2026 Rowing World Cup Racing Recap
Jacob Plihal participated in World Cup 2 and 3 with the US National team, helpinjg the team win its first-ever Overall World Cup Points Trophy. The team won 11 medals at World Cup 2 and 12 medals (the most of any nation at the regatta) at World Cup 3 to secure the trophy that recognized the top-performing country across the 2026 World Cup series.
The team trained in Big Bear, California for the first time before heading overseas to race. Big Bear is the official U.S. altitude training spot for rowing going into the LA2028 Olympics, allowing rowers to train at altitude on the water.
The U.S. did not race World Cup 1 but entered the Series in Plovdiv, Bulgaria for World Cup 2. The U.S. kicked off the season strong, securing 6 gold and 5 silver medals.
The U.S. had a historic finish in the Men’s Single with Sam Melvin and Jacob Plihal finishing first and second. Sam and Jacob were in second and third in the first half of the race but overtook Uzbekistani Shakhboz Kholmurzaev in the third 500. Sam gained a lead on Jacob in the third 500 but Jacob had a great sprint to close the gap in the last 500 finishing just 0.27 seconds behind his teammate. Sam finished in 6:39.83 and Jacob 6:40.10.
World Cup 3 was in Lucerne, Switzerland and Jacob hopped in new line ups to race the men’s double and the mixed double. The U.S. came home with three gold, two silver, and five bronze medals from World Cup 3.
In the Men's Double, Great Britain got out to an early lead, but Belgium kept within striking distance and overtook them in the second half to win Gold. Cedar Cunningham and Jacob Plihal rowed an aggressive race with a dominating second half to overtake Great Britain to move into medal position and nearly catch Serbia for silver. The U.S. finished in 6:20.82, only 0.29 seconds behind the Serbian double.
In the mixed double, Jacob raced with teammate and Olympian Emily Kallfelz. During their first race together, they had an impressive showing finishing third to secure a bronze medal. U.S. teammates Cedar Cunningham and Sophia Vitas secured their second gold medal together (after winning gold at World Cup 2 just a couple of weeks earlier) and Germany finished second.
Jacob along with the other USA World Cup athletes will now head back to Princeton for selection camp for the World Championships that take place at the end of August in the Netherlands.
