Lake Rotsee welcomes 38 nations to Rowing World Cup II

Defending the colours of 38 nations, a total of 251 crews will race in 17 events. Only 14 of these events earn points toward the highly contended World Cup. Points are awarded to the first seven crews ranking in the 14 Olympic category boat classes.

The Canadian team makes their first 2008 appearance in full force at Lucerne with 13 boats entered. Also travelling from afar is an extended New Zealand squad that includes their Olympic crews. This will be the chance to see Mahe Drysdale in the single sculls and his national team opponent Rob Waddell who shall be competing in the men’s double with Nathan Cohen for the first time this year on the international circuit following this spring’s highly publicised New Zealand Olympic team trials.

After a very successful and highly attended first Rowing World Cup in Munich, Germany, at the beginning of the month, the team from Great Britain lead the World Cup points table with 59 points. The German team, who were competing on home turf, gained 56 World Cup points in Munich, and with 22 crews entered (one more than Great Britain) they shall be making a big push to get ahead in the rankings and re-gain their dominant position.

China, this year’s Olympic host nation, also travel to Lucerne in large numbers as they continue to narrow down who will be in the Olympic boats for their country.

This second Rowing World Cup event (as well as the other two events in the series) has particularly high stakes this year. Results at these three regattas, as well as last year’s qualification World Rowing Championships, will be taken into consideration by FISA’s seeding committee when placing boats in heats for the Olympic Regatta. With so much to gain from a good performance, the racing during this year’s Rowing World Cup series promises to be highly competitive.

For the full list of entries, by event and by nation, please visit our website www.worldrowing.com or click here. The website will also provide an event by event preview, race reports and photo galleries during and after the regatta.

The Rowing World Cup series will be televised and streamed live through World Rowing’s partner website www.wcsn.com. This service can be accessed through www.worldrowing.com. As usual, the live race viewer and live audio streaming of the race commentary will be available throughout the whole regatta.

The Rowing World Cup series was launched in 1997 and includes all 14 Olympic boat classes. The overall Rowing World Cup champions are determined after a series of three regattas. Germany has dominated the series since its beginning ten years ago. This year, the three stages of the series will be held in Munich (GER) 8 to 11 May, Lucerne (SUI) 30 May to 1 June and Poznan (POL) 20 to 22 June.

Media accreditation can be requested through the website (www.worldrowing.com > media > media accreditation).