t fake it on a straight. Every session you showed up for is in the boat, and so is every one you skipped.

Where in a race do you find out who you are?

10/19/2026

Dialing in the speed with a high-rate power session.

We really appreciate .povv for sending us this amazing clip!

This immersive POV shot from the double scull captures the sheer intensity of practicing explosive power and sharp acceleration. Working through the high twenties and pushing up to r40+ is the ultimate test of building a strong, consistent rhythm at elite stroke rates.

The primary goal during these high-intensity pieces is to make the boat faster while strictly maintaining technique, solid connection, and flawless synchronization between both athletes. When the rate climbs, trusting your partner and locking into a shared rhythm is exactly what moves the shell forward with maximum efficiency.

What is your primary technical focus when bringing the stroke rate above 36? Drop your thoughts below.

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