Row Results
Introduction
This page provides information about a study conducted by GRI to analyze the results of the USA U23 Women 8+ team at the 2016 World Rowing Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The overall purpose of the study is 1) to confirm that the 2016 USA Women U23 8+ team's results were uncommon by contrasting them with those of others in rowing and 2) to provide explanations from which we can learn in rowing, other sports, and business.
An Unprecedented Victory
According to our analysis, the 2016 USA Women U23 8+ team achieved the largest winning margin in all 8+ events at the Senior and U23 levels since 1977, including men, women, and the Olympic level. This is a monumental achievement in rowing, setting a new world record.
Conditions in rowing can vary significantly from race to race, but the margin between the first and second boats provides an accurate assessment of how well the winning boat performed. A winning margin of 7.16 seconds for the 2016 USA Women U23 8+, when on average, U23 and Senior confounded is 2.05 seconds, in a sport where a millisecond can make a difference, is simply astounding. As we have continued to track results since we started this study, this achievement has not been surpassed yet. The number of factors at play that impact results is numerous, starting well before the race, and including human factors that, by nature, are hard to capture.
Origin of the Study
The study started in 2023 (yes, that's correct, seven years after the 2016 event), with the conjunction of watching rowing races in Chile at the Pan-American Games (yes, it's weird!), where Colette coaxed the US mixed boat to a substantial margin (yes! Colette is my daughter), and seeing Jean-Christophe Rolland, the President of the International Rowing Federation, awarding medals. Rolland is best known for the Sydney 2000 Olympics victory in the pair with Michel Andrieux, when he made a call of three words (yes! just three words) "pour nos enfants" that instantly sparked their decisive win.
If a win in a rowing pair can happen so decisively with only three words, between two people led by a potential win, trapped in a shell (yes, they apparently enjoy it!), but being connected in a way that they both testified "could only dream of", there may be something we can learn about it, in sports but also in business. Small factors, as little as three words, can make a huge difference. Context apparently greatly matters. Sincere, great relationships too.
Having watched the U23 2016 race in person, still stunned by its results compared to all other races I have watched (Yes, quite a lot, with two of my daughters and my wife rowing), coupled with my passion for business performance (Yes, I am an entrepreneur with a PhD in management science), and the chance to be in contact with extraordinary people at an extraordinary time ultimately led to this study.
Running the Study
Rather than introducing new anecdotes about rowing, the project began with methodologies borrowed from the social sciences that blend qualitative and quantitative approaches. The challenge added to the study: to learn from this success about how performance also occurs in competitive businesses, proved, over time, to be substantial.
Although there are commonalities between sports and competitive businesses (not to mention sports businesses and, leaving aside public administrations), the sports context reveals a simple truth about the focus on being first in a short period. Rowing is a perfect sport for showing how success is built collectively, with athletes in close proximity. Rather than presenting a list of explanations, the comparison has enabled the study to focus on core concepts that drive performance in both contexts.
I was fortunate to obtain the team's GRI adaptive profiles, provide feedback to the athletes, and coach a few days before the race. Individual interviews were conducted at the end of 2023. Analysis of the interviews and results has led to considering all factors, including those related to leadership, positive psychology, and organizational performance, that can explain the crew's exceptional winning margin.
The athletes, coach, and participants in the study are as follows: Erin Briggs (Bow 1), Cassandra Johnson (Seat 2), Kendall Brewer (Seat 3), Gia Doonan (Seat 4), Regina Salmons (Seat 5), Sarah Dougherty (Seat 6), Georgia Ratcliff (Seat 7), Kendall Chase (Seat 8), Colette Lucas-Conwell (Coxswain), and Wesley Ng (coach). We are grateful for their generous participation in this study, which has spanned several years, and for the key involvement of their coxswain.
Margin's Plot
This plot illustrates the winning margin between the first- and second-place 8+ boats since 1977, for men and women, U23 and senior, at the World Championship level. The arrow shows where the results of the 2016 USA Women U23 8+ boat stand. See all the details of the data below, which were extracted from the World Rowing website. See also the details of the results of the 2016 US Women’s U23 8+ boat.
The margins were ordered from smallest to largest in each of the four categories. Although the results are comparable, analysis by category may reveal striking differences between men and women, and between U23 and senior levels.
Results Analysis
To determine whether the 2016 U23 USA Women 8+ result was exceptional, we needed to compare it to other results at a similar world championship level. We examined the winning margin of all 8+ events at the World Championships and Olympics for U23 Women, U23 Men, Senior Women, and Senior Men. It is worth noting that the U23 championship for men and women only began in 2005 and 2006, respectively.
