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Traditionally, we begin the new year with a brief review of scientific articles published in 2025. Each publication was evaluated using a 0–5 scale (0 = very poor, 5 = excellent). The following five criteria were applied: Effort, Novelty, Scientific rigour, Methodological adequacy, Practical applicability.
An article published by scientists from Kursk, Russia and Pinsk, Belarus (1) proposed a simple method for assessing rowing technique using a smartphone fixed to the rower’s upper back and the “Phyphox” software to get gyroscope data.
The systematic review by Spanish researchers (2) represents an exceptional effort, analysing 34 studies published between 1999 and 2025 and involving 909 rowers of all levels.
We have previously discussed studies from Portugal on Randall foils (RBN 2025/09) and just repeat here that both studies are questionable in terms of scientific rigour and practical relevance.
A notable effort was the longitudinal observational study conducted by a Chinese research team (5), in which 30 elite male rowers were monitored over almost an entire year to examine relationships between internal and external training load.
Fang and Troy from the United States (6) investigated the effects of knee range of motion and rowing speed on lower-limb loading during Functional Electrical Stimulation FES-assisted rowing, an important rehabilitation exercise for athletes with spinal cord injury (SCI).
Jacobs and Schumann from Chemnitz University, Germany (7), published a large-scale cross-sectional study on relationship between neuromuscular profiles and 2000 m performance in elite rowers.
An excellent study by a Canadian–Croatian–Swiss research group (8) provides empirical evidence to validate and refine the classification system for para-rowing, particularly the distinction between PR2 and PR1 classes.
An observational study from Portugal and Spain (9) examined the relationship between on-water single-scull performance and intracycle velocity variation (IVV).
A perspective article by Australian and Irish authors (10) presents no experimental data, but proposes a conceptual framework for sport-specific movement competency (MC) in rowing, in addition to traditional physiological and biomechanical metrics.
An article by sport scientists and coaches from Spain, Chile, and Japan (11) was included because it presents a case study of training and performance management, which is rare in modern elite sport.
French scientists (12) developed and validated a novel method to assess linear force–velocity (FV) and parabolic power–velocity profiles during on-water rowing, representing a significant advance beyond ergometer-based testing.
Authors from Alicante, Spain (13) attempted to study kinematic differences between Olympic (sliding-seat) and Traditional (fixed-seat) rowing and produced very obvious results.
Dutch researchers published a pilot study (14) on the effects of 5° forward blade tilt on lower-back muscle activation, a factor of low-back pain (LBP).
Table 1. Ranking of rowing biomechanics articles published in 2025
| N | Reference | Effort | Novelty | Scientific rigour | Methods | Practicality | Total |
| 1 | 8. Lafreniere et al. | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4.8 |
| 2-3 | 7. Jacobs & Schumann | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4.6 |
| 2-3 | 12. Nordez et al. | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4.6 |
| 4-5 | 5. Dai et al. | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4.2 |
| 4-5 | 11. Mujika et al. | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4.2 |
| 6 | 2. Borges et al. | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4.0 |
| 7-8 | 6. Fang & Troy | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3.8 |
| 7-8 | 14. van Trigt et al. | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3.8 |
| 9-10 | 1. Anpilogov et al. | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3.6 |
| 9-10 | 10. Legge et al. | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3.6 |
| 11-12 | 4. Cardoso et al. | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3.2 |
| 11-12 | 9. Leão et al. | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3.2 |
| 13-14 | 3. Cardoso et al. | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3.0 |
| 13-14 | 13. Penichet-Tomas et al. | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3.0 |
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©2026 Dr. Valery Kleshnev
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