Headline numbers

Metric WC I WC II Change
Crew entries (boats) 203 147 −56 (−28%)
Nations (NOCs) 37 22 −15
Events contested 17 18 +1
Unique athletes 491 313 −178

World Cup II is a markedly smaller regatta - roughly a quarter fewer boats and 15 fewer nations. Almost every event shrank.

Nations at WC I but NOT at WC II (26)

A large slice of the WC I field skipped WC II, including several major European programmes:

AIN, ARG, AUS, BEL, DEN, ESP, EST, FRA, GBR, GER, GRE, HKG, HUN, IRL, IRQ, JPN, LTU, MEX, NED, NOR, PER, POL, POR, SLO, SUI, URU.

Notable absences: Great Britain, Germany, France, Netherlands, Australia, Switzerland - all WC I entrants that did not appear at WC II.

Nations making their 2026 racing debut at WC II (11)

These countries appear at WC II having not raced at WC I:

AUT, AZE, BUL, CHN, GHA, IND, KOR, MDA, TUR, UKR, UZB.

The newcomers skew toward Asia and Eastern Europe (China, Korea, India, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Turkey, Moldova, Bulgaria), plus Austria and Ghana.

Nations at both regattas (11)

BRA, CAN, CHI, CRO, CZE, ITA, NZL, ROU, SRB, USA, VEN.

New Zealand and Venezuela in particular carried large, consistent squads across both events. USA had only a lone sculler at WCI but are out in force this time around.

Event-by-event subscription

Event WC I WC II Δ
Lightweight Men's Double Sculls 2 5 +3
Mixed Double Sculls 3 5 +2
PR2 Mixed Double Sculls 0 2 +2 (new)
PR3 Mixed Double Sculls 0 2 +2 (new)
Men's Pair 15 15 0
Women's Four 8 7 −1
Men's Double Sculls 24 22 −2
Men's Eight 5 3 −2
Lightweight Women's Double Sculls 2 0 −2 (dropped)
Lightweight Men's Single Sculls 8 5 −3
Men's Four 14 11 −3
Women's Eight 5 2 −3
Women's Quadruple Sculls 10 5 −5
Lightweight Women's Single Sculls 11 5 −6
Women's Pair 16 10 −6
Men's Quadruple Sculls 15 8 −7
Women's Single Sculls 19 12 −7
Women's Double Sculls 17 9 −8
Men's Single Sculls 29 19 −10

Better subscribed at WC II: Lightweight Men's Double Sculls (+3) and Mixed Double Sculls (+2) were the only Olympic-class events to grow. WC II also added two para events - PR2 and PR3 Mixed Double Sculls - that were absent from WC I.

Worse subscribed: The single sculls took the biggest absolute hits - Men's 1x (−10) and Women's 1x (−7) - alongside Women's Double Sculls (−8) and Men's Quad (−7). Lightweight Women's Double Sculls disappeared entirely (2 → 0).

Most/least competitive: Men's Single Sculls remained the deepest field at both events (29, then 19). Men's Pair was the only event with identical subscription (15 = 15).

Crews returning from WC I to WC II

  • 58 athletes raced at both World Cup I and World Cup II.
  • 30 of the 146 WC II crews (≈21%) contain at least one rower who also competed at WC I.
  • 23 crews fielded the exact same line-up at both regattas.

Of the WC II field, roughly four in five boats are new combinations or new entrants - consistent with the heavy turnover in participating nations.

Identical line-ups racing at both regattas (23)

Nation Boat Crew
BRA W1x Beatriz Tavares
ROU W1x Bianca-Camelia Ifteni
CRO M1x David Sain
ROU M1x Mihai Chiruta
VEN LM1x Jonas Diaz
NZL W2x Eva Hofmans / Sophie Egnot-Johnson
NZL M2x Benjamin Mason / Finlay Hamill
CRO M2x Valent Sinkovic / Martin Sinkovic
VEN LM2x Jose Guipe / Cesar Amaris
VEN M2- Jaime Machado / Andre Mora
NZL M2- Benjamin Taylor / Oliver Welch
CRO M2- Anton Loncaric / Patrik Loncaric
BRA W2- Mariana Macedo / Lorrayne Melo de Araujo
CHI W2- Antonia Abraham / Melita Abraham
NZL W2- Katherine Lush / Juliette Lequeux
CZE W2- Pavlina Flamikova / Anna Santruckova
VEN Mix2x Andre Mora / Keyla Garcia Marcucci
VEN Mix2x Jose Guipe / Kimberlin Meneses Uzcategui
NZL W4x Olivia Hay / Stella Clayton-Greene / Rebecca Leigh / Veronica Wall
NZL M4x Ben Olifiers / Arie Rasmussen Magasiva / Callum Tutbury / Oscar Ruston
NZL W4- Alana Sherman / Isla Blake / Kate Haines / Ella Cossill
CAN M4- Ryan Clegg / Curtis Ames / Axel Eiger Ewashko / Steven Rosts
NZL M4- Fred Vavasour / Campbell Crouch / Harry Fitzpatrick / Joshua Vodanovich

New Zealand (9 identical crews), Venezuela (5) and Croatia (3) account for most of the continuity between the two regattas.

You have until midnight BST on 11th June 2026 to finalise your Fantasy World Cup II predictions!