Steamboat rower earns selection to U23 World Rowing Championships

Beck Honebein has rowing in his blood. 

The 20-year-old from Steamboat Springs is the son of 1996 Olympic rowers Fred Honebein and Anne Kakela. 

At the end of the month, Beck Honebein will see his own name on the world stage when he represents the United States in the 2025 World Rowing Under 23 Championships from July 23-27 in Poznan, Poland. 

Honebein will row in the U23 men’s eight competition — a 2,000 meter race with eight rowers and a coxswain per boat.

Honebein’s event will see 14 countries competing including Italy, Germany, Australia and Canada. 

“You have to be in a really good rhythm in the boat as a whole, otherwise it all falls apart,” Honebein said. “For the start, you take a lot of quick strokes just to get the boat up to speed. For the middle thousand (meters) or so, you settle into a nice, easy race pace which is 38-to-40 strokes per minute.”

“Then, towards the end, you start picking up the rate to get the boat speed moving, and try to get out in front,” he added. 

Honebein began rowing as a child, learning from his parents. He moved to Tennessee for boarding school in hopes of playing football, but switched to rowing after recognizing his true athletic passion. 

After graduating boarding school, Honebein took his rowing talents to Syracuse University in upstate New York, helping the Orange place sixth in the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship in both his freshman and sophomore years of college. 

Over the winter, Honebein competed at a mini camp where he and his teammate won the pair time trials. 

“That got us an invite to selection camp over the summer, which is for World Rowing,” Honebein explained. 

Selection camp was where Honebein proved himself in front of US coaches who chose him to wear the stars and stripes at the world championship event. 

Since then, Honebein and the team have been practicing twice per day, six days per week. This includes everything from training in the water to weight sessions and even mental work. Honebein also pointed to the nutrition program the team has put him on to be in the best shape possible. 

Those who wish to watch the rowing events can visit WorldRowing.com which will have live video streams for all days of racing. 

This will be Honebein’s first time competing overseas. He said he is looking forward to the opportunity and can not wait to add this to his rowing resume. 

“I’m really excited to see where, as the U.S., we’ll stack up against some other countries,” Honebein said. “Hopefully we can come away with the win.”