Rowing Crazy

How Fast Do Olympic Rowers Row?

How fast do Olympic rowers row?

If you’re anything like me, you’re fascinated by the Olympic games. I can’t imagine anyone who isn’t!

For instance, I have often wondered –

How Fast Can Olympic Rowers Go?

The current world record shows that the fastest rowing boat is a Men’s Eight (sweep rowing). The USA team registered the fastest time of 5:19.85 for 2,000 meters during the semifinal rounds at the 2004 Rowing Summer Olympic Games in Athens, beating the world’s best time recorded for this category.

These elite rowers eventually won the gold in the final round, with an amazing time of 5:42.44, the first win for the USA team since 1964.

The last 500 meters in the semifinals showed the Americans pulling ahead of the Canadian team, who were undefeated since 2001. This time, the tide turned in favor of the US rowers, which goes to show that many factors can affect how fast Olympians row.

I applaud the Olympians who go for the gold, and in the next few sections, I want to tell you all about this exciting game.

Rowing in the Olympics: A Short Background

The speed of rowers in modern Olympic games ( learn how to become an Olympic Rower ) depends on the skills of the rowers, the number of people in the boat, the distance, and the type of rowing that they’re doing.

image showing the differencing between sculling and sweep rowing

This can be surprising for those of you who are new to rowing, but there are two different types of competitive rowing, and each requires different rowing skills.

  1. Sculling. The thing to remember is that scullers row with one oar in each hand, so two oars per rower. In an Olympic rowing race, there are four scull boat classes, all coxless – single sculls (1x), double sculls (2x), lightweight double sculls (L2x), and quadruple sculls (4x).
  2. Sweep rowing. Sweep rowers use one long oar that they hold with both hands. You cannot have a single sweep rower or odd-numbered rowers, since there must be pairs to even out the boat. In Olympic races, there are three sweep boat classes – the coxless pair (2-), the coxless four (4-), and the coxed eight (8+).

Olympic games and world rowing championships have both sculling and sweep rowing events (read more on rowing vs sculling ). Each type of rowing gets its own division or class.

Men and women row separately. Unlike many regattas which have classes set by age, the Olympics have only lightweight and regular competitions.

So, for example, a lightweight men’s double scull (LM2x), meaning two men in a coxless boat, will compete against the same type of boat and rowers.

A women’s coxless pair (W2-) means that there are two women in the boat, there is no coxswain, and they are not in the lightweight division for sweep rowing.

This is the most equitable way that competitive rowers can compete against one another in the Olympics.

How Fast Is Each Category?

Now there is a question I can answer! Let’s look at the current world record.

There is no doubt that the coxed 8 (sweep rowing) is the fastest rowing boat on the water.

How Fast Does a Rowing Eight Go?

The fastest Olympic winner to this day is the USA’s Men’s Eight (M8+). They won the gold at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, with an amazing time of 5:19.85 for their semifinal round and 5:42.44 for the final race.

The fastest time for women came from the Romanian team during the repechage for the Women’s Eight in the 2020/2021 Tokyo Olympics, with the best time of 5:52.99. The gold was won by Canada in the final round with a time of 5:59.13.

Please take note that, often in Olympic rowing events, the best/fastest times are made during the semifinals, heats, and repechage rounds, instead of the final round, which is understandable considering how spent the athletes must be in the final phase of the racing event.

How Fast Do the Smaller Boats Go in the Olympics?

Let’s start with the Men’s Division.

Other Men’s rowing best times include:

Division/Class Rower /Rowing Team
Olympic Event
(Year & Host City)
Best Times
Men’s single sculls (M1x) Mahé Drysdale from New Zealand 2016 Rio  6:31.34
Men’s double sculls (M2x) Netherlands 2020/2021 Tokyo  6:08.38
Men’s quadruple scull (M4x)  Netherlands 2020/2021 Tokyo 5:32.03
 Men’s coxless pair (M2-)  New Zealand 2012 London 6:08.50
Men’s coxless four (M4-) Australia 2020/2021 Tokyo  5:42.76
Men’s single sculls (M1x)
Rower / Rowing Team Mahé Drysdale from New Zealand
Olympic Event (Year & Host City) 2016 Rio
Best Times 6:31.34
Men’s double sculls (M2x)
Rower / Rowing Team Netherlands
Olympic Event (Year & Host City) 2020/2021 Tokyo
Best Times 6:08.38
Men’s quadruple scull (M4x)
Rower / Rowing Team Netherlands
Olympic Event (Year & Host City) 2020/2021 Tokyo
Best Times 5:32.03
Men’s coxless pair (M2-)
Rower / Rowing Team New Zealand
Olympic Event (Year & Host City) 2012 London
Best Times 6:08.50
Men’s coxless four (M4-)
Rower / Rowing Team Australia
Olympic Event (Year & Host City) 2020/2021 Tokyo
Best Times 5:42.76

Currently, none of these times have been broken, but the next Olympic record-breaking winner could be just 2 years away!

