On the second day of World Rowing Cup 2, three more Australian crews booked themselves a place in Sunday's A-Finals, while Sarah Pound finished sixth in the final of the Lightweight Women's Single Sculls.
On a wet day in Lucerne, Pound started the morning in fine form with the lightweight single sculler putting in a strong performance to finish second and book a place in the afternoon's A-Final. The New South Wales sculler, coached by Ellen Randell, was up against scullers from Denmark, Germany, New Zealand, USA and Canada. The favourite for the race was no doubt the reigning World Champion, New Zealand's Zoe McBride, but Pound was not phased firing out the blocks alongside her fellow competitors and it was tight as they approached the first 500m.
However, as the race unfolded, the German sculler, Anja Noska began to pull away along with McBride. In brighter conditions than the morning, it was Noska, the reigning European Champion, who led the race from start to finish, but Pound kept to her race plan in a bid to make the podium, but this wasn't to be with the 24-year-old finishing in sixth. The win went to Noska, Denmark's Rungeaja Holmegaard in second and surprisingly McBride in third.
In the Men's Pair repechage, Alex Lloyd and Spencer Turrin needed a top two finish to book a place in the A-Final on Sunday. The Australian crew were up against Spain, France, Russia, Germany and Chile with the Spaniards the leaders for the first half of the race while the New South Welshmen sat back in second.
It was in the final 500 metres that Lloyd and Turrin chose to make their move, kicking down and passing the Spaniards to take the win in a time of 6.34 and booking a place in the A-Final on Sunday.
David Watts and Chris Morgan needed a top two finish in their repechage to book a place in the A-Final of the Men's Double Sculls. The duo, coached by Rhett Ayliffe, had a good start and were motoring along in second, with Great Britain's Jonathan Walton and John Collins in the lead. However, the second Great Britain crew, of Nicholas Middleton and Jack Beaumont were making their way through the pack from fourth and with 500 metres to go were nipping on the heels of Australia's crew.
As the crews crossed the line, it was a Great Britain one and two, with Morgan and Watts just 0.09 seconds behind Middleton and Beaumont. This is the first international appearance for this newly formed double and this will race tomorrow in the B-Final.
Reigning World Champion in the Women's Single Sculls, Kim Brennan, took to the water today in her semi-final and got away quickest in her race with Switzerland's Jeannine Gmelin hot on her heels. By the half-way mark Brennan had a two second lead, while the USA's Genevra Stone was chasing her down alongside Canada's Caraling Zeeman but neither managed to chase Victorian down with Brennan winning in a time of 7:31, the fastest qualifying time. Tomorrow Brennan will take on the A-Final where she will be joined by Stone and Zeeman as well as crews from the Czech Republic, China and Austria.
In the repechage of the Women's Quadruple Sculls, Maddie Edmunds, Kerry Hore, Jennifer Cleary and Jessica Hall needed a top four finish to ensure they had a place in the final of the boat class tomorrow (Sunday). Taking on reigning World Champions, USA, along with China, Poland and a second American crew, the Australians powered out the start alongside Poland, with the US and China both trailing behind.
The Poles led the race from start to finish with the Australians pacing themselves throughout to finish second in a time of 6.22, while China and the USA second crew finished third and fourth respectively. The Australians, along with Poland, China and the USA, will join Germany and the Netherlands in tomorrow's A-Finals.
In total during the event in Switzerland, Australia has secured seven A-Final places and one B-Final.
Race times - Sunday 29 May
Men's Double Sculls, B-Final - 17:35 AEST (09:35 local time)
Men's Quadruple Sculls, A-Final - 19:18 AEST (11:18 local time)
Women's Single Sculls, A-Final - 19:33 AEST (11:33 local time)
Men's Pair, A-Final - 21:33 AEST (13:33 local time)
Women's Quadruple Sculls, A-Final - 21:48 AEST (13:48 local time)
Men's Four, A-Final - 22:03 AEST (14:03 local time)
Women's Double Sculls, A-Final - 22:48 AEST (14:48 local time)