With that in mind Lucerne has attracted nearly 700 competitors from 54 countries. This is the largest field of the season and includes a number of up-and-coming rowing nations.

The men’s single sculls has 36 entries and all eyes will be on New Zealand’s Robert Manson who set a new World Best Time in the single earlier this month at World Rowing Cup II in Poznan. Manson knocked three seconds off the previous time set five years ago. The New Zealander will face both the Olympic silver and bronze medallists – Damir Martin (Croatia) and Ondrej Synek (Czech Republic), respectively, in this hotly contested boat class.

The women’s pair also saw a new World Best Time being set at World Rowing Cup II. Kerri Gowler and Grace Prendergast of New Zealand are the new best time holders and they come to Lucerne as favourites. Gowler and Prendergast will race against two United States crews including Olympians Tracy Eisser and Megan Kalmoe as well as Great Britain and Denmark.

The eagerly awaited return of the Sinkovic brothers will come in Lucerne. Valent and Martin Sinkovic of Croatia are the World and Olympic Champions in the men’s double sculls, but for 2017 they have changed boat class to the men’s pair. The Sinkovic’s will be up against European Champions Matteo Lodo and Giuseppe Vicino of Italy as well as winners of World Rowing Cup II France’s Valentin and Theophile Onfroy.

The evergreen 41-year-old Olaf Tufte of Norway is back with his Rio Olympic medal partner Kjetil Borch in the men’s double sculls against European Champions Luca Rambaldi and Filippo Mondelli of Italy, World Rowing Cup II winners, John Storey and Christopher Harris of New Zealand and the home favourites Roman Roeoesli and Barnabe Delarze of Switzerland.

New Zealand is back to defend their World Cup II win in the women’s eight. They will be up against strong competition from Great Britain, Romania and the Netherlands.

Racing begins on Friday 7 July 2017 at 8:30 CET with heats and progresses through repechages, semi-finals and to finals. The finals for international boat classes will be raced on Saturday 8 July starting at 16:32 CET. Finals will continue with World Cup boat classes on Sunday 9 July commencing at 10:18 CET. There will be live video streaming of World Cup A-finals on www.worldrowing.com.

The World Rowing Cup series was launched in 1997 and consists of a series of three events. The overall World Rowing Cup winners are determined after the third event. This year, the three stages of the series are Belgrade, SRB (5-7 May), Poznan, POL (16-18 June) and Lucerne, SUI (7-9 July).  Following World Rowing Cup II the leading country is Great Britain followed by Poland and the Netherlands.

Regatta information: click here.
Entries: click here.

Report courtesy of World Rowing

The regatta, with participation from China, to the United States, to Australia and New Zealand revealed a new group of athletes that have come in to take the top spots in shining style left vacant by post-Olympic retirements. It also showed the development of athletes who have taken on different boat class challenges.

One new gap was superbly filled by New Zealand’s new men’s single sculler Robert Manson who not only finished first, but he also set a new World Best Time, a time that had previously been owned by fellow-countryman and Olympic Champion Mahe Drysdale. Also taking single sculls medals were Cuba’s Angel Fournier Rodriguez who finished second and Switzerland’s new single sculling sensation Nico Stahlberg who came third.

Back in the women’s pair, after racing in the Olympic women’s eight, was New Zealand’s Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler. This was the first international race of the season for the duo and they also set a new World Best Time when they placed first ahead of the United States’ pair of Megan Kalmoe and Tracy Eisser followed by Australia’s Sarah Howe and Molly Goodman. Howe and Goodman also medalled earlier in the day when they were in the winning women’s four. They were the only athletes to take more than one medal at this regatta.

In the men’s eight blue ribband event,  the German Men’s Eight set a new World Best Time breaking a record that had stood since 2012 when they raced to gold ahead of New Zealand and the Olympic Champions Great Britain in today’s final race.

A World Cup Best time was set by women’s single sculler Magdalena Lobnig of Austria who beat Great Britain’s new single sculler and European Champion Victoria Thornley to the line with China’s Olympic bronze medallist Jingli Duan finishing third.

Finishing at the top of the World Cup points table was New Zealand with 50 points followed by Great Britain with 40 points and Germany with 36. In terms of the medals table, New Zealand also finished on top by winning six gold medals and a silver. As well as the men’s single and women’s pair, New Zealand took gold in the lightweight women’s single sculls, both the men’s and women’s double sculls and the women’s eight.

Host nation Poland finished second with two gold, two silver and four bronze medals. Australia was third with two gold, one silver and two bronze medals.

