24 June 2026

By Tim Koch

Records have already been broken at this year’s Henley as there are an unprecedented 862 entries from 21 nations. Further, nine reigning Olympic Champions will be competing.

In line with Henley’s commitment to gender parity there are three new sculling events for women: The Princess of Wales Challenge Trophy (Intermediate Women’s Quadruple Sculls), The Danesfield Challenge Cup (Club Women’s Quadruple Sculls) and The Queen Victoria Challenge Cup (Student Women’s Quadruple Sculls). The three new events have attracted entries from the country’s best sculling programmes and the Danesfield has 35 entries for 16 places.

An edited press release gives a preview:

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 GB 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.

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. The reigning World Champions in the Open Quadruple Sculls are hot off a gold medal at World Rowing Cup II in Plovdiv. 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. 

Germany’s 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. 

The strongest American collegiate contingent in recent memory will descend upon the Thames this year, hoping to keep (the Temple and Island) 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. 24 out of 52 Island crews will progress through to the Regatta.

A field of 87 will be reduced to 32 in the Temple. 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.

In the Ladies’ 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 (racing under the name of) Peterhouse, Cambridge? They are 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.

In the 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.

There are two changes to custom this year.

The Regatta Church Service will take place at 16:00 (not 9.30) on Sunday, 28 June at the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Henley-on-Thames. All are welcome at this 40-minute service.

The Draw will take place at 12 noon on Saturday, 27 June and will be live streamed on YouTube. This year it will be held in the Boat Tent Area not as usual in the Town Hall. This experiment is said to be taking place because the Town Hall has limited space and poor wifi.

While I am not one of those who say that Henley Royal Regatta should never change, I would have thought that the wifi problem could be overcome and, when the lovely hall of the Grade II listed building is crowded with rowers from all over the world, it may be hot and stuffy but it also produces an air of anticipation and excitement that I am not sure will transfer to the boat tent area. We will see.

Henley Royal Regatta 2026 runs from Tuesday, 30 June to Sunday, 5 July.