Smashing world records on first day of 2021 World Rowing Indoor Championships

Seven World Records were broken on this first day of the 2021 World Rowing Indoor Championships. This virtual, international event is going on around the globe from 23 to 27 February 2021.

In the first race of the day, four-time World Champions Birgit Skarstein of Norway dominated the PR1 women’s category. In a tight race with number two in the world (on-water), Israel’s Moran Samuel, Skarstein held off a late surge from her opponent to take home gold with a world record time of 08:18.5. This record was held by Samuel with a time of 8:31.8. This puts Skarstein in good stead for racing in the Tokyo Paralympic Games later this year.

Another world record was achieved in the masters lightweight women’s 50-54 year old, 500m. Paola Mancini of Italy set the time of 1:38.4. This was just ahead of Nathalie Villechenaud of France in second with Louise Barber of Great Britain in third. The former world record was 1:39.4, set by Mancini in 2020.

Also in the masters categories there were five other World Records broken. Mies Bernelot Moens of The Netherlands went 8:15.5 in the masters women’s 75-79-year-old, 2000m. This saw Moens break her own record of 8:17.6 which she set recently. George Petelin of Australia set a blistering pace to finish in a world record of 7:07.9 in the masters men’s 75-79-year-old, 2000m. This knocked four seconds off the current world record of 7:11.7 which was Petelin’s own record.

Mike Hurley of Great Britain raced in the masters men’s 85-89-year-old, 2000m and broke his own world record of 7:56.8 to go 7:54.2. This will put Hurley in good stead to hold on to the record – at least for now.  Alida Kingswood of Canada also broke a world record in the masters women’s 85-89-year-old, 2000m with a 10:11.8 that will be hard to beat in the future. The oldest competitor at the 2021 World Rowing Indoor Championships, 91-year-old Val Coleman of Great Britain also became the new world record holder of her category. Coleman went 13:05.0 in the masters women’s 90-94-year-old, 2000m. Coleman, a proud member of Fishguard & Goodwick Jemima Rowing Club, broke her own record of 13:08.3. Coleman took up rowing in 2019, joining her daughter and grandson at the rowing club. She prefers indoor rowing over going out on the water.

The lightweight events were the undeniably the top events of the day. In the open women’s lightweight category, it was a tight race between Klaudia Pankratiew from Poland, Olga Svirska from Latvia and Krimi Khadija from Tunisia. In the last meters, Pankratiew, last year’s under-23 lightweight World Indoor Champion, managed to pull ahead and take the gold medal in a time of 07:09.8.

The open men’s lightweight category was incredibly tight across the field. Out in front, but by just a little, was the favorite Martino Goretti from Italy. Goretti is the reigning world champion in the lightweight men’s single sculls. After a fast start, the Italian sculler was neck-and-neck with Florian Roller from Germany. There was also Boudina Sid Ali of Algeria in the group. Roller was able to hold off a late charge by Goretti to take home gold in a very fast 06:09.4. Roller is a member of the German national rowing team.

The last two races of the day were won in dominating fashion. In the under-23 men’s category, Alex Byrne from Ireland (younger brother of men’s double sculls World Champion, Ronan Byrne) got into a 1:26 per 500m pace and slowly edged away from his competition. He finished with an impressive 5:55.3 ahead of Estonia’s Leo Muiste, the 2020 World Rowing Indoor Junior gold medallist.

There was no doubt of the winner in the last race of day. Alexandra Foester, 19, of Germany cruised all the way to victory in the under-23 women’s category. Last year’s silver medallist at the European Rowing Under 23 Championships, the German single sculler never looked back in this race. She won by more than 120 metres ahead of the competition with a stunning 6:43.1 – more than 25 seconds faster than her World Rowing Indoor Championship qualifying time. On the podium along with Foester was Zoe de Acosta from Uruguay and Belen Mercado of Mexico

Racing at the World Rowing Indoor Championships will continue at 24 February at 12:05 CET. Follow results and live video on www.worldrowing.com.