"VAN" (Sports Desk - 22.05.2026) :: World Rowing is pleased to announce that the 2026 World Rowing Indoor Championships, presented by Concept2, will be held in conjunction with the 2026 British Rowing Indoor Championships (BRIC) on 5 and 6 December 2026, at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, Great Britain.
The event will feature the traditional 2000m, 500m, and relay race distances, welcoming competitors of all ages to participate from across the global indoor rowing community. Adaptive athletes will be included through dedicated IAR (Indoor Adaptive Rowing) categories competing on the same distances.
The announcement follows two successful World Rowing Virtual Indoor Championships, held in February 2025 and 2026. These events demonstrated the remarkable global reach of indoor rowing, attracting competitors who did not have the opportunity to travel or preferred to compete from their own environment. While this format is now confirmed every year, the Birmingham event will complement it by offering the unique intensity and atmosphere of live in-person racing, bringing competitors from around the world together on one competition floor.
Following Paris 2020, the last edition to be held entirely in person, and two hybrid editions in Toronto in 2023 and Prague in 2024, the return to an in-person format represents a landmark moment for the discipline and reinforces World Rowing’s commitment to developing indoor rowing on the world stage and its ambitions for the sport’s inclusion in future Olympic Esports Games.
From 2026 onwards, World Rowing anticipates holding two Indoor Rowing World Championships annually: a fully virtual championship in the first quarter of the year, and a fully in-person championship in the fourth quarter.
The December 2026 event will be co-hosted by British Rowing, who bring extensive experience staging high-quality international competitions across rowing’s disciplines, including numerous classic and coastal events. While this will be British Rowing’s first time hosting an international indoor rowing championship, the British Rowing Indoor Championships, established in 2015, are among the world’s leading national indoor rowing events, making Great Britain a natural and compelling host for this global competition.
"We are thrilled to see the World Rowing Indoor Championships returning to in-person. The spirit of indoor rowing thrives on atmosphere, camaraderie and shared experience, and the British Rowing Indoor Championships provide the ideal platform to bring that energy back in 2026." said Vincent Gaillard, World Rowing Executive Director.
"We are incredibly excited to be welcoming the World Rowing Indoor Championships to BRIC 2026. The British Rowing Indoor Championships has gone from strength to strength, taking place over two days for the last few years with Super Sprint Sunday growing bigger and better each year. This latest step, where we will be working alongside World Rowing, gives us even more chances to share the power and excitement of indoor rowing with the UK and beyond. BRIC has always attracted international competitors; The NEC competitors can literally walk from the runway to the race floor, and we can't wait to see who will be joining us in Birmingham in December." said Tom Solesbury, British Rowing CEO.
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