Benjamin Pritchard wins back-to-back titles at World Rowing Championships

Benjamin Pritchard won gold for the second year in a row in the Men’s PR1 Single Scull. On his way to back-to-back gold medals, he set a new World Rowing Championships Best Time on the Bosbaan, in Amsterdam.

For the second year in as many years, the Women’s Quadruple Scull won silver at the World Rowing Championships. The Men’s Quadruple Scull and Men’s Four both won bronze. The Women’s Four were also in A Final action, placing fifth overall in a race that saw three crews break the World Best Time.

The afternoon featured another showdown between Lauren Henry and Karolien Florijn, with both single scullers set for round three in tomorrow’s A Final. For the first time at this year’s World Championships, the two Eights were in action. Both navigated their heats, with the men set for their semi-final tomorrow morning and the women straight into the A Final.

In the PR1 Men’s Single Scull, the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the year motored out of the block, just like yesterday’s dominant performance in the semi-final. As Pritchard settled down from 51 strokes a minute, Australia’s Erik Horrie and Italy’s Giacomo Perini chased him down, sitting about a length down through the second quarter of the race. Through the second half of the race, Pritchard roared, opening up an ocean of clear water over the rest of the field. Come the finish, there was no doubt the crown would stay with Pritchard. Horrie took silver, and the great Roman Polianskyi took bronze.

Pritchard’s time of 08:50.46 is a new World Rowing Championships Best Time, albeit 10 seconds off his own World Best Time. Pritchard’s gold medal rounds off an incredible season for the Swansea Rowing Club athlete. After breaking his own Concept 2 2000m World Record earlier this year, Pritchard won on the Lake of the Gods at World Cup III, before adding a second European title to his trophy cabinet.

“It’s very special, especially to be on the podium next to the great champion [Polianskyi],” said the 2026 World Champion.

“Erik has so many medals to his name; Polianskyi is the same, and you never know what’s going to happen. I had to just go out there and do my thing. I had a spinal cord-related issue on the way to the start. We don’t have control of our bowels, and unfortunately, my bowels released on the way up to the start line, so that was a bit of a headache to deal with, but you just have to stick to the race plan and put it in the back of your mind.

“This one’s a story of calamities, especially after the thunderstorm delays of yesterday. We’re in some lovely Welsh weather at the moment with some liquid sunshine, so all the training I’ve done back home on the River Taff has paid dividends.”

The Women’s Quadruple Sculls provided another thrilling chapter to the British/Dutch rivalry. In front of a partisan crowd, the Netherlands won gold ahead of Lola Anderson, Hannah Scott, Finn Stratton, and Imogen Grant. The Dutch hit the front of the race after 200m, and just before the first timing marker, Great Britain had a foothold in silver-medal position.

Positions at the front were unchanged through the middle of the race; however, further back, the United States were starting to kick on in the third 500m. They would not catch Great Britain who won back-to-back silver medals at the World Rowing Championships as the Dutch delighted the home fans on the Bosbaan. For Stratton, silver comes on her debut at the World Rowing Championships and a breakthrough season to remember.

“Today, we were trying to channel some aggression that we’ve been wanting to show in this regatta, and it’s been hard through the rounds to get it,” explained Scott.

“I’m truly proud of that race today; finals day is always another step up. For Finn’s first World Championships, that was pretty incredible. To come away with a silver and have the race we had is really exciting for us, because I think we might be a bit ahead of our trajectory this cycle. From where we stand, I’m very happy, and we should have our heads held high.”

Credit: Benedict Tufnell

The final of the Men’s Four was nail-biting from start to finish. Through the opening 500m, Dan Graham, James Robson, Douwe de Graaf, and George Bourne sat in second place, with half a second separating the top four crews. By halfway, the British bow ball was leading the field, 0.05s ahead of the Dutch racing on home water.

Through the third quarter of the race, tensions grew as the British, Dutch, and Americans separated themselves from the rest of the field. Bellowed on by home support, the Dutch charged, but the Americans would hit the front of the race holding on for dear life, taking gold to break Dutch hearts. Great Britain would settle for bronze at the 2026 World Rowing Championships.

“I thought realistically, the first 1500m was as good as we could have done,” said Graham.

“Coming into the last 500m, we could feel people starting to slip ahead of us and then away from us. We were trying to bring it up, and we maybe got a bit too scrappy, but we weren’t going to roll over and let it happen. We wanted to fight for it.

