KNRB head coach Titus Weijschedé announced the TeamNL rowing squads for the 2026 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam on Monday, retaining the lineups that won eight medals at the season-opening World Cup in Seville. The championships run from 24–30 August at the Bosbaan, and the Dutch federation is showing its hand early for a home regatta.

Weijschedé has opted for continuity. The Netherlands took three gold, three silver and two bronze medals in Seville, and the head coach said the boat speeds he saw there, combined with pre-competition training data, left no reason to rebuild.

“After Seville, we carefully evaluated the crews,” Weijschedé said. “The boat speeds we saw, both in Seville and in training ahead of the regatta, give us the confidence to go to the World Championships with these combinations.”

The KNRB confirmed that most crews in Seville already raced in their intended Worlds formations. The only exceptions were the women’s double sculls and women’s quadruple sculls, whose athletes raced in smaller boat classes to seek individual challenge rather than because of any doubt about the planned combinations.

Women’s Boats

Karolien Florijn, the reigning Olympic champion who capsized in her first race back post Paris, leads the squad in the women’s single sculls. Defending world champions Benthe Boonstra and Roos de Jong retain their berth in the women’s double, similarly the 2025 women’s quad gold medallists – Tessa Dullemans, Lisa Bruijnincx, Margot Leeuwenburgh and Marieke Keijser – stay intact.

Seville World Cup winners Tinka Offereins, Linn van Aanholt, Ymkje Clevering and Nika Vos remain in the women’s four. The women’s eight, who took silver in Seville, includes Vera Sneijders, Willemijn Mulder, Ilse Kolkman, Lisanne van der Lelij, Hannah Heideveld, Hermijntje Drenth, Bente Paulis and cox Claire de Kok.

Eva Mol completes the women’s programme in the PR1 women’s single sculls, she will race in Lucerne at the third World Cup in preparation for the World Championships.

Men’s Boats

Powerhouse scullers, Simon van Dorp and Melvin Twellaar remain in the men’s double. The men’s quad of Percijn van Haeringen, Lucas Keijzer, Thijs Ruiken and Mats van Sabben is unchanged.

The men’s four features Rik Rienks, Gert-Jan van Doorn, Eli Brouwer and Lennart van Lierop. The men’s eight, who won gold in Seville, includes Mick Makker, Jan van der Bij, Pieter van Veen, Sander de Graaf, Jorn Salverda, Wibout Rustenburg, Finn Florijn and Ralf Rienks cox Jonna de Vries.

Last Checkpoint in Lucerne

Before the home championships on the Bosbaan, TeamNL will race at the third World Cup in Lucerne with most crews in Worlds formation, but with one deliberate variation. Van Dorp and Twellaar will split into the single sculls as part of their training programme, seeking the individual challenge that KNRB staff have built into the season plan.

The Lucerne approach mirrors the logic behind the Seville exceptions (W2x and W4x athletes): the Dutch coaches are willing to break up settled combinations for targeted development, then reassemble them when the racing matters most.

Home Water

A World Championships in Amsterdam, at the Bosbaan, gives the Netherlands a rare chance to race in front of a home crowd at the sport’s biggest annual event: it was last held there in the 2014. Weijschedé’s early commitment to these lineups signals that the Dutch programme sees no need to experiment further. The Seville medal count validated the winter’s work; now the job is to sharpen what already exists.

The inherent risk to this early selection approach is that the athletes lose their competitive edge; as without the pressure of selection complacency can set in.

The KNRB said selections for non-Olympic boat classes would be announced at a later date, leaving some decisions still to come. But for the headline events, Amsterdam has its home squad. Lucerne will offer the last international test before the Bosbaan.