The U.S. rowing team won three gold medals and nine total medals at the World Championships in Amsterdam, its best performance in years as a home Olympics and Paralympics approach in two years.
Only the host Netherlands won more gold medals or total medals than the Americans, which had its best medal standings finishes since 2018.
The U.S.’ five total medals in Olympic program events marked its most since 1981, according to USRowing.
The U.S. won both fours titles. In the women’s final, Molly Bruggeman, Azja Czajkowski, Teal Cohen and Kaitlin Knifton — all 2024 Olympians — recorded a world-best time of 6:09.87, smashing the previous record of 6:14.36 set by the New Zealand at the 2014 Worlds.
Czajkowski, Cohen and Knifton were in the boat that won the fours world title in 2025. Knifton was in the boat that placed fifth at the 2024 Olympics.
“We came into this year with a lot of big goals for ourselves,” Knifton said, according to World Rowing. “Last year we definitely felt like underdogs, and this year we had to shift our mentality a little bit. But I’m just so proud of how we handled the pressure that we felt going into it, and really turned that into motivation and fuel.”
The U.S. men won the four with a completely different crew than the one that took Olympic gold in 2024.
Gus Rodriguez, Peter Chatain, Christopher Carlson and Pieter Quinton combined to edge the host Netherlands by 27 hundredths of a second.
“We’ve all been dreaming of this,” Quinton said, according to USRowing. “Every year you come to this regatta, and you want to be the person or the crew listening to your national anthem. It’s going to be a really special moment and I think we’re not going to take that one for granted. It’s going to make it even more inspiring to get back to work in a couple months to pursue this again next year and the year after that.”
In Paralympic classes, the U.S. won the PR3 mixed coxed four for the first time, ending Great Britain’s 15-year win streak. The boat was filled by Skylar Dahl, Alex Flynn, Max Allemeier, Gabriella Bigler and coxswain Hannah Diaz.
“They had the weight of history on their shoulders, and they stayed locked in and let nothing rattle them,” Paralympic head coach Ellen Minzner said, according to USRowing.
In Olympic events, the U.S. also earned bronze medals in the women’s pair, coxed four and eight.