“I’m really proud of the work we have done, and I think if anything, we’ve learned a lot for next season. We all need a bit of a break and time off to recover as it’s been a long year,” added Robson.

Credit: Benedict Tufnell

Cedol Dafydd, Callum Dixon, Tobias Schröder, and Rory Harris won a hard-fought bronze medal in another lightning-quick field. Much like other scripts throughout the morning’s finals, a leading pack was quickly established in the Men’s Quadruple Sculls of Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and the Netherlands. Germany dominated for the first 1500m of the race, before Italy overhauled them in front of the grandstands. The Azzuri took the British with them, but they were unable to slip past the Germans, who opened up too much of a gap in the first half of the race.

“I think we had a really good race; I don’t know if we could have done any more on the day,” explained Harris.

“The racing is the fun part, and I’m proud of the medal we’ve won. In conditions like we’ve had this week, I think you have to keep calm and focus on the basics. I couldn’t be prouder of the boys, the team, and all the coaching staff who have helped us. It’s a real team effort, and none of this would be possible without lottery funding. Thank you!”

Credit: Benedict Tufnell

The Women’s Four would finish fifth overall in Amsterdam. From the opening stages of the race, the United States, the Netherlands, and Australia distanced themselves from the rest of the field, fighting for the three medals. In a race where the USA set a new World Best Time and two other crews went below the old record, Great Britain’s quartet of Sarah Marshall, Eleanor Brinkhoff, Angharad Broughton, and Holly Youd raced with no fear from start to finish to finish ahead of Germany.

For three of the crew- Marshall, Broughton, and Youd- this was their World Rowing Championship debut, in a season that saw the crew crowned European Champions in Varese.

Credit: Benedict Tufnell

Later in the afternoon, Lauren Henry raced in her semi-final of the Women’s Single Scull. For the second time in 24 hours, she went head to head with Olympic Champion Karolien Florijn. This time, Florijn led at 500m but Henry was back in front by halfway, and never looked back in the second half of the race. Henry, the 2024 Olympic Champion in the Women’s Quadruple Sculls clocked 7:14.58 at the finish, the fastest time across the two semi-finals.

“That was a good one and I’m very pleased with it. It’s now time to rest up, recover, and go again for the big one tomorrow,” said Henry.

Following a decision taken by World Rowing, the heats of the Eights and the Mixed Doubles were changed to a Time Trial. The World Rowing Fairness Committee determined that weather conditions may create unfair conditions if run as standard heats.

Lizzie Witt, Jade Lindo, Amelia Standing, Katherine George, Lauren Irwin, Eve Stewart, Heidi Long, Annie Campbell-Orde, and cox Jack Tottem were the first boat in their heat out of the blocks to complete the Time Trial. Their time of 6:07.95 was the quickest in their heat, and they advanced to the A Final tomorrow.

Credit: Benedict Tufnell

Will Stewart, Matt Rowe, Gabriel Obholzer, Sam Nunn, David Bewicke-Copley, Harry Geffen, Miles Beeson, Archie Drummond, and cox Tom Bryce similarly were first down the track in the time trials for their heat. Their time of 5:29.90 was once again the quickest of their heat, qualifying directly for the semi-finals.

Credit: Benedict Tufnell

Tomorrow’s racing, the last day of the Championships, will see the Men’s Eight race in the semi-finals, determining who will race for medals later in the day. Lauren Henry and the Women’s Eight will race for gold in their A Finals.

“Two heat wins, a semi-final win, three competitive medals in the Olympic classes, and a gold medal for Benjamin Pritchard in the PR1 Men’s Single Scull show the strength of the team here today,” said Interim Performance Director Tom Dyson.

“World titles are incredibly special and Benjamin’s racing has shown an added maturity in the way that he is learning to handle the pressure of those around him.

“Both the Men’s and Women’s Quadruple Sculls and the Men’s Four deserve great credit for the way they raced and their challenge to the head of the field. Despite this, there is a healthy sense that more is possible as we head into the second half of this Olympiad and this shows the character that exists in the team.

“We can look forward to one last day of racing tomorrow with the conclusion of the Women’s Single and both Eights. All three crews progressed strongly today and will be looking to finish the season with their best races.

“Some of today’s races showed the way that the standard is moving as we close out 2026. The new World Best in the Women’s Four is a message to all teams. For now we can look forward to one last day of racing tomorrow with the conclusion of the Women’s Single and both Eights. All three crews progressed strongly today and will be looking to finish their seasons with a flourish.”

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