Thor Nilsen passed yesterday, October 5 2023, on his 92nd birthday. It is nearly impossible to state the extent to which Thor changed and advanced the sport of rowing, from training, technique, program structure, international adoption, the introduction of science to rowing, and simply better and smarter rowing.

Thor was the original well-spring and Ur-source of rowing's adoption of periodicity, national training plans, national technical approaches, and more. He invited both well-established and young hopeful coaches to observe and contribute to his program, , with folks from a young (and later FISA Executive Director) Matt Smith to US lightweight college coaches doing unencumbered stints in his boathouses and launches. The lessons learned by those coaches trickled out into the rowing community at all levels, changing and improving the standard of coaching and training for athletes from established elite rowers to walk-on college kids.

The monthly training programs that Kris Korzeniowski handed out while doing countless miles driving around the US go directly back to his work with Thor; Korzo was one of the coaches that Nilsen invited to help develop a plan for sharing the program with rowers worldwide. Thor would even share his training plans with individual rowers who were trying to get better; thanks largely to Korzo (and Peter Eliasberg, who did a summer in Thor's launch), my small training group had copies of all Thor's monthly plans when we were training and coaching on our own in the late 80s.

Deployed alongside Korzo's plans, and Kris will tell you openly the influence Thor had, the information surrendered an understanding of the underlying training concepts, giving young coaches and athletes like me all the training ideas one could possibly need to advance our own rowing fitness and that of the athletes I was coaching at the time. There had simply never been anything like the sharing of knowledge and methods that Thor initiated, and countless rowers benefited worldwide.

Korzo became what could be considered the US apostle for these systems, and changed the face of rowing in the USA permanently.

If you have ever followed a training plan with heart rate targets, done U-this or U-that, or used a grid-style monthly program for rowing, it can be traced directly back to Thor's work decades ago - and probably still looks a whole lot like Thor's training plans.

Thor shared his ideas and approach with the entire rowing world when he established FISA's development program, traveling extensively to assist NGBs and their coaches directly to develop training centers. FISA directly attributes the growth in affiliated rowing nations from 20 to over 100 directly to Nilsen.

In the blurb for his book about Thor, Thor Nilsen: Rowing's global coach, Chris Dodd sums it up:

The rowing world can be divided into two periods after the Second World War - Before Thor and After Thor.

Before Thor, there was nothing. After Thor there was application of science to style and training, shared information and open communication between coaches and crews, and a World Rowing development programme that broadened rowing's accessibility over five continents and assured its place in the Olympic Games.

See our review of Dodd's book here.

Everywhere Thor went, there was success. Observers would go to a World Championships, see a small country without much rowing success or a larger previously struggling country do really well, and eventually would hear 'didn't Thor Nilsen start working with them last year?' - international rowing fans will remember when Spain first made an impression shortly after Thor showed up; same for Ireland before that, and of course for Italy in Piediluco, about which Korzo told Chriss Dodd 'I don't see anything close to what Thor Nilsen was able to create in Piediluco.'

Thor worked without fanfare or bluster, from all evidence with a deft touch, and untiringly, and rowing might not see another like him.

Coach of the World: Thor Nilsen, from WorldRowing.

World Rowing is truly saddened to hear of the passing of Thor Nilsen, who had turned 92 today.

Thor will leave a legacy on our sport that will never be forgotten.

Thor served as World Rowing's development director, as well as the Honorary chairman of the competitive rowing... pic.twitter.com/wFaE8DHGXA

— World Rowing (@WorldRowing) October 5, 2023