The final day at the 2012 Samsung World Rowing Cup II in Lucerne, Switzerland opened with question marks and closed with surprises. France's new lightweight men's double sculls took gold, the men's quadruple sculls for Croatia continued to impress and the United States women's eight nearly lost their six-year winning streak when Canada challenged them to the line.
Following the first stage of the 2012 Samsung World Rowing Cup series in Belgrade, Serbia, Great Britain continue to lead the overall standings. Building up from the 79 points won in Belgrade, the British add another 56 points for a total of 135. Germany stay in second place overall with a total of 95 points while China overtake the Netherlands for third with a total of 59 points.
Great Britain won a total of five medals in Lucerne, three of them gold (in the women's pair, women's double sculls and men's four). Germany go home with a total of six medals, including gold in the men's double sculls. China, like Great Britain, won three gold medals (women's single sculls, lightweight women's double sculls and lightweight men's four) while one gold medal (in the men's pair) features amongst New Zealand's total of five medals.
Women's Pair
Great Britain's Helen Glover and Heather Stanning reigned in the women's pair, leading the field throughout the race. New Zealand (World Champions in 2010 and 2011) could not keep the pace and slipped back into third. Erin Cafaro and Eleanor Logan from the United States, who finished second at the 2012 Samsung World Rowing Cup I in Belgrade, took another 2012 World Cup silver.
Men's Pair
New Zealand's Eric Murray and Hamish Bond have not lost a race in the men's pair since early 2009. Their main competition used to be the British pair of Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge who, in this Olympic year, have now moved into the men's four. In their first race of the season, Murray and Bond proved their ongoing strength. Moving into first position after the halfway mark, the Kiwis finished ahead of Canada's Dave Calder and Scott Frandsen and ahead of Greece's Gkountoulas brothers, Nikolaos and Apostolos, who had won bronze at the first 2012 Samsung World Rowing Cup in Belgrade. Gold and silver medallists from Belgrade, Germany and Great Britain, did not make the podium.
Women's Double Sculls
Katherine Grainger, Great Britain's most medalled female rower, and crewmate Anna Watkins have been consistently successful over the past two years. Winning gold again here in Lucerne, they seem to be on the path to finally claim Great Britain's first ever female Olympic gold medal in rowing. Finishing with silver here in Lucerne were Poland's 2009 World Champions Magdalena Fularczyk and Julia Michalska who are aiming to become Poland's first women to ever win an Olympic medal in rowing. Taking bronze today were Germany's Olympic medallists Britta Oppelt and Annekatrin Thiele.
Lightweight Men's Double Sculls
In the A-final of the lightweight men's double sculls, Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter, the 2008 Olympic and 2010 and 2011 World Champions from Great Britain, finished at the back of the field in sixth. Instead, it was France in the limelight, showing off their new combination of Jérémie Azou and Stany Delayre. Azou is the World Champion and World Best Time holder in the lightweight men's single sculls and he won bronze in that boat class in Belgrade. Now paired up with Delayre, the French seem to have found a winning combination. New Zealand's 2009 World Champions Storm Uru and Peter Taylor finished with silver and Denmark's 2008 Olympic bronze medallists, Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist, with bronze.
Men's Four
This event was all about Great Britain and Australia. Australia's three-time Olympic Champion Drew Ginn came back onto the international rowing stage last year with London on his mind, and he and his crew won bronze at the 2011 World Rowing Championships. The British crew brought in top male rowers Andrew Triggs Hodge and Pete Reed from the pair into the men's four which is Britain's priority boat in this Olympic year. Leading for most of the race, Australia could not resist the powerful surge of Great Britain in the final 500m. Great Britain took gold, Australia silver and 2011 world silver medallists Greece took bronze.
