Medal tally puts Great Britain at top of 2012 Samsung World Rowing Cup series

This series of three World Rowing Cup regattas opened in Belgrade, Serbia, at the start of May with Great Britain finishing well ahead on the overall points table at this first stage – 32 points ahead of the next-best nation, Germany.

The Samsung World Rowing Cup then moved to Lucerne, Switzerland at the end of May and Great Britain topped the medals table there again, but with a narrower margin. Germany had closed in on the British in Lucerne, ending just eight points down with the New Zealand team arriving in Lucerne to finish in third position and two points behind Germany.  Australia also arrived in Europe in time for Lucerne and slotted in on the points table just behind New Zealand.

The final stage of the Samsung World Rowing Cup series, held last weekend in Munich, saw Great Britain improve on their Lucerne points to finish not only at the head of the Munich points table, but also at the top of the overall series table with 199 points. Germany was second with 134 points and New Zealand finished third earning 97 points. Great Britain finished second to Germany last year, but had won the series for the four previous years.

The British result at Munich was especially positive for Great Britain’s female crews with both the women’s pair (Heather Stanning and Helen Glover) and women’s double sculls (Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins) winning gold. The women also fared well in the women’s quadruple sculls and in the women’s eight with bronze medals. The British men took gold in the lightweight men’s four while their flagship crew, the men’s four, suffered their first loss this season when they were beaten to the line by the Australians.

In the absence of the World Champion German men’s eight in Munich the British were hoping to have their first win of the season in this boat class. This turned into bronze when they were out-raced by Poland and Australia.

New Zealand matched Great Britain’s three gold medals in Munich with three of their own. Both the lightweight men’s (Storm Uru and Peter Taylor) and lightweight women’s double sculls (Louise Ayling and Julia Edward) landed in Kiwi hands which was a step up for these crews from their Lucerne results. The men’s pair of Hamish Bond and Eric Murray added another gold to the New Zealand tally.

Second overall, Germany earned one gold medal in Munich coming from men’s single sculler Marcel Hacker. Germany added to their points by taking silver in the men’s and women’s quadruple sculls and two bronze medals, one in the newly Olympic qualified lightweight women’s double sculls and one in the men’s double sculls.

World Rowing Cup points are awarded in Olympic events only and work on a descending scale starting at eight points for a win. The next World Rowing regatta is the 2012 World Rowing Under 23 Championships. This event will be held in Trakai, Lithuania from 11 to 15 July. 

The detailed points and standings can be found on our website here.

To view the detailed Munich results, please click here.

Videos of all World Cup A-finals in Munich can be viewed on demand here.

A photo gallery of the adaptive regatta in Munich can be accessed here, with a photo gallery of the World Cup events available here.