Germany owns the eights at Hamburg

Women’s Eight (W8+) – Final

This three boat race ended in a fine show of German racing when the Germans took the lead right from the start and never looked back. Coxed by Laura Schwensen, the Germans must have been relishing being on their home waters and in front of a home crowd. Meanwhile, behind the Germans, Poland and China were holding their own tussle. Poland, who did not show much speed in the race for lanes earlier in this regatta, had the edge over China. It didn’t, however, last long.

By the half way point China had pushed into second and with that they said ‘goodbye’ to Poland and tried to close on Germany. The Germans, however, were too far in front and China wasn’t able to close the gap.

Results: GER, CHN, POL

Katrin Reinert (GER) – Gold
“The race was better than yesterday and we focused to get into the rhythm quickly. We are on our way up.”

Annika Kniest (GER) – Gold
“We were working well together as a crew. That was our main goal under difficult wind conditions. It is a shame that there were so few competitors. It would have been good to see how we would have been doing against the British, the Dutch and the Romanians. Our goal is to qualify for the Olympics.”

Yan Xiaoxia (CHN) – Silver
“I think the race was good because we met our expectations, but we are not satisfied with the result because, of course, every athlete wants to win. We will not race in Lucerne. Our goal is to qualify for the Olympics and then to win it.”

Kamila Socko (POL) – Bronze
“We are very happy to win our first medal. It was a good race and we are a young crew. We have to do well in Lucerne to be selected to go to the World Championships, otherwise we will just race at the European Championships.“

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – Final

At the first World Cup of the season, new single sculler but experienced team boat rower, Annekatrin Thiele of Germany led for much of the race over World and Olympic Champion Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus. Would she do the same today?

The answer was a resounding, ‘yes’. Thiele took off at the head of the field with Karsten back in fourth. Thiele continued to hold the lead through the middle 1000m but both New Zealand’s Emma Twigg and Karsten had moved on in. Would the crowd support help Thiele through to the end of the race?

As the finish line came into sight Karsten had already got ahead with now Twigg chasing the champion hard. Thiele was running out of steam. Karsten, rating 35, was working harder than she sometimes has to as Twigg gave it her all to get up to the Belarusian. Karsten, however, had enough in her to hold off the flying New Zealander. Karsten adds another gold medal to her bulging collection. Twigg earned her second World Cup silver and Thiele picked up the bronze ahead of reigning World Champion Frida Svensson of Sweden.

Results: BLR, NZL, GER1, SWE, CHN, AZE1

Ekaterina Karsten (BLR) – Gold
“I had a good race although there were difficult weather conditions. I really expected the Chinese to be faster.”

Emma Twigg (NZL) – Silver
“It was a good start to the season, I have only been here a week and raced in St. Petersburg last weekend. We are off to France to train and then I will race in Amsterdam. Hamburg is not bad but the weather is pretty tough.”

Annekatrin Thiele (GER)  – Bronze
“It is my first season in the single and it is my midterm goal to keep standing at the podium at international level. Today it was a hard race, my technique was not clean enough but I do not want to blame the choppy water for it. All in all I am happy with my medal today although you always want more when you race in a World Cup final.”

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x) – Final

With a number of the big guns of the single missing, this field left itself open to some new faces on the medals podium. It also gave former World Champion, Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand a chance to test himself on the international scene for the first time since gaining silver at last year’s World Rowing Championships – and for Drysdale, it was a fine test.

The Kiwi, in his custom made black boat, took the lead at the start and never looked back. Once comfortably in the lead, Drysdale settled into a 33 stroke rate pace which he maintained for the majority of the race. This left the rest of the field to fight it out for the lesser medals. Germany's, Falko Nolte held on to second but constantly had to deal with Lassi Karonen of Sweden breathing down his back. Croatia and Kenneth Jurkowski of the United States were also having their own head-to-head race.

As Drysdale cruised through the finish, still rating 33, Karonen and Jurkowski charged. This closed the huge gap that Drysdale had created. Karonen held on to second with Jurkowski picking up his first World Cup medal – a bronze. The usually stern Jurkowski even broke a smile on the medals podium as he helped Karonen hoist Drysdale into the air.

Results: NZL, SWE, USA, GER1, CRO, GER2

Mahe Drysdale (NZL) – Gold
“It was a great race, I needed a good start in Europe. But I am looking forward to more people to race in Lucerne and hopefully at the Holland Beker, if my back holds out. Hamburg is great, I expected a really industrial city and I found that it is beautiful, especially the old city and villages I discovered on my bike.”

Lassi Karonen (SWE) – Silver
“The race was a big struggle because of the weather conditions. I was aiming to follow Mahe. I put in some more aggression and that worked out. ”

Kenneth Jurkowski (USA) – Bronze
“The conditions were very challenging and there were very strong competitors. What an exciting race, I am very happy with the result!“

Men’s Eight (M8+) – Final

The German men’s eight is on a two year winning streak and they continued that streak here in Hamburg maintaining the love affair that Germans have with the boat. With Sebastian Schmidt back in stroke seat, the Germans took the lead at the start and never looked back.

Full credit to Poland. They remained in contact with Germany throughout the race making sure their boat was always overlapping and keeping the pressure on to the end. The Germans did their bit by maintaining a 38 stroke rate for the body of the race to hold the Poles at bay.

Coming into the finish line the rowers could hear the huge noise of the stamping and cheering of the grandstand spectators. The whole grandstand was swaying from the excitement. Germany crossed the line first with Poland hot on their heels. Meanwhile the Czech Republic were rating 40 and trying to hold off China. China had left their sprint too late giving Czech Republic the bronze medal.

Results: GER, POL, CZE, CHN, RUS

Toni Seifert (GER) – Gold
“It was a tough race because of the weather conditions but we managed to cope well with it as a team. We were confident coming into the race because of the heat. We rowed well together and would like to stay together with this crew but the crew combination is still uncertain. We are looking forward to retain this top position.”