Lightweight Women's Double Sculls
Two-time World Champions from Greece Christina Giazitzidou and Alexandra Tsiavou were expected to dominate their opposition once again in the lightweight women's double sculls, but China surprised the field. Having won bronze in Belgrade, they lead the entire A-final to take gold on the Rotsee. New Zealand's new boat of Louise Ayling and Julia Edward set a new World Best Time in this boat class in their heat on Friday and today held on to second position throughout the race. Greece moved up from sixth to claim bronze at the finish.
Men's Quadruple Sculls
On Friday, two crews set a new World Best Time in the men's quadruple sculls - first Croatia, then Russia who bettered them in the following heat. In today's A-final it was Croatia who crossed the line first, with Russia losing speed in the final quarter and finishing with bronze after leading most of the race. Germany won silver.
Lightweight Men's Four
China were World Champions in 2006 and world bronze medallists in 2010 in the lightweight men's four. In Belgrade they finished with bronze. In today's A-final, China managed to out-speed Great Britain and hold off multi Olympic Champions Denmark. South Africa managed an impressive push, moving up from sixth to take silver, with Great Britain taking bronze.
Women's Quadruple Sculls
2011 World Champions Germany set a new World Best Time in the women's quadruple sculls on Friday, when they won their heat. Ukraine, five-time consecutive European Champions and 2010 world silver medallists in this boat class, also won their respective heat. But today in the A-final, Ukraine took the lead and held it until the line, finishing four seconds ahead of Germany and the USA.
Men's Double Sculls
Three boats finished within one second of each other in the A-final of the men's double sculls. Lining up was a pack of talented crews: 2009 World Champions Germany (Eric Knittel and Stephan Krueger), 2008 Olympic Champions Australia (David Crawshay and Scott Brennan), 2008 bronze medallists from the men's quadruple sculls France (Cedric Berrest and Julien Bahain), and 2000 Olympic Champions Slovenia (Iztok Cop and Luka Spik). Today, Germany (gold medallists in Belgrade) moved up the field to take another World Cup gold. Australia took silver and France, just 0.08 seconds behind, took bronze.
Women's Eight
The USA and Canada were the highlight crews in the A-final of the women's eight. USA set a new World Best Time in this boat class on Friday. They are also the 2008 Olympic Champions and six-time consecutive World Champions. But Canada was not impressed. Chasing the USA to the line, it was a photo finish for gold between the two crews: Canada finished three hundredths of a second behind in silver. The Netherlands, nearly four seconds behind, took bronze.
Men's Single Sculls
The big absentee in the final of the men's single sculls was two-time Olympic Champion Olaf Tufte who withdrew from the B-final for medical reasons. Today was the first international final in 2012 for five-time World Champion in the men's single Mahe Drysdale. 2010 World Champion and last year's world silver medallist Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic had won gold in Belgrade and seemed ready to face his top competitor. At the finish, with an impressive lead over the rest of the field, the two men crossed the line one tenth of a second apart. Synek took gold, Drysdale silver and further behind Cuba's Angel Fournier Rodriguez won another World Cup bronze medal, after having also won bronze in Belgrade.
Women's Single Sculls
The women's single sculls final would see China win its third gold medal of the day. Xiuyun Zhang had won gold in Belgrade at the first stage of the 2012 Samsung World Rowing Cup series, and today she confirmed that that had not been a coincidence when she won gold yet again, ahead of 2011 World Champion Mirka Knapkova (CZE) in bronze and Kim Crow (AUS) in silver. Crow qualified for the Olympic Games in this boat class just a few days ago.
Men's Eight
Canada had set a new World Best Time in the men's eight in their heat on Friday. Would three-time consecutive World Champions Germany be able to hold them off? Today proved that Germany were not intimidated by the new World Best Time holders. Leading from the start, Germany stayed ahead of Great Britain, who finished with silver, and Canada, who took bronze.
Useful Information
All of today's finals can be viewed again on demand in our video archive. Please go to worldrowing.com/video for more information.
You will find an overview of the 2012 Samsung World Rowing Cup standings here.
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.