Yesterday, World Rowing announced in a meeting with national team coaches that a mixed team relay will be run after today’s solos final stages and medal ceremonies. The new competition aims to include eight different teams, made up of a combination of the rowers from the countries that have competed at Dakar 2026.
There hasn’t yet been an official announcement of the new event, it is not on the public schedule, and Wild Rowing understands that some of the details may need to change: Some teams were planning to begin the journey back home immediately after the end of competition, and may not be able to change flights. We also don’t know whether there will be medals available.
The concept is for eight teams of four men and four women, with the composition chosen automatically according to the results of the first time trials in the men’s and women’s solos last Saturday. Team 1 gets the top man, Team 2 the second, etc. And then in reverse, Team 8 gets the top woman, Team 7 the second, and so on. Each team will then choose a name and pick two captains. The idea is that for this competition, the athletes will be in charge.
The competition will include of a time trial and a set of four finals. Four athletes (two men and two women) from each team will compete in the time trial, with the others working as boat handlers, and then roles will reverse in the finals, will the other four athletes competing. There will be four finals, with the top two teams going on the Final 1, the next two to Final 2, etc.
The race distance will be reduced—boats will make the turn just after the second buoy—and there won’t be a slalom portion. But in each race the teams will use all three of the disciplines from Dakar 2026: both solos and the double. The way this works is that one solo races first, and the next runner waits at the flag on the beach. When that initial racer returns, they must tag to switch. Next will be the double, and then finally the second solo.
The mixed relay is scheduled to begin at 14:00, although there will be a test race 20 minutes before. The rest will be up to the athletes themselves.