In rowing there are not world records due to the huge variability that weather conditions can have on times. Instead there are world best times, which are set over the international rowing distance of 2000 m.

On-water records

Rowing times are strongly affected by weather conditions, and to a lesser extent by water temperature – the majority of 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, World Rowing 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 Rowing 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, World Rowing 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]

Hamish Bond and Eric Murray hold the record for most consecutive wins with 69.^[2]

Men

Boat	Time	Crew	Nation	Date	Event	Location	Ref
M1x Single sculls	6:30.74	Robbie Manson	New Zealand	2017	Final World Cup II	Poznan, Poland	[3][4]
M2- Coxless pairs	6:08.50	Hamish Bond Eric Murray	New Zealand	2012	Heat 1 Olympic Games	Eton Dorney, United Kingdom	[5][6]
M2+ Coxed pairs	6:33.26	Hamish Bond Eric Murray Caleb Shepherd (cox)	New Zealand	2014	Final World Championships	Amsterdam, Netherlands	[3][7]
M2x Double sculls	5:59.72	Martin Sinković Valent Sinković	Croatia	2014	Semi-final World Championships	Amsterdam, Netherlands	[3][8]
M4- Coxless four	5:37.86	Andrew Triggs Hodge Tom James Pete Reed Alex Gregory	Great Britain	2012	Heat 1 World Cup II	Lucerne, Switzerland	[3][9]
M4+ Coxed four	5:58.96	Matthias Ungemach Armin Eichholz Armin Weyrauch Bahne Rabe Jörg Dederding (cox)	Germany	1991	Final World Championships	Vienna, Austria	[3][10]
M4x Quad sculls	5:32.03	Dirk Uittenbogaard Abe Wiersma Tone Wieten Koen Metsemakers	Netherlands	28 July 2021	Final Olympic Games	Tokyo, Japan	[3][11]
M8+ Eight	5:18.68	Johannes Weißenfeld Felix Wimberger Max Planer Torben Johannesen Jakob Schneider Malte Jakschik Richard Schmidt Hannes Ocik Martin Sauer (cox)	Germany	2017	Final World Cup II	Poznan, Poland	[3][12]
LM1x Lightweight single sculls	6:41.03	Jason Osborne	Germany	2018	Heat World Championships	Plovdiv, Bulgaria	[3][13]
LM2- Lightweight coxless pairs	6:22.91	Simon Niepmann Lucas Tramèr	Switzerland	2014	Final World Championships	Amsterdam, Netherlands	[3][14]
LM2x Lightweight double sculls	6:05.33	Fintan McCarthy Paul O'Donovan	Ireland	28 July 2021	Semi-final Olympic Games	Tokyo, Japan	[3][15]
LM4- Lightweight coxless four	5:43.16	Kasper Winther Jørgensen Jacob Larsen Jacob Barsøe Morten Jørgensen	Denmark	2014	Semi-final World Championships	Amsterdam, Netherlands	[3][16]
LM4x Lightweight quad sculls	5:42.75	Georgios Konsolas Spyridon Giannaros Panagiotis Magdanis Eleftherios Konsolas	Greece	2014	Final World Championships	Amsterdam, Netherlands	[3][17]
LM8+ Lightweight eight	5:30.24	Klaus Altena Christian Dahlke Thomas Melges Bernhard Stomporowski Michael Kobor Uwe Maerz Michael Buchheit Kai von Warburg Olaf Kaska (cox)	Germany	1992	Heat World Championships	Montreal, Canada	[3][18]

The greatest distance rowed in 24 hours is 342 km (212.5 miles) by Hannes Obreno, Pierre de Loof, Tim Brys, Mathieu Foucaud, Thijs Obreno, Giel Vanschoenbeek, Arjan van Belle and Thibaut Schollaert (all Belgians) on the Watersportbaan in Ghent, Belgium, on 2–3 October 2014. All eight participants were members of a student rowing club called VSR (Vlaamse Studentenvereniging der Roeiers [translates to Flanders Student Rowing Club]).