Report courtesy of World Rowing

Under very rainy skies Great Britain headed the field by taking gold medals in four boat classes including the men’s and women’s pairs, lightweight men’s double sculls and men’s four.

The men’s pair saw the emergence of a new combination of Jacob Dawson and Matthew Rossiter of Great Britain who took the gold ahead of Serbia’s Nenad Bedik and Milos Vasic who secured one of two medals for the host nation.

In the men’s single sculls, Switzerland’s Nico Stahlberg had an outstanding performance pushing Olympic silver medallist Damir Martin of Croatia into World Cup silver medal position. The bronze went to the home country’s Marko Marjanovic of Serbia.

Switzerland was also successful in the women’s single sculls with Jeannine Gmelin dominating the race ahead of 2^nd place Rio Silver medallist Victoria Thornley of Great Britain and 2016 European Champion Magdalena Lobnig of Austria, who came through in 3^rd place.

Switzerland finished third on the medals table in their most successful World Rowing Cup regatta in recent years as Patricia Merz also won gold in the lightweight women’s single sculls finishing first ahead of Ireland’s Denise Walsh.

Lithuania showed their prowess in men’s sculling by winning gold in both the men’s quadruple sculls and the men’s double sculls. These two golds were Lithuania’s sole medals and it put them into fifth place on the medals table.

The overall points winner of the World Rowing Cup with 60 points was Great Britain followed by The Netherlands in second (47) and Poland in third (36). The Dutch were especially successful in the men’s eight when they rowed through Great Britain just strokes before the finish line to take gold. The Dutch also took gold in the women’s double sculls and women’s four. The Netherlands earned eight medals overall. Poland finished with seven medals including gold in the lightweight women’s double sculls and women’s quadruple sculls.

The World Rowing Cup series was launched in 1997 and consists of a series of three events. The overall World Rowing Cup winners are determined after the third event. This year, the three stages of the series are Belgrade, SRB (5-7 May), Poznan, POL (16-18 June) and Lucerne, SUI (7-9 July).

Report  courtesy of World Rowing

The regatta has attracted rowers from 26 nations with the biggest contingents coming from the Netherlands, Poland and Great Britain. Ranking among the medal prospects are athletes that won gold medals at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. They include British Olympic Champion in the men’s four Mohamed Sbihi. Sbihi will continue in the four at this regatta and will be joined by Olympic Champion from the men’s eight, William Satch, among others. They will face tough competition from the Netherlands, which placed fifth at the Rio Olympics.

Ireland’s O’Donovan brothers Paul and Gary are back together for 2017 following their Olympic silver medal performance in the lightweight men’s double sculls. The O’Donovans will face the experienced duo Richard Chambers and Will Fletcher from Great Britain. In the lightweight women’s double sculls 2012 Olympic Champion Katherine Copeland is back with Charlotte Booth (nee Taylor). They will face Rio Olympians Weronika Deresz and Martyna Mikolajczak of Poland.

The men’s single sculls may turn into a Croatian showdown with Olympic silver medallist Damir Martin facing off against Martin Sinkovic. Sinkovic took gold in the men’s double sculls at Rio. Also in the mix is the talented Angel Fournier Rodriguez of Cuba. The women’s single sculls has Olympian Magdalena Lobnig of Austria meeting Rio 2016 silver medallist Great Britain’s Victoria Thornley. Bronze medallist from the Rio double, Milda Valciukaite of Lithuania will also be in the single in Belgrade.

As the first regatta of the season and the first race of this post-Olympic year, Belgrade will be an opportunity for crews to check on the progress they have made in off-season training. It is also a time for new rowers to come through into the senior ranks following inevitable post-Olympic retirements  or the usual one-year time-off from sport by others.

In 2016, the World Rowing Cup series was won by New Zealand with Great Britain second and the Netherlands third. In the absence of New Zealand and with Great Britain and the Netherlands both entering 17 boats, Belgrade is likely to see strong racing between these two countries.

Racing begins on Friday, 5 May 2017 at 10:00 CET with heats. It then progresses through repechages and semifinals to the finals which will begin at 11:10 CET on Sunday, 7 May. There will be a live host television signal of the A-finals distributed through the European Broadcasting Union in Europe and many other channels around the world as well as live video streaming on www.worldrowing.com.

Regatta information can be found here.  For a list of entries, click here.

The World Rowing Cup series was launched in 1997 and consists of a series of three events. The overall World Rowing Cup winners are determined after the third event. This year, the three stages of the series are Belgrade, SRB (5-7 May), Poznan, POL (16-18 June) and Lucerne, SUI (7-9 July).

