Following the conclusion of the 2020 Olympic Regatta in Tokyo, Japan, here are row2k's new rankings for the top 15 men's and women's rowers in the world. This is an objective ranking of athletes based off results at Olympic and World Championship regattas. View previous rankings here: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016.
View this year's women:
-Ranked 11 to 15
-Ranked 6 to 10
METHODOLOGY
Athlete must have medalled at the most recent World/Olympic Regatta to be eligible Points are scored for medalling at an Olympic or Senior World Championship Regatta 5 points for gold, 3 points for silver, 2 points for bronze Scoring regattas go back to include the two most recent Olympics (Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020) and the World Championships in between (2017-2019) Each regatta has a multiplier value. 3x for most recent Olympics, 2x for the Olympics prior to that, 1x for Olympic class event at World Championship, 0.5x for non-Olympic class event at World Championship Tie breaker is head to head total number of medals by priority: Olympic gold > silver > bronze, World championship gold > silver > bronze, World Cup gold > silver > bronze. The tie breaker includes all medals won in athletes career.
#5 Maria Sajdak - POLAND
Age - 30
2019 Ranking - 8 2020 Olympics - Silver in the W4x 2019 World Championships - Silver in the W4x 2018 World Championships - Gold in the W4x 2017 World Championships - Silver in the W4x 2016 Olympics - Bronze in the W4x
#4 Ilse Paulis - THE NETHERLANDS
Age - 28
2019 Ranking - 5 2020 Olympics - Bronze in the LW2x 2019 World Championships - Silver in the LW2x 2018 World Championships - Bronze in the LW2x 2016 Olympics - Gold in the LW2x
Ilse Paulis of NED LW2x
#3 Lucy Stephan - AUSTRALIA
Age - 29
2019 Ranking - 13 2020 Olympics - Gold in the W4- 2019 World Championships - Gold in the W4- 2018 World Championships - Silver in the W4- 2017 World Championships - Gold in the W4-
Lucy Stephan of AUS W4-
#1 (tie) KERRI GOWLER - NEW ZEALAND
Age - 27
2019 Ranking - 4 2020 Olympics - Gold in the W2- and Silver in the W8+ 2019 World Championships - Gold in the W2- and W8+ 2018 World Championships - Silver in the W2- 2017 World Championships - Gold in the W2-
Kerri Gowler of NZL W2-
#1 (tie) GRACE PRENDERGAST - NEW ZEALAND
Age - 29
2019 Ranking - 3 2020 Olympics - Gold in the W2- and Silver in the W8+ 2019 World Championships - Gold in the W2- and W8+ 2018 World Championships - Silver in the W2- 2017 World Championships - Gold in the W2-
*Grace holds tiebreaker over Kerri. They have identical Olympic, World, World Cup, and U23 medal records, but Grace has a Junior Worlds gold medal ('10 JW4-).
Grace Prendergast of NZL W2-