Anti-doping has been a concern in rowing since the 1960s. The International Rowing Federation (FISA) was the first to introduce an anti-doping regulation in 1976, well before the establishment of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in 1999 and the adoption of the anti-doping code at the Sydney Games in 2000. As a result, only the results from 1977 onwards are taken into account for consideration.
Both Senior and U23 results are comparable, which is why we included both. However, Junior results that are too distant from the senior level were not included.
Of the 17 data points collected on the U23 Women’s category, the 2016 US 8+ was the only crew to have a winning margin over 7 seconds, an incredible 3.56 seconds above the average winning margin. Furthermore, across all 122 data points collected, we found the average winning margin to be 2.05 sec, 5.11 sec less than the 7.16 sec winning margin of the 2016 USA Women’s 8+.
We didn't find evidence that the 2016 results were due to any external factors beyond the team's efforts, such as weather conditions at a specific location on the water. All athletes complied with doping regulations. Other boats from Great Britain, Russia, New Zealand, Australia, and Germany were equally engaged in the race.
Results Data
The tables below show the results for men and women in the U23 (Under 23 years old) and senior categories at the World Championship level, including the Olympics[1]. Since we were interested in testing how much the first boat won, only the first two results are included in the tables. Weather conditions can vary significantly from race to race; thus, the time of the winning boat doesn't provide an accurate assessment of how well it did when comparing results with other years. However, the margin between the first and second boats does. This does happen in other sports like sailing, but not in others such as swimming.
| Year | Winning Crew | Time | Second Place | Time | Margin(sec) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Great Britain | 6:13.60 | United States | 6:16.28 | 2.68 |
| 2024 | Great Britain | 6:06.58 | United States | 6:08.35 | 1.77 |
| 2023 | United States | 6:09.14 | Germany | 6:13.34 | 4.2 |
| 2022 | United States | 6:23.03 | Great Britain | 6:27.81 | 4.78 |
| 2021 | United States | 6:16.69 | Netherlands | 6:20.43 | 3.74 |
| 2019 | Netherlands | 6:17.93 | Great Britain | 6:22.52 | 4.59 |
| 2018 | Canada | 6:04.61 | Netherlands | 6:06.58 | 1.97 |
| 2017 | Canada | 6:09.89 | United States | 6:16.44 | 6.55 |
| 2016 | United States | 6:36.90 | Great Britain | 6:44.06 | 7.16* |
| 2015 | United States | 6:19.49 | Russia | 6:22.02 | 2.53 |
| 2014 | United States | 6:07.88 | Great Britain | 6:11.76 | 3.88 |
| 2013 | United States | 6:16.81 | Great Britain | 6:19.15 | 2.34 |
| 2012 | United States | 6:25.92 | Germany | 6:30.47 | 4.55 |
| 2011 | Canada | 6:03.23 | New Zealand | 6:06.02 | 2.79 |
| 2010 | United States | 6:31.97 | New Zealand | 6:36.48 | 4.51 |
| 2009 | Great Britain | 6:20.71 | United States | 6:21.80 | 1.09 |
| 2008 | United States | 6:36.01 | Poland | 6:39.72 | 3.71 |
| 2007 | Belarus | 6:15.20 | Germany | 6:15.43 | 0.23 |
| 2006 | United States | 6:06.68 | Belarus | 6:08.98 | 2.3 |
| Average | 3.6 | ||||
| Standard Deviation | 1.8 |
| Year | Winning Crew | Time | Second Place | Time | Margin(sec) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Great Britain | 5:29.60 | New Zealand | 5:32.59 | 2.99 |
