Mexico made history at the 2026 World Rowing Championships, winning two gold medals and a bronze at the event in Amsterdam.
Aylín Ibarra and Melissa Márquez started things off Thursday with a victory in the women’s lightweight double sculls to become the first Mexican rowers to win a gold medal at a senior World Championships.
ESPN reported that the duo — which won gold last month at the 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games — dominated from the outset and resisted attacks from Greece, the reigning under-23 world champion, to claim victory with a time of 7:10 minutes.
Mexico had never before won a gold Medal at this event and its rowers had never won more than one medal at a single World Championships.
Kenia Lechuga helped turn that history around by winning the lightweight race, capturing the world title that had eluded her until now. Lechuga — Mexico’s most decorated rower — won silver in this event in 2023 and came home with a Bronze in 2025. She won gold in this event at the 2019 Pan American Games.
On Thursday, the 32-year-old Nuevo León native took the lead from the start aboard her signature pink boat and maintained control to the finish line. She completed the standard 2,000-meter course in 7:29 minutes.
Aylín Ibarra and Melissa Márquez finished first in the women’s lightweight double sculls to become the first Mexican rowers to win a gold medal at a senior World Championships. (COM)
“We are competing fearlessly against the European monarchs,” Lechuga said afterward.
It is believed that this year’s World Championships was the last time Lechuga will compete in the lightweight category as she is expected to focus on the individual sculls leading up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Lechuga competed in the 2016 Rio Games (finishing 12th), the 2020 Tokyo Games (finishing 16th) and participated in the open weight category at the 2024 Paris Games.
Finally, Alexis López earned a bronze medal in the men’s lightweight individual sculls, completing the 2,000-meter race in 6:52 minutes, placing him third behind Greece’s Petros Gkaidatzis and Uruguay’s Felipe Kluver. Gkaidatzis, is the reigning European champion and Kluver was world champion in 2025.
López, a native of San Felipe, Baja California, won four medals at the 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games — two gold (individual and mixed double) and two silver (men’s double and men’s quadruple).
With reports from ESPN, Aristegui Noticias, El Universal, La Jornada and Zeta
