Joel Naukkarinen

Joel Kristian Naukkarinen (born 30 March 1993) is a competitive Finnish rower. Naukkarinen is a four-time world champion in indoor rowing, a ten-time World Championship medalist and a three-time European Championship medalist.

Naukkarinen holds 16 Finnish records and one standing world record. Naukkarinen has 152 Finnish Championship medals. Naukkarinen has won the Nordic Championships in 2015 and 2022.

In February 2022, Naukkarinen was awarded Rower of the Month by the World Rowing Federation.

Championship medals

Indoor rowing:

2018, World Championships, silver medal, 2,000 m, Alexandria, USA
2019, European Championships, bronze medal, 2,000 m, Copenhagen, Denmark
2019, European Championships, gold medal, 200 m, Copenhagen, Denmark
2020, European Championships, bronze medal, 500 m, Prague, Czech Republic
2020, World Championships, silver medal, 500 m, Paris, France
2021, World Championships, gold medal, men's team relay, virtual competition (Joel Naukkarinen, Toni Koski, Mika Viitakangas, Teemu Keljo)
2021, World Championships, bronze medal, 500 m, virtual competition
2021, World Championships, silver medal, one-hour rowing, virtual competition
2021, World Championships, gold medal, mixed team relay, virtual competition (Joel Naukkarinen, Toni Koski, Sonja Peltola, Anni Keisanen)
2022, World Championships, gold medals, men's team relay, Hamburg, Germany (Joel Naukkarinen, Joonas Kuivalainen, Martti Kirjola, Sam Zerlik)
2022, World Championships, gold medal, mixed team relay, Hamburg, Germany (Joel Naukkarinen, Joonas Kuivalainen, Sonja Peltola, Anni Keisanen)
2022, World Championships, bronze medal, 2,000 m, Hamburg, Germany
2023, European Championships, silver medal, 2,000 m, Paris, France

Beach Sprints:

2022, World Finals, bronze medal, Saundersfoot, Wales

Indoor rowing

In 2015, Naukkarinen became the first men's open category rower to win the Finnish Championship title in all distances (500 m, 2,000 m, 10,000 m and 42,195 m).

In total Naukkarinen has won 9 World Championship medals and 4 European Championship medals in indoor rowing.

Naukkarinen has broken the world records for 100 m, one minute and 100 kilometers. His 100 kilometer record of 6:06:06.1 (average speed 1:49.8/500 m) is still standing, from when Naukkarinen rowed at the Kuopio Market Square at the opening of the Christmas season on 24 November 2018.

In January 2023, Naukkarinen earned the silver for the men's 2,000 m at the European World Indoor Championships in Paris, France with a time of 05:51.5.

In November 2022, Naukkarinen qualified and was invited to participate in the World Rowing Indoor Championships in Mississauga, Canada. He ranked first out of 10 men invited to the Versa Challenge to determine the most fit versatile rower in the world. On 26 March 2023, Naukkarinen earned the title of World Indoor Rowing Versa Champion after completing 4 indoor rowing events over 2 days.

Finnish records

Naukkarinen has several Finnish records in indoor rowing.

Beach Sprints

In the 2022 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals, Naukkarinen won Finland's first medal at the championships.

Personal life

His cousins from maternal side are Finland national basketball team player Alexander Madsen and Finland national volleyball team players and .