| 2024 | Great Britain | 5:24.73 | United States | 5:27.50 | 2.77 |
| 2023 | Great Britain | 5:26.51 | United States | 5:28.90 | 2.39 |
| 2022 | Great Britain | 5:51.71 | United States | 5:53.97 | 2.26 |
| 2021 | Great Britain | 5:34.32 | United States | 5:34.55 | 0.21 |
| 2019 | Great Britain | 5:34.30 | United States | 5:36.21 | 1.91 |
| 2018 | United States | 5:22.48 | Great Britain | 5:24.93 | 2.45 |
| 2017 | Netherlands | 5:29.55 | Romania | 5:31.57 | 2.02 |
| 2016 | Netherlands | 5:54.10 | Great Britain | 5:57.26 | 3.16 |
| 2015 | Germany | 5:33.56 | United States | 5:36.49 | 2.93 |
| 2014 | New Zealand | 5:28.82 | Australia | 5:30.45 | 1.63 |
| 2013 | New Zealand | 5:28.63 | United States | 5:31.79 | 3.16 |
| 2012 | United States | 5:47.66 | Germany | 5:48.22 | 0.56 |
| 2011 | United States | 5:24.31 | Czech Republic | 5:26.21 | 1.9 |
| 2010 | Germany | 5:44.78 | United States | 5:47.48 | 2.7 |
| 2009 | Poland | 5:32.77 | Germany | 5:34.11 | 1.34 |
| 2008 | United States | 5:49.42 | Canada | 5:53.30 | 3.88 |
| 2007 | Estonia | 5:33.90 | Germany | 5:34.29 | 0.39 |
| 2006 | Canada | 5:30.72 | Germany | 5:31.78 | 1.06 |
| 2005 | Romania | 5:50.90 | Italy | 5:51.82 | 0.92 |
| Average | 1.9 | ||||
| Standard Deviation | 1.0 |
| Year | Winning Crew | Time | Second Place | Time | Margin(sec) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Netherlands | 6:08.10 | Canada | 6:10.83 | 2.73 |
| 2024 | Romania | 5:54.39 | Canada | 5:58.84 | 4.45 |
| 2023 | Romania | 6:01.28 | United States | 6:03.73 | 2.45 |
| 2022 | Romania | 6:01.14 | Netherlands | 6:05.04 | 3.9 |
| 2021 | Canada | 5:59.13 | New Zealand | 6:00.04 | 0.91 |
| 2019 | New Zealand | 5:56.91 | Australia | 5:59.63 | 2.72 |
| 2018 | United States | 6:00.97 | Canada | 6:03.05 | 2.08 |
| 2017 | Romania | 6:06.40 | Canada | 6:07.09 | 0.69 |
| 2016 | United States | 6:01.49 | Great Britain | 6:03.49 | 2 |
| 2015 | United States | 6:05.65 | New Zealand | 6:08.52 | 2.87 |
| 2014 | United States | 5:56.83 | Canada | 5:59.66 | 2.83 |
| 2013 | United States | 6:02.14 | Canada | 6:07.04 | 4.9 |
| 2012 | United States | 6:10.59 | Canada | 6:12.06 | 1.47 |
| 2011 | United States | 6:03.65 | Canada | 6:04.39 | 0.74 |
| 2010 | United States | 6:12.42 | Canada | 6:16.12 | 3.7 |
| 2009 | United States | 6:05.34 | Romania | 6:06.94 | 1.6 |
| 2008 | United States | 6:05.34 | Netherlands | 6:07.22 | 1.88 |
| 2007 | United States | 6:17.21 | Romania | 6:18.34 | 1.13 |
| 2006 | United States | 5:55.50 | Germany | 5:57.29 | 1.79 |
| 2005 | Australia | 5:58.10 | Romania | 5:59.50 | 1.4 |
| 2004 | Romania | 6:17.70 | United States | 6:19.56 | 1.86 |
| 2003 | Germany | 6:41.23 | Romania | 6:44.63 | 3.4 |
| 2002 | United States | 6:04.25 | Australia | 6:05.10 | 0.85 |
| 2001 | Australia | 6:03.66 | Romania | 6:04.96 | 1.3 |
| 2000 | Romania | 6:06.44 | Netherlands | 6:09.39 | 2.95 |
| 1999 | Romania | 6:47.66 | United States | 6:48.81 | 1.15 |
| 1998 | Romania | 6:14.62 | United States | 6:15.81 | 1.19 |
| 1997 | Romania | 6:02.40 | Canada | 6:07.18 | 4.78 |
| 1996 | Romania | 6:19.73 | Canada | 6:24.05 | 4.32 |
| 1995 | United States | 6:50.73 | Romania | 6:52.76 | 2.03 |
| 1994 | Germany | 6:07.42 | United States | 6:08.24 | 0.82 |
| 1993 | Romania | 6:18.88 | United States | 6:20.42 | 1.54 |
| 1992 | Canada | 6:02.62 | Romania | 6:06.26 | 3.64 |
| 1991 | Canada | 6:28.20 | URS | 6:28.73 | 0.53 |
| 1990 | Romania | 5:59.26 | United States | 6:01.67 | 2.41 |
| 1989 | Romania | 6:07.92 | Germany | 6:08.19 | 0.27 |