New Zealand topped the overall medals table with gold medals in five of the Olympic boat classes and, at the end of the three World Cups, New Zealand had the overall highest number of World Rowing Cup points, with 119. Great Britain was second and the Netherlands finished third.

The New Zealand golds included one in the lightweight men’s four when the crew beat Denmark and Great Britain to the line. A full 2000m duel between New Zealand’s Mahe Drysdale and Croatia’s Damir Martin in the men’s single sculls earned New Zealand another gold as Drysdale got to the finish line just a stroke ahead of Martin. Great Britain’s Alan Campbell was third.

Single sculls winners (Photo: World Rowing)

Staking her claim on potential Olympic gold was Australia’s 2015 World Champion Kim Brennan in the women’s single sculls. Brennan met the 2014 World Champion Emma Twigg of New Zealand for the first time since 2014 and showed her dominance by leading from start to finish. Twigg earned silver with Jeannine Gmelin of Switzerland taking bronze.

Eric Murray and Hamish Bond of New Zealand retained their unbeaten record in the men’s pair by finishing ahead of Australia and Great Britain. In the men’s double sculls Robert Manson and Christopher Harris of New Zealand led to the line over Great Britain and France. And the final Olympic boat class gold medal for New Zealand went to their women’s eight. Their win was the first-ever international win in this boat class. Great Britain finished second and the Netherlands was third.

A new World Cup Best Time was set in the women’s pair when the reigning World and Olympic Champions, Heather Stanning and Helen Glover of Great Britain were pushed to the line. This adds to Stanning and Glover’s successful record which includes them holding the World Best Time. In the pair, New Zealand was second and Romania took third

Double sculls winners (Photo: World Rowing)

Stiff competition in the lightweight women’s double sculls pushed Maaike Head and Ilse Paulis of the Netherlands to a new World Best Time and World Cup Best Time. Head and Paulis finished ahead of Denmark’s Anne Lolk Thomsen and Juliane Rasmussen who were second and the World Champion New Zealanders, Julia Edward and Sophie MacKenzie who finished third.

The World Rowing Cup series was launched in 1997 and consists of a series of three events. The overall World Rowing Cup winners are determined after the third event. This year, the three stages of the series included Varese, Italy (15-17 April), Lucerne, Switzerland (27-29 May), Poznan, Poland (16-19 June). The Poznan World Cup included para-rowing races.

Report courtesy of World Rowing where you can find more information on this event.

Racing started three days ago and worked through to today’s finals with New Zealand earning three gold, two silver and three bronze medals to put them at the top of the medals tables. These medals came from the 17 boat classes that were contested.

The ‘Kiwi Pair’ of World and Olympic Champions Hamish Bond and Eric Murray debuted their 2016 international season at this regatta and earned gold after being pushed to the line by the men’s pairs from the Netherlands, Great Britain and South Africa. This finish saw the British and Dutch recording identical finishing times – a rare occurrence in rowing.

Mahe Drysdale won gold for New Zealand in the men’s single sculls. The Olympic Champion Drysdale came from behind to beat defending World Champion Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic. Cuba’s Angel Fournier Rodriguez came through to take bronze. The lightweight men’s four was also won by New Zealand. They beat the World Champions Switzerland as well as the world silver medallists Denmark to the line.

Great Britain was second on the medals table with five medals, two of them gold. The British finished at the head of the field in the men’s four when they went head-to-head until the line with Australia. In a dramatic finish, Australia caught a crab just metres before the finish which gave Great Britain the gold. The Netherlands took bronze.

Australia had gold medal success in the women’s single sculls and men’s quadruple sculls. This helped put them into third on the medals table. World Champion Kim Brennan was first in the women’s single sculls when she held off a closing sprint by Genevra Stone of the United States and Jingli Duan of China. The Australian men’s quadruple sculls finished first ahead of Great Britain and home favourites, Switzerland.

The World and Olympic Champion women’s eight United States had a tough race that saw them hold off Great Britain and New Zealand to finish first and in a time just seven seconds outside of the World Best Time. Four of the US women  won gold and bronze in the women’s pair earlier today.

The regatta closed with the men’s eight and the gold went to the Netherlands. The Olympic Champions Germany finished second and the United States eight won bronze.

After the two World Cups, the Netherlands has the overall highest number of World Rowing Cup points with 81. Great Britain is second with 57 points and New Zealand finished third with 51 points.

The World Rowing Cup series was launched in 1997 and consists of a series of three events. The overall World Rowing Cup winners are determined after the third event. This year, the three stages of the series include Varese, Italy (15-17 April), Lucerne, Switzerland (27-29 May), Poznan, Poland (16-19 June). The Poznan World Cup will include para-rowing races.

Report courtesy of World Rowing