The Rowing World Records are the fastest times set over the international rowing distance of 2000 m. They are believed to be correct as of November 2011.
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Rowing times are strongly affected by weather conditions, and to a lesser extent by water temperature - the majority of the these times were set in warm water with a strong tailwind. World best rowing times have also decreased because of improvements in technology to both the boats and the oars, along with improvements in the conditioning of the rowers.
Because environmental conditions have a strong impact on boat speed, FISA, recognizes world best times instead of world records. A world best time is one recorded on a regatta course that has previously held the World Championships, Olympic Games, or World Cup since 1980. A number of record times were set at the 2005 World Championships held on the Nagara River at Kaizu, Gifu Prefecture, Japan, but due to a fast current caused by heavy rainfall from the remnants of Typhoon Mawar, FISA declared that the race results were not eligible to be considered as world best times.
There is a category for lightweight rowing. For men the crew average, wearing racing kit, cannot exceed 70 kg (154 lb) and no rower may be over 72.5 kg (160 lb). For women the limits are 57 kg (126 lb) and 59 kg (130 lb) [1].
| Boat | Time | Nation | Location | Year | Crew |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M1x | 6:33.35 | NZL | Poznań | 2009 | Mahé Drysdale |
| M2- | 6:14.27 | GBR | Seville | 2002 | Matthew Pinsent, James Cracknell |
| M2+ | 6:42.16 | CRO | Indianapolis | 1994 | Igor Boraska, Tihomir Franković, Milan Razov (coxswain) |
| M2x | 6:03.25 | FRA | Poznań | 2006 | Adrien Hardy, Jean-Baptiste Macquet |
| M4- | 5:41.35 | GER | Seville | 2002 | Sebastien Thormann, Paul Dienstbach, Philip Stueer, Bernd Heidicker |
| M4+ | 5:58.96 | GER | Vienna | 1991 | Matthias Ungemach, Armin Eichholz, Armin Weyrauch, Bahne Rabe, Joerg Dederding (coxswain) |
| M4x | 5:36.20 | AUS | Beijing | 2008 | Chris Morgan, James McRae, Brendan Long, Daniel Noonan |
| M8+ | 5:19.85 | USA | Athens | 2004 | Jason Read, Wyatt Allen, Chris Ahrens, Joseph Hansen, Matt Deakin, Dan Beery, Beau Hoopman, Bryan Volpenhein, Peter Cipollone (coxswain) |
| LM1x | 6:46.93 | FRA | Amsterdam | 2011 | Jeremie Azou |
| LM2- | 6:26.21 | IRL | Paris | 1994 | Tony O'Connor, Neville Maxwell |
| LM2x | 6:10.02 | DEN | Amsterdam | 2007 | Mads Rasmussen, Rasmus Quist |
| LM4- | 5:45.60 | DEN | Lucerne | 1999 | Thomas Poulsen, Thomas Ebert, Eskild Ebbesen, Victor Feddersen |
| LM4x | 5:45.18 | ITA | Montreal | 1992 | Francesco Esposito, Massimo Lana, Michelangelo Crispi, Massimo Guglielmi |
| LM8+ | 5:30.24 | GER | Montreal | 1992 | Klaus Altena, Christian Dahlke, Thomas Melges, Bernhard Stomporowski, Michael Kobor, Uwe Maerz, Michael Buchheit, Kai von Warburg, Olaf Kaska (coxswain) |
| Boat | Time | Nation | Location | Year | Crew |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W1x | 7:07.71 | BUL | Seville | 2002 | Rumyana Neykova |
| W2- | 6:53.80 | ROM | Lucerne | 1999 | Georgeta Andrunache, Viorica Susanu |
| W2x | 6:38.78 | NZL | Seville | 2002 | Georgina Evers-Swindell, Caroline Evers-Swindell |
| W4- | 6:25.35 | AUS | Eton | 2006 | Kate Hornsey, Amber Bradley, Jo Lutz, Robyn Selby Smith |
| W4x | 6:10.80 | GER | Duisburg | 1996 | Kathrin Boron, Katrin Rutschow-Stomporowski, Jana Sorgers, Kerstin Koeppen |
| W8+ | 5:55.50 | USA | Eton | 2006 | Caryn Davies, Caroline Lind, Susan Francia, Anna Mickelson, Lindsay Shoop, Anna Goodale, Megan Cooke, Brett Sickler, Mary Whipple (coxswain) |
| LW1x | 7:28.15 | ROM | Paris | 1994 | Constanţa Burcică |
| LW2- | 7:18.32 | AUS | Aiguebelette | 1997 | Eliza Blair, Justine Joyce |
| LW2x | 6:49.77 | CHN | Poznań | 2006 | Shimin Yan, Dongxiang Xu |
| LW4x | 6:23.96 | CHN | Eton | 2006 | Liu Jing, Fan Xuefei, Chen Haixia, Yu Hua (rower) |
| Category | Time | Split | Nation | Year | Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open Men | 5:36.6 | 1:24.1 | NZL | 2008 | Rob Waddell |
| Lwt Men | 5:58.5 | 1:29.6 | DEN | 2009 | Henrik Stephansen |
| Open Women | 6:28.4 | 1:37.1 | FRA | 2005 | Sophie Balmary |
| Lwt Women | 6:54.7 | 1:43.7 | USA | 2010 | Ursula Grobler |
Note: the standard machine for indoor records is the Concept2 indoor rower. "Split" refers to the average time to complete 500 m (i.e. the 2000 m time divided by 4).