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Some said that Henrik Stephansen of Denmark had peaked when he set the World Record for lightweights on the indoor rowing machine in 2009. Becoming the first lightweight to go under six minutes and recording a time of 5:58.5 for 2,000m, they said, was as good as he would get. Stephansen, however, has proved the doubters wrong. Records are there to be broken and the Dane, again, repositioned the goal posts with his 5:57.4.

As the New Year gets well under way, World Rowing looks back over the best of social media from the end of 2011 and the first month of 2012. It was a time for reflection but, despite holidays, there was little reprieve from the busyness. Elite athletes continued to train and social media followers continued to add their voice in various and creative ways.

The indoor rowing World Record for lightweight men has been broken. Denmark’s Henrik Stephansen has set a new fastest time over 2,000m, breaking his own record by just over one second while racing at the Danish Indoor Rowing Championships in Copenhagen.

A crew of four New Zealanders rowing across 2,500km across the Tasman Sea from Sydney, Australia to Auckland, New Zealand thought that they would be home by Christmas 2011. December 25 came and went and their 10.5m rowing boat continued to sit under sea anchor, going nowhere in the middle of the Tasman Sea.

The appeal of 1,000 Euros going to anyone who could break an indoor rowing record helped motivate three competitors at the 15th edition of the Amsterdam World Ergohead to do just that.

Nominations are now open for the 2012 Thomas Keller Medal “for an outstanding career in rowing”. FISA’s Thomas Keller Medal is the most prestigious medal awarded in rowing. It honours a rower who has had a long and successful rowing career and who has made an outstanding contribution to rowing as a competitor and as a sports personality.

The Atlantic Ocean rowing race, the 2011 Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge, has a winning crew. In their boat named Box Number 8, work colleagues Toby Iles and Nick Moore of Great Britain put in a monumental effort to finish first and just outside the course record for two people.

After 40 days of rowing across the Atlantic Ocean, just 26 minutes separated the first and second crews. The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge began on 5 December in the Canary Islands with 17 crews setting off to row the 5,000km to Port St Charles in Barbados. Three crews have now finished.

Mahe Drysdale may be the five-time World Champion in the single but it was Eric Murray’s day at New Zealand’s North Island Rowing Championship Regatta at Lake Karapiro. World Champion in the men’s pair, Murray outsprinted Drysdale to the line in the premier men’s single at the regatta.

Progress continues at what may become the United States’ most prestigious world class rowing venue. At Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Florida a 2,000m rowing course is being developed and the project has the backing at the local, state and federal level.