Women’s best times at the Olympic games include:

Division/Class Rower/Rowing Team
Olympic Event
Year & Host City)
(
Best Times
Women’s single sculls (W1x)  Emma Twigg from New Zealand  2020/2021 Tokyo 7:13.97
Women’s double sculls (W2x) Great Britain 2012 London 6:44.33
 Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x) China 2020/2021 Tokyo 6:05.13
Women’s coxless pair (W2-)  New Zealand 2020/2021 Tokyo 6:47.41
Women’s coxless four (W4-) Australia 2020/2021 Tokyo  6:15.37
Women’s single sculls (W1x)
Rower / Rowing Team Emma Twigg from New Zealand
Olympic Event (Year & Host City) 2020/2021 Tokyo
Best Times 7:13.97
Women’s double sculls (W2x)
Rower / Rowing Team Great Britain
Olympic Event (Year & Host City) 2012 London
Best Times 6:44.33
Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x)
Rower / Rowing Team China
Olympic Event (Year & Host City) 2020/2021 Tokyo
Best Times 6:05.13
Women’s coxless pair (W2-)
Rower / Rowing Team New Zealand
Olympic Event (Year & Host City) 2020/2021 Tokyo
Best Times 6:47.41
Women’s coxless four (W4-)
Rower / Rowing Team Australia
Olympic Event (Year & Host City) 2020/2021 Tokyo
Best Times 6:15.37

These are all amazing accomplishments that I can barely wrap my head around. The fitness level of the athletes who won gold medals must be incredible.

To all Olympic rowers- I salute you!

How Fast Do Rowers Row in MPH?

Many factors will considerably affect the MPH or boat speed, including the number of people in the boat, wind direction, wind speed, water conditions, whether you’re sculling or sweep rowing, the fitness and skill of each rower, and many others.

Coxless four rowing on a body of water

The current world rowing record shows that the fastest boat on the water is the 8+ or Coxed Eight. These elite rowers can push the boat as fast as 18MPH.

While more people in an Eight (Imagine 9 people in the boat including the cox!) means more weight, it also means more power.

A coxless four (4-) may take off from a dead start faster than a coxed eight (8+), but the 8+ will overpower the 4- and win the race.

To make the boat go faster, they tend to be very thin, very fragile, and very light. They can also be quite expensive, with a racing shell (what the rowboat is called in racing) made for 8 costing upwards of $54,000!

How Fast Can an Olympic Rower Row 500m? 1000m? 2000m?

The Olympic Games are 2,000 meters in length, and in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, the US team consistently led the final round and showed that it’s possible for Olympic rowers (M8+) to row as fast as:

  • 1:21.95 in a 500-meter distance (that’s barely a minute and a half!)
  • 2:48.18 in a 1000-meter distance
  • 4:16.95 in a 1,500-meter distance
  • 5:19.85 in a 2,000-meter distance (Note: their semifinal finish time was faster than the team’s 5:42.44 finish time in the final round)

These are amazing numbers no doubt! If you’ve done any rowing yourself, you are probably shaking your head at these numbers. I know I am!

What Is a Good Speed for Rowing?

A very good rowing speed for most men would be a split time (500 meters) of 1:34.5. Now this would be for an average man who is about 25-30 years of age with an intermediate skill level.

Eight rowers sweep rowing with a coxswain

For women, a good split time would be about 1:58.4. Again, this would be for an average woman about 25-30 years of age who has an intermediate skill level.

If you find yourself well behind those rowing times, don’t worry. Everything can affect your split time, including age, water temperature, the wind, and even the wake from other boats.

Just the fact that you are rowing your best is a big accomplishment, so give yourself a high five!

The Bottom Line

Olympic rowers who want to break world rowing championship titles and times work their butts off at some of the world’s toughest gym facilities and the roughest training conditions on the water.

Unless you have been training since you were a child and spending up to 40 hours a week rowing, don’t feel bad if you can’t come close to Olympic times.

I think anyone who does their best rowing is a champion in their own right. Give yourself credit where credit is due!

That you are rowing is reward in itself, so keep on rowing!

2 thoughts on “How Fast Do Olympic Rowers Row?”

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