Today at the 2012 Samsung World Rowing Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland (25-27 May) three finals in the international (also known as non-Olympic) boat classes were staged: the lightweight women's single sculls (LW1x), the lightweight men's single sculls (LM1x) and the lightweight men's pair (LM2-). Earlier in the afternoon, crews who had not yet qualified for tomorrow's A-finals were racing strong in the Olympic boat classes to secure their berth.
International Finals
Austria's Michaela Taupe-Traer took gold at the first stage of the 2012 Samsung World Rowing Cup in Belgrade, Serbia, earlier this season, in the lightweight women's single sculls. Again, here in Lucerne, she finished at the top of her competition, in front of newcomers in this boat class Leonie Pless of Germany and Cecilia Lilja of Sweden.
Adam Freeman-Pask of Great Britain raced in the lightweight men's pair in Belgrade winning gold. Today, he won gold again, but this time in the lightweight men's single sculls. Florian Berg of Austria took silver and Jonathan Koch of Germany took bronze.
The Dutch Arnoud Greidanus and Joris Pijs finished just outside the medals at the first Samsung World Rowing Cup of the season a few weeks ago, but today, they made sure they would not miss out. Taking gold, they finished ahead of China and Australia.
Preview of A-finals in Olympic boat classes (Sunday 27 May)
Yesterday's racing saw new standards being set in international rowing as World Best Times were established in six Olympic boat classes: the men's four (GBR), the men's quadruple sculls (RUS), the men's eight (CAN), the lightweight women's double sculls (NZL), the women's eight (USA) and the women's quadruple sculls (GER). Olympic-class racing is to be expected tomorrow in the finals of the 14 Olympic boat classes.
Tomorrow's final in the women's pair will no doubt be a continuation of the main rivalry observed in recent years between Great Britain's Helen Glover and Heather Stanning and New Zealand's Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown. Both crews won their semifinals today. Glover and Stanning won gold in Belgrade, but in the absence of New Zealand. Tomorrow will see them racing each other for the first time this season.
Results today confirmed the dominance of New Zealand's three-time World Champions in the men's pair. Eric Murray and Hamish Bond are racing internationally for the first time this season in Lucerne, and recorded the fastest finishing time of both semifinals. The Kiwis will be facing a strong-looking crew from Canada, featuring Beijing Olympic silver medallists Dave Calder and Scott Frandsen, as well as medal-winning crews in Belgrade, Germany, Great Britain and Greece. Niccolo Mornati and Lorenzo Carboncini from Italy who started their international racing season here in Lucerne and won bronze at last year's World Rowing Championships, will also be racing in Sunday's final.
Great Britain's Anna Watkins and Katherine Grainger continued their winning streak, finishing first in their heats yesterday and thereby qualifying directly for the A-final along with Germany's Britta Oppelt and Annekatrin Thiele. They will be meeting Poland's 2009 World Champions, Magdalena Fularczyk and Julia Michalska, who won heat two and look to be in a winning mind-set this season.
Olympic and World Champions in the lightweight men's double sculls, Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter, seem a bit off the pace here in Lucerne. They were bettered today in their semifinal by New Zealand's Storm Uru and Peter Taylor (World Champions in 2009) as well as by Canada's Douglas Vandor and Morgan Jarvis. France's Jérémie Azou (World Champion and World Best Time holder in the lightweight men's single sculls) seems to have found a winning combination with Stany Delayre - together they won their semifinal ahead of Denmark's Beijing Olympic bronze medallists Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist, and ahead of Germany.
In the men's four, the top two finishers of yesterday's heats qualified directly for the A-final. Great Britain (setting a new World Best Time of 05:37.86) and Australia (including three-time Olympic gold medallist Drew Ginn), the respective winners of heat one and two, will be the crews to watch.
Louise Ayling and Julia Edward from New Zealand surprised the field yesterday in the lightweight women's double sculls. This is their first international regatta together and yet they have managed to finish ahead of the field with a new World Best Time, qualifying directly for the A-final. They will be up against two-time World Champions in this event, Greece, with Christina Giazitzidou and Alexandra Tsiavou having won their respective heat just three hundredths of a second outside the new World Best Time set minutes before by the Kiwis.
Croatia and Russia were the fastest crews in the first round of racing yesterday in the men's quadruple sculls - Croatia set a new best time in heat one, before Russia bettered them in heat two. Croatia won gold at the first stage of the 2012 Samsung World Rowing Cup held in Belgrade, Serbia, just a few weeks ago.
China is upping its speed in the lightweight men's four. A bronze medal from Belgrade must have boosted the crew's confidence. After winning their heat yesterday, China won their semifinal today ahead of South Africa and Switzerland. Great Britain improved from yesterday's second-place finish in their heat and won their semifinal today ahead of France and Denmark. China, however, won their semifinal with the fastest qualifying time.
A German-Ukraine battle is expected in the women's quadruple sculls on Sunday. Yesterday, Germany set a new best time in their heat while Ukraine, winners of 2012 Samsung World Rowing Cup I, also won their respective heat, but finishing in a time nearly four seconds slower than that of the Germans. Who will have the upper hand tomorrow?
Beijing Olympic Champions in the men's double sculls, David Crawshay and Scott Brennan of Australia, came back together in 2011, and in their first regatta of the season, look to be fast. Winning their semifinal ahead of 2009 World Champions from Germany, Eric Knittel and Stephan Krueger, the Aussies will be up against France's Julien Bahain and Cedric Berrest, who won semifinal two with the fastest qualifying time.
Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand appears in top shape at his first regatta of the season, winning his semifinal today in the men's single sculls ahead of 2011 world silver and bronze medallists, Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic and Great Britain's Alan Campbell. Drysdale will also meet Germany's back-on-form Marcel Hacker in tomorrow's A-final.
After winning gold at the 2012 Samsung World Rowing Cup I in Belgrade, Xiuyun Zhang of China is not slowing down. She finished her semifinal today ahead of 2011 World Champion Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic as well as New Zealand's world medallist Emma Twigg. In the second semifinal, Kim Crow, who qualified for the Olympic Games in this event just a few days ago, finished at the top of the field. Sweden's Frida Svensson, World Champion in 2010, was unable to row due to medical reasons and therefore will not be competing in tomorrow's A-final.
The men's and women's eights will likely be all about the United States and Canada. The USA have had a six-year winning streak in the women's eight, winning gold at the World Championships and Olympic Games, and yesterday they bettered their World Best Time previously set in 2006. Canada are the 2008 Olympic Champions in the men's eight and yesterday they proved their winter training paid off as they set the new speed standard to 5:19.35. Tomorrow, they will face three-time consecutive World Champions Germany, winners of the Samsung World Rowing Cup in Belgrade, Serbia, early May.
Useful Information
A-final racing will begin tomorrow Sunday 6 May at 10:22 (CET) through to 14:40 and will be video-streamed live. Please go to worldrowing.com/video for more information.
To view a list of the current World Best Times, please click here.
For comprehensive results, please consult our results database here.
To view photos of the regatta, we invite you to browse our online Photo Gallery.
Detailed race reports have also been published in the news section of our website.