Germany Takes World Cup

The German Rowing team has taken the overall 2001 Zurich Rowing World Cup after a resounding performance on its home-turf saw it lift the lead from Great Britain in the final regatta in Munich at the weekend.

Germany had trailed Great Britain by 20 points going into the regatta but earned 69 points at Munich compared with Britain’s 24.

The German team finished with 172 points, Britain was second with 147 and Belarus was third with 78.

The win marks the fifth consecutive year Germany had taken the World Cup.

Strong participation in the regattas and stellar performances, particularly in the women’s sculling events, were largely responsible for the wins.

They picked up individual titles in the women’s double, quad and eight, and came second in the lightweight women’s double.

Great Britain posted its highest score in World Cup history after its crews consistently won medals over the four regattas.

They made a clean sweep of the individual titles in the heavyweight men’s sweep event, collecting the men’s coxless pair, the men’s coxless four and the men’s eight.

Belarus missed the Princeton regatta altogether but still managed to finish third thanks to consistent overall scores in the 20s and 30s for every regatta.

Ekaterina Karsten took the women’s single sculls title but the women’s coxless pair and also proved to be a strong source of points, claiming the individual title over Olympic champions Romania.

USA’s strong start to the campaign in Princeton carried it through to fourth and a total of 77 – just one point off third place – while Denmark made steady progress at each regatta to finish fifth on 75 points.

The Danish lightweight men’s four won the individual World Cup after wins in Princeton, Vienna and Munich.

Romania (72), France (57), Canada (52), Switzerland (50) and Poland (43) rounded out the top ten but a total of forty nations earned points on the final table.

The top five nations weren’t the only ones to claim titles in individual racing.

Norway’s Olaf Tufte earned the men’s single sculls title after a win in Princeton and bronze in Seville, Vienna and Munich.

Akos Haller and Tibor Peto of Hungary took the men’s double sculls. They had been equal with Switzerland until the final regatta when the Swiss failed to make the final.

But there was some consolation for the Swiss in the lightweight men’s double sculls, as Marcus Gier and Nicholas Latt were awarded the individual title.

Romania collected the lightweight women’s double sculls, while Olympic finalists Ukraine scooped the men’s quad title.

The Zurich Rowing World Cup is raced over four regattas. Crews are awarded 8 points for coming first, 6 for second, 5 for third, 4 for fourth, 3 for fifth, 2 for sixth and one for winning a B final.

A full overview of standings is available on the website in Events