| 1988 | RDA | 6:15.17 | Romania | 6:17.44 | 2.27 |
| 1987 | Romania | 6:55.61 | United States | 6:57.27 | 1.66 |
| 1986 | URS | 6:08.76 | RDA | 6:09.77 | 1.01 |
| 1985 | URS | 6:14.00 | RDA | 6:14.89 | 0.89 |
| Average | 2.1 | ||||
| Standard Deviation | 1.2 |
| Year | Winning Crew | Time | Second Place | Time | Margin(sec) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Netherlands | 5:27.67 | Great Britain | 5:29.93 | 2.26 |
| 2024 | Great Britain | 5:22.88 | Netherlands | 5:23.92 | 1.05 |
| 2023 | Great Britain | 5:24.20 | Netherlands | 5:25.23 | 1.03 |
| 2022 | Great Britain | 5:24.41 | Netherlands | 5:25.52 | 1.11 |
| 2021 | New Zealand | 5:24.64 | Germany | 5:25.60 | 0.96 |
| 2019 | Germany | 5:19.41 | Netherlands | 5:19.96 | 0.55 |
| 2018 | Germany | 5:24.31 | Australia | 5:26.11 | 1.8 |
| 2017 | Germany | 5:26.85 | United States | 5:28.45 | 1.6 |
| 2016 | Great Britain | 5:29.63 | Germany | 5:30.96 | 1.33 |
| 2015 | Great Britain | 5:35.18 | Germany | 5:36.36 | 0.18 |
| 2014 | Great Britain | 5:24.11 | Germany | 5:24.77 | 0.66 |
| 2013 | Great Britain | 5:30.35 | Germany | 5:30.89 | 0.54 |
| 2012 | Germany | 5:48.75 | Canada | 5:49.98 | 1.23 |
| 2011 | Germany | 5:28.81 | Great Britain | 5:30.83 | 2.02 |
| 2010 | Germany | 5:33.84 | Great Britain | 5:34.46 | 0.62 |
| 2009 | Germany | 5:24.13 | Canada | 5:27.15 | 3.02 |
| 2008 | Canada | 5:23.89 | Great Britain | 5:25.11 | 1.22 |
| 2007 | Canada | 5:34.92 | Germany | 5:37.19 | 2.27 |
| 2006 | Germany | 5:21.85 | Italy | 5:23.29 | 1.44 |
| 2005 | United States | 5:22.75 | Italy | 5:24.01 | 1.26 |
| 2004 | United States | 5:42.48 | Netherlands | 5:43.75 | 1.27 |
| 2003 | Canada | 6:00.44 | United States | 6:01.46 | 1.02 |
| 2002 | Canada | 5:26.92 | Germany | 5:28.16 | 1.24 |
| 2001 | Romania | 5:27.48 | Croatia | 5:28.47 | 0.99 |
| 2000 | Great Britain | 5:33.08 | Australia | 5:33.88 | 0.8 |
| 1999 | United States | 6:01.58 | Great Britain | 6:03.27 | 1.69 |
| 1998 | United States | 5:38.78 | Germany | 5:39.48 | 0.7 |
| 1997 | United States | 5:27.20 | Romania | 5:27.76 | 0.56 |
| 1996 | Netherlands | 5:42.74 | Germany | 5:44.58 | 1.84 |
| 1995 | Germany | 5:53.40 | Netherlands | 5:55.54 | 2.14 |
| 1994 | United States | 5:24.50 | Netherlands | 5:25.10 | 0.6 |
| 1993 | Germany | 5:37.08 | Romania | 5:39.33 | 2.25 |
| 1992 | Canada | 5:29.53 | Romania | 5:29.67 | 0.14 |
| 1991 | Germany | 5:50.98 | Canada | 5:51.68 | 0.7 |
| 1990 | RFA | 5:26.62 | Canada | 5:27.57 | 0.95 |
| 1989 | RFA | 5:43.88 | RDA | 5:45.70 | 1.82 |
| 1988 | RFA | 5:46.05 | URS | 5:48.01 | 1.96 |
| 1987 | United States | 5:58.83 | Germany | 6:01.94 | 3.11 |
| 1986 | Australia | 5:33.54 | URS | 5:37.61 | 4.07 |
| 1985 | URS | 5:33.71 | Italy | 5:34.58 | 0.87 |
| 1984 | Canada | 5:41.32 | United States | 5:41.74 | 0.42 |
| 1983 | New Zealand | 5:43.39 | RDA | 5:35.94 | 1.55 |
| 1982 | New Zealand | 5:36.99 | RDA | 5:39.17 | 2.18 |
| 1981 | URS | 6:02.30 | Great Britain | 6:04.31 | 2.01 |
| 1980 | RDA | 5:49.05 | Great Britain | 5:51.92 | 2.87 |
| 1979 | RDA | 5:36.41 | New Zealand | 5:39.92 | 3.51 |
| 1978 | RDA | 5:54.25 | RFA | 5:55.17 | 0.92 |
| 1977 | RDA | 5:45.36 | URS | 5:50.71 | 5.35 |
| Average | 1.9 | ||||
| Standard Deviation | 1.0 |
Notes
For results of the 2016 U23 USA Women 8+ boat here: https://worldrowing.com/event/2016-world-rowing-under-23-championships/
- ↑ For the results of all races on the World Rowing website https://worldrowing.com).