The 2026 European Rowing Championships will bring three eights events to Lake Varese from 31 July to 2 August, with the mixed eight joining the continental programme for the first time.

The regatta packs 195 boats and 434 athletes into three racing days. Under the progression system introduced last year, the first two crews in each heat advance automatically, with the remaining places awarded on time rather than through repechages.

How to Watch the European Championships

The Men’s Eight Title Race

A new men’s eight champion will be crowned in Varese.

The reigning Europeans champions Great Britain will not race in Varese, as their senior men are at altitude, training in Silveretta, Austria in preparation for the world championships. Great Britain’s five-title Euros winning streak ends this weekend. Who inherits the crown?

Italy, who tend to outperform on home water, are the favourites for the men’s eight title. They finished third last year, behind the Dutch who are also absent. The Italian World Cup II gold medallists are building on a fifth-place finish in Shanghai last year – there are no other worlds A-finalists racing Europeans.

But Romania could spoil the Italian party. They are known to peak for the European championships and have a history of quick eights. They didn’t race in Lucerne, but won bronze medal there last year, as they did at the 2026 season opener in Seville.

Speaking of winning streaks… it was the British who, in 2021, ended Deutschland Achter’s impressive run of eight consecutive European titles. Since then the German men’s eight have only returned once to the European podium: winning a silver medal two years ago in Szeged, Hungary. Nevertheless, they still hold the European (5:18.79) and World (5:18.68) best times.

The 2026 World Cup series points to a rebuilding German eight, not quite on a firm footing yet; they finished fourth in Seville and Lucerne, on both occasions a few seconds off the podium, but still comfortably ahead of Poland and the AIN crew who also race in Varese. Can Germany regain its former glory? A place on the podium certainly seems possible.

Can Romania Add Women’s Eight European Gold to Worlds Haul?

A race not to be last? There are four women’s eights racing in Varese: Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and Romania. Only one will leave empty-handed. The Dutch world champions are absent, but Great Britain are back to defend their European title.

Plovdiv 2025 saw the Brits tear up the script by leaving the Romanian Olympic champions in their wake. The Dutch won silver and Italy snatched an opportunistic bronze medal ahead of Romania who slipped back to fourth comfortably ahead of Germany and Poland. 

Four months later the tables turned in Shanghai. The Dutch were crowned world champions but Romania beat Great Britain to silver. The British denied Germany a bronze medal by just 0.17 seconds.

Photo Great Britain’s women’s eight celebrate winning 2026 World Cup III in Lucerne, Switzerland.

So what will happen this year in Varese? Great Britain, who won gold in Lucerne, start as favourites. The obvious obstacle standing in their way? Romania.

No nation has won the European women’s eight more often, and Romanian selection has traditionally prioritised the boat. Simona Radis and Ancuta Bodnar, who won gold in the women’s double in Seville and are two-time Olympic champions, add firepower to the Romanian line up that narrowly missed the Seville W8+ podium. Romania’s eight finished in fourth place at World Cup I, two seconds off the British bronze medallists.

Italy and Germany are likely to be playing second fiddle in this contest: although perhaps the home crowds will rally their oarswomen. The Italian women’s eight has not featured in the 2026 World Cup series, but they lost to the British by just 2.25 lengths in Henley Royal Regatta’s Remenham Challenge Cup.

A New Event: Mixed Eight

Romania are the team to beat in the inaugural European mixed eight. Five members of their 2025 world-title crew return: Maria Magdalena Rusu, Stefan Constantin Berariu, Ciprian Tudosa, Florin Sorin Lehaci and cox Victoria Stefania Petreanu. Tudosa and Lehaci are two-time Olympians and world silver medallists, and Rusu is the defending W2- world champion.

It will be a four-boat straight final between Denmark, Germany, Italy, and Romania. Every mixed-eight athlete must also compete in another boat class, making recovery and squad depth central to selection. Romania’s broader record across European sweep events gives its coaches proven options, while the retained world champions bring experience of racing the format together.

2026 European Rowing Championships