The 2026 Henley Royal Regatta sees a record-breaking 862 entries from 21 nations, with three new women’s sculling events closing the gap on
gender parity on the water.
Richard Phelps, Chair of the Committee for Henley Royal Regatta, said:
“This year’s entry has topped the charts, with an incredible 862 entries sure to make for some nail-biting races on the iconic Henley Course. Nine reigning Olympic Champions will be competing in 2026, forming part of an incredibly strong field of domestic and international athletes across Premier, Intermediate, Club, Student and Junior events.
"So many incredible women’s sculling programmes have embraced this new challenge, and we’re excited to see who will be written into history as the first clubs to lift these trophies."
We have three newcomers to our event programme this year - The Princess of Wales Challenge Trophy, The Danesfield Challenge Cup and The Queen Victoria Challenge Cup. From a standing start, so many incredible women’s sculling programmes have embraced this new challenge, and we’re excited to see who will be written into history as the first clubs to lift these trophies.”
The Italian Job
Reigning World Champions in the Open Quadruple Sculls and hot off a gold medal at World Rowing Cup II in Plovdiv, the Italian entry to The Queen Mother Challenge Cup leads a team of 24 national squad athletes travelling to race at Henley Royal Regatta for the first time since 2017. This crew remains unchanged after winning silver at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and will be ones to watch next month. The World Rowing Cup-winning Italian Men’s eight will also be in attendance, aiming to lift The Grand Challenge Cup for the first time.
Great Britain’s best will race on home turf
The GB Rowing Team’s Princess Grace Challenge Cup quad features three Paris Olympic Champions; Lola Anderson, Imogen Grant and Hannah Scott, plus Finn Stratton, who made her international debut this season. The reigning World Champions in the Men’s Four will enter The Stewards’ Challenge Cup, and Olympic Champion Lauren Henry will be back to defend her title in The Princess Royal Challenge Cup.
Redemption for Zeidler
Oliver Zeidler opened this year’s international season with an eye-watering victory margin at World Rowing Cup I. After a shock exit in last year’s Diamond Challenge Sculls semi final against Finn Hamill, a win this year will put him one victory away from equalling the record held by both Mahé Drysdale and Stuart Mackenzie. Zeidler already holds a few records of his own, having recently broken the indoor rowing 2000m World Record with a time of 5:34.7, making him the first man to ever go under 5:35.
Closing the gap with three new Women’s events
The Princess of Wales Challenge Trophy, Danesfield Challenge Cup and Queen Victoria Challenge Cup have attracted entries from the country’s best sculling programmes at Intermediate, Club and Student levels. Sculling powerhouse Reading University have six entries across The Princess of Wales and The Queen Victoria - could they take both inaugural titles this year, or will the University of Bath have what it takes to claim victory in the student category?
Accompanying a strong domestic entry are boats from the US, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands, whilst clubs have made a strong statement on their commitment to these new events with a 35-boat entry in The Danesfield Challenge Cup. These new events have made further strides in achieving gender parity by event, and this year a higher percentage of Women’s entries will have the opportunity to race up the iconic Course.
90 years on from the Berlin Olympics - is this Washington’s year for The Ladies’ Challenge Plate?
The boys in the boat from the University of Washington will be trying to claim victory for the first time since 2003 - but will it be snatched from them by a composite of Cambridge and Harvard Universities, crewed by previous Light Blue, Goldie, Harvard, Princeton and New Zealand athletes?
The event outlier is an unfamiliar name for the Ladies’ Challenge Plate; Peterhouse, Cambridge. This is not the college crew that has just gone Head in the May Bumps which we would normally expect to see in the Temple, but an all-star crew of Light Blue titans including Olympic Champion Tom Ford, Olympic silver medallists Tom George and Ollie Wynne-Griffith, and three-time Boat Race winner Luca Ferraro.
International duos abound in the Premier events
2024 Olympic Champions Brooke Francis and Lucy Spoors will race The Stonor Challenge Trophy. Czechia’s entry into The Hambleden Pairs Challenge Cup, Anna Santruckova and Pavlina Flamikova, claimed a sensational gold in a world-class field at the first 2026 World Rowing Cup. Also hot off a World Cup podium, Serbia’s duo of Martin Mackovic and Nikolaj Pimenov will be anticipated favourites in The Double Sculls Challenge Cup. They’ll face a tough challenge in the form of Fintan McCarthy, a two-time Olympic Champion rowing alongside his brother Jake, himself a World bronze medallist. Fintan won a red box in the event in 2021 alongside fellow Irish sculler Paul O’Donovan - does he have what it takes to do it again?
A fierce battle for the Bridge
The first-ever Bridge Challenge Plate final was won by Thames Rowing Club last year. In the event’s second year, they’ll contend with a Molesey Boat Club and University of London composite and Yale University for victory. Both crews have seen success overseas - the Brits at Ratzeburg, and Yale who placed 5th at the NCAAs.
The Bridge will see the University of Miami make their Henley Royal Regatta debut, after qualifying for their first-ever US collegiate national championships back in May.
Can Shiplake do the double?
It came down to the smallest of margins last year in The Prince Philip Challenge Trophy, with Headington School claiming victory over Shiplake College, who in turn defeated Radley College in The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup. Shiplake will be looking to defend their first historic Princess Elizabeth win, but can they go one further by being the first school to clinch both trophies in one year? They held the Junior Women’s title over Headington at the National Schools’ Regatta, but St Paul’s School and Radley College beat them in the Junior Open category.
They’ll go up against both the Junior Women and Junior Open eight winners from the US Youth National Championships, who will be returning to Henley in 2026 - Deerfield Academy for The Princess Elizabeth, and RowAmerica Rye for The Prince Philip. Qualifiers will reduce the field by 16 for the Junior Men and 14 for the Junior Women, reflecting the entry numbers across both events.
Will Britain take back the Temple and Island titles?
Eyes will be on the Qualifiers for these two events as entries soar for the Student eights. A field of 87 will be reduced to 32 in the Temple, whilst 24 out of 52 Island crews will progress through to the Regatta. The strongest American collegiate contingent in recent memory will descend upon the Thames this year, hoping to keep these trophies stateside. Previous Island victors Brown University will return to the hallowed Course, which could promise a rematch of their 2022 final race against Yale University. Oxford Brookes University hold three out of the last five victories, and Newcastle University have made it to Sunday’s race for the last two years.
In The Temple Challenge Cup, Yale University, Harvard University, the University of Washington and Syracuse University will look to secure another American victory, but strong domestic entries from Cambridge University, Durham University and Oxford Brookes University will not be toppled with ease.
Familiar names flood club events
London Rowing Club are back to defend their title against a familiar field of rivals in The Thames Cup - Thames Rowing Club and Sydney Rowing Club. Missing from the rivalry are ‘De Hoop’; the Dutch club won’t be going for a third consecutive race against Thames Rowing Club’s first eight, but will instead be tackling their four in The Britannia Challenge Cup. The Wargrave Challenge Cup has received a near-record entry - Molesey Boat Club are the ones to beat, but they’ll face fierce competition from Thames Rowing Club and Leander Club.
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The full list of 2026 Entries can be found here.
For events where more Entries have been received than the number of crews permitted, Qualifying Races will be held on the afternoon and evening of Friday, 26 June - see information here.
The 2026 Draw then takes place at 12 noon on Saturday, 27 June in the Boat Tent Area in Henley-on-Thames and will be live streamed on YouTube.
