Great Britain claimed their first gold medals of 2026 at World Rowing Cup I in Seville, with the men’s four cruising home by 5.22 seconds and Lauren Henry winning the women’s single sculls by 0.14 seconds. The Brits left Seville with five medals in total, adding silver in the women’s quadruple sculls and men’s eight, plus bronze in the women’s eight.
Great Britain’s Steadfast Men’s Four
Dan Graham, James Robson, Douwe de Graaf and George Bourne, racing together internationally for the first time since winning the 2025 World Championships in Shanghai, underlined their form. They beat France by 5.22 seconds, with the Netherlands finishing third. Their final time of 5:54.46 came after a composed run through the heats and semifinals.
Photo GBR M4-
“It was such a lovely rhythm to work in,” Robson told World Rowing. “It felt very, very simple and I was just trying to tweak it as we went down. It’s an epic feeling to cap the first bit of the season off with a win.”
“if I’m within a sniff, I can do it”
Lauren Henry
Lauren Henry’s Finishing Kick
Lauren Henry has been waiting impatiently for the season opener in Seville ever since narrowly missing gold at the 2025 world championships in Shanghai: the Paris W4x Olympic champion was denied the top step by just 0.03 seconds by Ireland’s Fiona Murtagh. In Seville, she was the one doing the overtaking, running down Lithuania’s Viktorija Senkute in the closing stages to win by 0.14 seconds. Murtagh took bronze.
“It was a good race. I think my first half was maybe a bit sluggish; I’m not sure I got my heat strategies right,” Henry said. “But I really, really trust my second half of the race. I know that if I’m within a sniff, I can do it. I just have so much belief in the training I do and my coach.”
Henry had shown her speed on Saturday, winning her semifinal in 7:30.67 before posting 7:25.70 in the final.
It will be exciting to see her test her speed later in the season against the Dutch Olympic champion Karolien Florijn, who was eliminated from this event after her mishap in the heat.
Photo Lauren Henry of Great Britain
Depth Across the Squad
Beyond the two golds, Britain’s bigger boats delivered further medals. The women’s quadruple sculls of Sarah McKay, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Finnola Stratton finished 0.43 seconds behind Germany to take silver, while the men’s eight claimed silver behind the Dutch world champions.
The women’s eight added bronze, with Australia winning gold and the Netherlands silver.
Results elsewhere were more modest. The men’s pair and men’s quadruple sculls both ended up in B finals, and the women’s double sculls finished 10th overall.
“such a lovely rhythm to work in”
James Robson
Early Signals
The five-medal haul in Seville is a strong start to Great Britain’s 2026 campaign. The men’s four look settled as reigning world champions, Henry has again demonstrated the closing speed to win tight races against some of the best single scullers in the world, and the squad’s larger boats are already competing for podium places.
The next event in the 2026 World Rowing Cup Series will be World Rowing Cup II from 12 – 14 June in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
