# 1966 World Rowing Championships

The 1966 World Rowing Championships was the second time that world championships in rowing were held. The regatta was held from 8 to 11 September at Lake Bled in Bled, Slovenia, Yugoslavia. There were 613 rowers from 32 countries who competed in the seven Olympic boat classes. Marketing and advertising for the event were handled by Cesar Lüthi.
The Australian Rowing History website has the following commentary: "The superbly organized regatta was held on the magnificent lake at Bled: a fitting setting for the second world championships." Prior to the 4th World Rowing Championships in 1974, only men competed.

## Background

Bled and the German cities of Essen and Duisburg had competed for the right to host the second World Rowing Championships. At a FISA meeting in August 1963, held in conjunction with the 1963 European Rowing Championships for men, the decision in favour of Bled was made.

## Medal summary

Medalists at the 1966 World Rowing Championships:

### Men's events

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| Event | Country & rowers | Time | Country & rowers | Time | Country & rowers | Time |
| M1x | United States Donald Spero | 7:05.92 | Netherlands Jan Wienese | 7:08.53 | West Germany Jochen Meißner | 7:09.63 |
| M2x | Switzerland Melchior Bürgin Martin Studach | 6:34.89 | United States Seymour Cromwell Jim Storm | 6:36.23 | East Germany Manfred Haake Jochen Brückhändler | 6:38.92 |
| M2- | East Germany Peter Kremtz Roland Göhler | 6:53.96 | Austria Dieter Losert Dieter Ebner | 6:55.35 | Soviet Union Viktor Suslin Boris Fyodorov | 6:57.35 |
| M2+ | Netherlands Hadriaan van Nes Jan van de Graaff Poul de Haan | 7:12.23 | France Jacques Morel Georges Morel Gilles Florent | 7:16.97 | Italy Primo Baran Renzo Sambo Enrico Pietropolli | 7:17.04 |
| M4- | East Germany Frank Forberger Frank Rühle Dieter Grahn Dieter Schubert | 6:18.41 | Soviet Union Zigmas Jukna Antanas Bagdonavičius Volodymyr Sterlik Juozas Jagelavičius | 6:19.66 | Netherlands Maarten Kloosterman Roel Luynenburg Eric Niehe Ruud Stokvis | 6:20.33 |
| M4+ | East Germany Hanno Melzer Horst Bagdonat Helmut Hänsel Karl-Heinz Grzeschuchna Klaus-Dieter Ludwig | 6:29.54 | Soviet Union Anatoly Tkachuk Vitaly Kurdchenko Boris Kuzmin Vladimir Yevseyev Anatoliy Luzgin | 6:31.38 | Yugoslavia Boris Ercegović Predrag Savić Ivo Juginović Frane Kazija Ljubo Čurović | 6:31.74 |
| M8+ | West Germany Horst Meyer Dirk Schreyer Michael Schwan Ulrich Luhn [de] Peter Hertel Rüdiger Henning Lutz Ulbricht Peter Kuhn Peter Niehusen | 5:56.28 | Soviet Union Yuri Chodorov Andris Prieditis Aleksandr Martyshkin Arkady Kudinov Elmārs Rubīns Vladimir Rikkanen Viktor Suslin Pavel Ilyinsky Viktor Mikheyev | 5:58.68 | East Germany Joachim Böhmer Peter Schulz Jörg Lucke Kurt Wunderlich Erich Wunderlich Klaus-Dieter Bähr Peter Hein Heinz-Jürgen Bothe Hartmut Wenzel | 5:59.43 |

### Event codes

| | Single scull | Double scull | Coxless pair | Coxed pair | Coxless four | Coxed four | Eight |
| Men's | M1x | M2x | M2- | M2+ | M4- | M4+ | M8+ |

## Medal table

| Place | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | East Germany | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 2 | Netherlands | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | United States | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 | West Germany | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 5 | Switzerland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | Soviet Union | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 7 | Austria | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | France | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | Italy | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | Yugoslavia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | Total | 7 | 7 | 7 | 21 |

## Finals

| Event | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th |
| M1x | United States | Netherlands | West Germany | East Germany | Denmark | Soviet Union |
| M2x | Switzerland | United States | East Germany | Czechoslovakia | Romania | West Germany |
| M2- | East Germany | Austria | Soviet Union | Poland | West Germany | Italy |
| M2+ | Netherlands | France | Italy | East Germany | United States | West Germany |
| M4- | East Germany | Soviet Union | Netherlands | Hungary | West Germany | Denmark |
| M4+ | East Germany | Soviet Union | Yugoslavia | Czechoslovakia | Netherlands | United States |
| M8+ | West Germany | Soviet Union | East Germany | Great Britain | Yugoslavia | New Zealand |