Correction: Three World Best Times set at Varese World Rowing Cup

Correction: There were three World Best Times set, rather than two as previously stated. They included the lightweight women’s double sculls. This was set during the semifinal by Great Britain’s Katherine Copeland and Charlotte Taylor, in a time of 6:48.38.

The 2015 World Rowing Cup II in Varese, Italy wrapped up with 19 countries winning World Cup medals and Great Britain finishing on top of the medals table.

Great Britain won a total of ten medals; five of them gold. This included a win in the para-rowing LTA mixed four as well as setting a new World Best Time in their heat and then breaking it two days later in the final. Gold also went to Great Britain in the men’s eight when the British crew overtook European Champions, Germany to finish first. The winning streak by Heather Stanning and Helen Glover in the women’s pair remained unbroken and the British were back on top in the lightweight women’s double sculls.

A new World Best Time was also set in the lightweight women’s single sculls when New Zealand’s Zoe McBride broke a 21 year old record. McBride set the time during the semi-finals and a day later won the final. This was one of four gold medals for New Zealand that helped put them into second on the overall medals table. Olympic Champion Mahe Drysdale added to the New Zealand gold medal count by winning the men’s single sculls in an impressive race that saw 2014 bronze medallist Angel Fournier Rodriguez of Cuba come through to take silver with Stanislau Shcharbachenia of Belarus edging out World Champion Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic to win bronze.

Australia, which finished third on the medals table, collected three golds. This included a golden performance by women’s single sculler Kim Crow who completely dominated her competition. Crow won by open water with Genevra Stone of the United States taking silver and Austria’s Magdalena Lobnig getting the bronze.

A new World Cup Best Time was set by the French lightweight men’s double sculls of Jeremie Azou and Stany Delayre. This earned Azou and Delayre gold and also helped put their country into fourth place on the medals table.

This was the first international regatta this season for the United States team and they opened their 2015 campaign by finishing fifth on the medals table with seven medals, two of them gold. The US Olympic and World Champion women’s eight remained unbeaten with the win at Varese with Canada in second and Great Britain in third.

World and European Champions in the women’s quadruple sculls Germany continued to dominate this boat class when they held off Poland and the United States to retain the World Cup leaders bib.

The World Rowing Cup series now moves to Lucerne, Switzerland for World Rowing Cup III, the third and final of the 2015 season. This regatta takes place from 10-12 July 2015.

The World Rowing Cup series was launched in 1997 and consists of a series of three events. The overall World Rowing Cup winners are determined after the third event. This year, the three stages of the series include Bled, Slovenia (9-10 May), Varese, Italy (18-21 June) and Lucerne, Switzerland (10-12 July). 

Results, race reports, photos and videos are available on www.worldrowing.com.