Uzbekistan topped the medal table on the second day of the 2026 World Rowing Cup II in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. In second and third place, currently, are South Korea and Ukraine, courtesy of their lightweight scullers. Besides the first medals of the regatta we saw three sets of small boat semifinals which offered up an imperious performance from the Kiwi pair, an all American battle in the singles, and a somewhat revived Sinkovic double.
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First Medals Awarded in Plovdiv
The first of four medal races saw Uzbekistan outgun Turkey in the two boat PR2 Mix 2x final. Paris PR1 W1x Paralympian Mukhayyo Abdusattorova teamed up with Diyorbek Boybolsinov last year in Shanghai where they finished seventh; this is their first time winning a world cup gold medal.
Uzbek fans didn’t need to wait long before the next victory. Shakhzo Nurmatov and Sobirjon Safaroliyev (UZB) delivered a masterclass in pacing as they pushed to the front of their field early in the lightweight men’s double sculls before steadily distancing Azerbaijan and Venezula, who traded places behind them. Jose Guipe and Cesar Amaris (VEN) took silver ahead of the bronze medallists Ziya Mammazada and Nurlan Pashayev (AZE). The Korean scullers trailed in last place.
“We know what we can do”
James Wright
“It’s a good race for me. We wanted this gold medal, it’s a big history for the Uzbekistan team,” said Safaroliyev, speaking to World Rowing after the final.
Jiseon Kim (KOR) proved her performance in yesterday’s preliminary race was no fluke: the South Korean teenager held her nerve as Venezuela’s 37-year-old Kimberlin Meneses attacked in the middle thousand. Kim sculled away to gold in the final 500 meters. Behind the leaders Keyla Garcia (VEN2) claimed bronze over Ahn Heeju (KOR2).
Ukraine’s Igor Khmara denied Team Uzbekistan a hat trick of gold medals. He put paid to Firdavs Akhunov’s best efforts early in the race and continued to distance the Ukranian in the second half. Venezula’s Jonas Diaz secured a bronze medal on this, his international debut.
Soares Soars in Men’s Single Sculls Semifinal
The first crews to crack in the first semi of the men’s singles were Uzebkistan’s Pavel Sorin and Croatia’s David Sain of Croatia, both dropping off the pace in the middle thousand. Italy’s Gabriel Soares led the charge at the front of the field and held it to the finish. Behind the ex-lightweight the battle for second and third place tightened: Turkey’s Cevdet Ege Mutlu pipped the Romanian Olympian Mihai Chiruta by 0.03 seconds.
“It was amazing. I’ve had some problems with my technique and now I’m coming back. I was thinking just of mine, my boat, and my technique, and it worked,” Chiruta told World Rowing.
The second semi saw the two US scullers duke it out, side-by-side in the centre lanes. Olympian Jacob Plihal (USA 2) held off a voracious effort from ex-lightweight Samuel Melvin (USA 1), who tracked Plihal down the whole track and will get to have another go in tomorrow’s medal race. Behind them Uzbekistan’s Shakhboz Kholmurzaev took the last spot into the A-final.
Taylor-made: New Zealand’s Men’s Pair Continues to Impress
Oliver Welch and Benjamin Taylor backed up their dominant performance in the heat with another in today’s men’s pair semifinal. Having led from the start, the New Zealanders cruised to the finish at a (relatively) leisurely 32 strokes per minute. The two American pairs withstood the early pressure from Turkey to secure the last two qualification spots. In the other semi Italy’s Matteo Lodo and Giovanni Codato led from ticker to tape. Further back the Croatian brothers, Patric and Anton Loncaric, will be disappointed to have missed the A-final, beaten by Serbia and China.
Despite easing across the line the Kiwis, who were fastest qualifiers from the heat, enter the A-final with the fastest semifinal time.
Men’s Double Sculls: More Kiwi Prowess and Signs of Life in the Croatian Camp
The boat class that never fails on drama. The high-rating New Zealanders, Finn Hamill and Benjamin Mason, delivered a tenacious row to take the top spot away from the US double in the first semifinal. They sculled through the smooth sculling Americans in the second quarter but were kept honest by Cedar Cunningham and James Wright (USA), who tracked the Kiwis all the way to the finish. Third place went to Romania but not without a bitter fight against the fast finishing Chilean brothers, Ignacio and Alfredo Abraham.
“It was a good step on from yesterday. Yesterday left a lot for us to work on, and I think we had a lot of technical points coming out of it that we wanted to execute on today, and today we got to work and really tried to execute the race. We know what we can do,” said a quietly confident James Wright (USA).
The second semi saw China’s Xudi Yi and Zhiwei Deng beat the Sinkovic brothers Martin and Valent (CRO), who finished second and seem to be rebounding from their recent drop in form. The Croatian Olympic champions will hope to step on again in tomorrow’s A-final. Italy’s Niels Torre and Marco Selva claimed the last qualification spot.
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Drag
C-finals and Preliminary Races
Racing was bookended by the smallest and largest boat classes. First, two C-finals of men’s single and double sculls. It was a one-two for Korea in the men’s single sculls. Hyunsu Park beat his teammate Kyeonghun Lee in the first race of the day, while Molodva secured third ahead of Venezuela. Italy 2 saw off the young Turkish crew to claim victory in the men’s double sculls, behind them China finished in third place.
The big boats closed out the schedule, albeit after a short delay due to technical issues. A two boat women’s eights race saw USA beat China. The American crew, who are doubling up in the pair and four, kept a lid on the last 500, and sat comfortably clear at only 35 strokes per minute.
It was a similar story on the men’s side. The US eight, who finished in last place, kept their powder dry by knocking the rate down to the high twenties in the second half. Italy delivered a fiery first 1500 meters before easing off the gas, but did enough to stay ahead of China.