The greatest distance rowed in 1 hour is 17,555 m (10.91 miles) by the Delftse Studenten Roeiverening Proteus-Eretes during the Hour boat race on 17 December 2017.

Women

Boat	Time	Crew	Nation	Date	Event	Location	Ref
W1x Single sculls	7:07.71	Rumyana Neykova	Bulgaria	2002	Final World Championships	Seville, Spain	[3]
W2- Coxless pairs	6:47.11	Annabelle McIntyre Jessica Morrison	Australia	24 June 2023	Final Holland Beker Regatta	Amsterdam, Netherlands	[19][20]
W2x Double sculls	6:37.31	Olympia Aldersey Sally Kehoe	Australia	2014	Semi-final World Championships	Amsterdam, Netherlands	[3][21]
W4- Coxless four	6:14.36	Grace Prendergast Kayla Pratt Kerri Gowler Kelsey Bevan	New Zealand	2014	Final World Championships	Amsterdam, Netherlands	[3][22]
W4x Quad sculls	6:05.13	Chen Yunxia Zhang Ling Lü Yang Cui Xiaotong	China	28 July 2021	Final Olympic Games	Tokyo, Japan	[3][23]
W8+ Eight	5:52.99	Magdalena Rusu Viviana Bejinariu Georgiana Dedu Maria Tivodariu Ioana Vrinceanu Amalia Beres Madalina Beres Denisa Tilvescu Daniela Druncea (cox)	Romania	28 July 2021	Repechage Olympic Games	Tokyo, Japan	[3][24]
LW1x Lightweight single sculls	7:23.36	Imogen Grant	Great Britain	9 July 2022	Final World Cup III	Lucerne, Switzerland	[25][3]
LW2- Lightweight coxless pairs	7:18.32	Eliza Blair Justine Joyce	Australia	1997	Final World Championships	Lac d'Aiguebelette, France	[26][3]
LW2x Lightweight double sculls	6:40.47	Emily Craig Imogen Grant	Great Britain	17 June 2023	Semi Final World Cup II	Varese, Italy	[27]
LW4x Lightweight quadruple sculls	6:15.95	Mirte Kraaijkamp Elisabeth Woerner Maaike Head Ilse Paulis	Netherlands	2014	Final World Championships	Amsterdam, Netherlands	[28][3]

Indoor records

These results are based on a standard distance of 2,000 meters.

SIR – Static Indoor Rower (Indoor Rower)

IRwS – Indoor Rower with Slides (Slides)

DIR – Dynamic Indoor Rower (Dynamic)^[29]

Type	Category	Time	Split	Nation	Year	Name
SIR	Open Men	5:35.8	1:23.9	Australia	2018	Josh Dunkley-Smith
SIR	Lightweight Men	5:56.7	1:29.2	Denmark	2012	Henrik Stephansen
SIR	Open Women	6:21.1	1:35.3	United States	2021	Brooke Mooney
SIR	Lightweight Women	6:53.8	1:43.4	Canada	2019	Jennifer Casson
IRwS	Open Men	5:41.8		United States	2022	Jacob Plihal
IRwS	Lightweight Men	6:06.0		United States	2023	Jamie Copus
IRwS	Open Women	6:46.8		United States	2006	Taliesin Davies
IRwS	Lightweight Women	7:29.7		United States	2008	Lynn Bender
DIR	Open Men	5:41.8		New Zealand	2012	Eric Murray
		5:25.5[30]		Germany	2023	Oliver Zeidler
DIR	Lightweight Men	6:15.6		Great Britain	2017	Tom Foster
DIR	Open Women	8:00.6		United States	2015	Karen Alt
DIR	Lightweight Women	8:10.4		United States	2013	Elizabeth Sheldon

• Lwt Men: 75 kg (165 lb) maximum weight
• Lwt Women: 61.5 kg (136 lb) maximum weight^[31]

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).