A total of 502 rowers will compete in 14 different events during the Paris Games. All races will ride down a 2,000-meter course. 12 of these events are open weight, which means that athletes of any size can compete; however, two races will feature men and women in the lightweight double sculls, in which men must weigh less than 160 pounds and women must be under 130 pounds.

Each event includes a round of heats, with the top two or three advancing to the next round and remaining boats moving onto the repechage (loosely translated from French to mean "second chance"), where they can earn their way to the next round.

Rowing is leading the way in gender equality at the Olympic Games, where once again, the program set by World Rowing includes an equal number of events for men and women. Since the inclusion of women’s rowing at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and through to the 2016 Rio Olympics, there had been eight men’s events to the women’s six. In Tokyo, rowing finally reached parity, which will continue in Paris.