Osborne ahead of Martin in Armadacup

German lightweight Jason Osborne outraced Olympic silver medallist, Damir Martin of Croatia. Osborne finished second in the 2016 Armadacup and this year his time of 31:53 for the 9km race was three minutes faster than last year. Martin finished 17 seconds behind Osborne.

Ireland’s Paul O’Donovan, the 2016 and 2017 World Champion in the lightweight men’s single sculls as well as the 2016 Olympic silver medallist in the lightweight men’s double sculls, finished third. His brother Gary O’Donovan, also part of the Rio Olympic silver medalling boat, finished 10^th.

The Armadacup also included Nico Stahlberg from Switzerland, who earned World Cup gold and bronze this year in the men’s single sculls, as well as Simon Niepmann who was part of Switzerland’s Olympic Champion lightweight men’s four in Rio. Stahlberg and Niepmann finished fourth and fifth respectively. Norway’s multi Olympic and World Champion Olaf Tufte finished sixth.

Two-time Olympic Champion in the men’s single, Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand finished ninth out of the senior men. This was Drysdale’s first race since his Rio Olympic win and sees the start of his comeback after he took nearly a year off following the Rio Olympics. Drysdale plans to race at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

On the women’s front, it was the 2016 European Champion and 2017 World Championship bronze medallist Magdalena Lobnig of Austria who finished first in a time of 35:11. Lisa Scheenaard from the Netherlands finished second and Switzerland’s Patricia Merz, who won World Cup gold, bronze and European Championship bronze this year in the lightweight women’s single sculls, crossed the line in third position.

Appearing to be on the comeback trail and in sixth position was New Zealand’s Emma Twigg. Twigg finished fourth in the single at the Rio Olympics. Seven-time Olympian, Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus was in eighth position.

Although the single is the only event on the programme, 16 categories are featured, representing men, women, seniors, under-23s, under-19s, under-17s and under-15s, as well as para-rowing.

A 250m Sprint-Cup was also part of the programme. In the men’s sprint race, Damir Martin finished first, Switzerland’s Olympian Barnabe Delarze second and Olaf Tufte finished third. In the women’s sprint, Magdalena Lobnig took first, while Marie-Catherine Arnold from Germany finished second and Lisa Scheenaard from the Netherlands crossed the line in third.

The Sprint-Cup was an invitation-only event, with eight men and eight women participating. First-place finishers won 1,000 CHF, second-place finishers 750 CHF and third-place finishers 500 CHF.

The next Aramadacup will take place on Saturday 27 October 2018.

For further information, check the Armadacup website.