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    Records broken at the 2026 World Rowing Virtual Indoor Championships presented by Concept2

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    By Kieran Harrington

    Racing from their own homes or clubs around the world, competitors were all connected virtually through their Concept2 indoor rowing machines.
    2026 marks the first time that World Rowing featured the 1000m, 5000m, and 1-minute races as official World Rowing Indoor Championship events.

    Lightweight Rowing

     

    Men’s One Minute

    A competitive category, the Lightweight Men’s 1-Minute finals began with Irish athlete, Kenneth McDonald’s 373 meters, but was ultimately bested by Joonas Makipelto of Finland’s winning 381 meters.

     

    Women’s One Minute

    Individual Neutral Athlete Tatiana Melamed won the Women’s One Minute race with 323 meters while Great Britain’s Jillian Tovey and Argentina’s Carolina Leonhardt tied for second with 321 metres

     

    Men’s and Women’s 5000 Meters

    Both the Lightweight Men’s and Women’s 5000 meter competitors fought throughout races to finish with the times of 18:59.5 by Chevrier Da Costa of Portugal on the women’s side and Czechia’s Vaclav Valek with 16:48.5 on the men’s. The women’s second and third place finishes were taken by  Jillian Tovey of Great Britain in 19:31.5, and Sarita Kristina Hansen of Denmark in 19:35.8. On the men’s side, second place went to Hungary’s Tamas Bence with 16:51.6, and Spain’s Jesus Gonzalez Alvarez in 16:54.3

     

    Women’s 1000 Meter

    Martyna Radosz of Poland won the Lightweight Women’s 1000 meter race in 3:22.6 while Ukraine’s Meriam Mamieliekova took silver in 3:23.6 and Portugal’s Ines Oliveira bronze with 3:24.4.

     

     

    Mens 1000 Meter

    The only athlete to break 3 minutes at this years Lightweight Men’s 1000m race, Andre Dias of Portugal finished his race with a time of 2:59.8. Following him was Ales Manuel Papacek of Czechia in Finish 3:03.4 and Markus Ilmarinen with 3:04.0.

     

     

    Open Weight Rowing

     

    Men’s One Minute

    Denmark’s Thomas Vinther bested Italian athlete Andrea Panizza to achieve 435 meters in the Mens 1-minute challenge. Second going to Panizza with 428 meters, third was a four way tie of 422 meters between Swedish athlete Irmelin Olsson, finish athlete Irmelin Olsson, Hannes Loerwald of Germany and Spyridon Kalentzis of Greece.

     

    Women’s One Minute

    Var Guriardottir Hansen of Denmark broke her own personal best in the Women’s 1-minute race several times to end up with 368m. Both Swedish and Finish athletes, Irmelin Olsson and Irmelin Olsson came in second with 357 meters.

     

     

    Men’s 5000 Meters

    In the men’s 5000 meter race, the longest of the competition’s best time was Benjamin Reuter of Germany 15:39.3. He was followed by Polish athlete Tomasz Cichocki’s 15:45.8 and Artem Zhakarov of Ukraine 15:56.2.

     

    Women’s 5000 Meters

    Lina Belanger of Canada raced in third for the majority of the Women’s 5000 meter race before pulling in the last 1000 meters winning with a time 18:21.7. She was followed by Spain’s Mara Angeles Macian who finished in 18:32.4 and third place was Estonia’s Terje Leola with 18:34.2.

     

    Mens 1000 Meter

    The men’s 1000 meter race competitors chased each other through the week with Italy’s Andrea Panizza taking first with the time of 2:38.9, second going to Thomas Vinther of Denmark with  2:41.6, and third taken by Iran’s Seyed Mohammadhossein Salehi with 2:44.6.

     

    Women’s 1000 Meter

    Estonia’s Adelle Ader pushed past her competitors in the final to finish the Women’s 1000m race with a time of 3:09.4, the United States athlete, Elizabeth Gilmore took second at 3:13.9, and Sophie Souwer of Italy third with 3:14.3.

     

     

    Adaptive Rowing

    New Indoor Adaptive categories were trialed during this event and categories were offered to athletes in the One-Minute and 1000 Meter races. First, second and third place participants will receive medals for their performance and the categories are being developed.

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