"VAN" (Sports Desk - 28.08.2026) :: Mexico had a stunning day as the first finals took place on the Bosbaan in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, at the 2026 World Rowing Championships, winning two golds and one bronze medal.
Aylin Ibarra Maduena and Melissa Marquez, who have each competed in a handful of international regattas, stormed out of the blocks in the first final of the competition – the lightweight women’s double sculls – and never looked back. They fended off challenges from the under-23 world champions Greece to claim a first-ever women’s gold medal at a senior World Rowing Championships for Mexico.
A little while later, Mexico’s most successful rower ever, Kenia Lechuga, finally won the World Rowing Championships gold medal that had so far eluded her. Lechuga shot off the start in her trademark pink boat and was unstoppable, in what may be her last lightweight race before she targets the women’s single sculls for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
Not to be outdone, Mexican Alexis Lopez added a bronze in the lightweight men’s single sculls in a superb race won by European champion Petros Gkaidatzis (GRE), with 2025 world champion Felipe Kluver (URU) second. It is the first time ever that Mexico has won more than one medal at a single World Rowing Championships.
History continued in the lightweight men’s double sculls. Shakhzod Nurmatov and Sobirjon Safaroliyev won Uzbekistan’s first-ever World Rowing Championships medal of any colour, in any boat class, holding off under-23 world champions Germany for gold.
In the para-rowing events, there was more history. Great Britain have not been beaten in the PR3 mixed coxed four since 2010, but that streak finally came to an end after an assured, tactically perfect row from the USA in the final. The USA crew overtook the British in the closing 500m to claim their first gold medal in this event, setting a World Rowing Championships best time of 06:46.60. Britain took silver, keeping a run of podium finishes alive, and France won bronze.
Germany took their first gold medal in the PR2 mixed double sculls thanks to a remarkable sprint finish by European champions Jasmina Bier and Paul Umbach, storming past defending champions China in the last 100m. Israel were third, meaning the same three crews featured on the podium as in 2025.
Semifinals earlier in the day set up Saturday’s finals in the men’s and women’s fours and quadruple sculls. The USA qualified fastest in both fours events, setting themselves up well to add to their medal haul.
Racing at the 2026 World Rowing Championships continues on Friday with the single sculls quarterfinals from 13:05 CEST. Semifinals of the PR1 men’s single sculls and five A-Finals complete the day from 16:05 CEST.
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