25 years of World Rowing Cup series : 25 years of getting faster

This year marks 25 years of the World Rowing Cup series and since the first (in its current form) in 1997 boat speeds in all boat classes have gotten faster. But, it hasn’t all been uniform in the amounts of speed improvements.

One feature of creating the World Cup series was to create a measured consistency to the timing of races from one venue to the next. The fastest times are measured as World Cup Best Times rather than World Cup records. This takes into consideration the impact of the weather and water on race times. Best Times are invariably achieved in tail wind conditions so each race cannot be seen as completely comparable to another.

In some boat classes the improvement in times has been remarkable, in others an increase in speed has barely registered.

For the women’s single sculls the time has remained remarkably stable. Prior to the World Cup series a 7:17 was the best time. Then in 2003 Germany’s phenomenal sculler Katrin Rutschow recorded 7:14 at the Lucerne World Cup. The following year she became an Olympic Champion. This time remained the best for 14 years before Magdalena Lobnig of Austria broke 7:13 on Poznan’s Malta regatta course. At the Tokyo Olympics Lobnig gained an Olympic medal.

The men’s single sculls has seen more of a change in times. Prior to the start of the World Cup series the time sat around 6:37 and remained there until 2011 when at one regatta the Best Time was broken, rebroken and broken again. This pre-Olympic year saw a veritable hotbed of single scullers all vying to beat each other. At the Munich regatta course in Oberschleissheim Alan Campbell of Great Britain got the ball rolling recording 6:36 in Heat 1. He didn’t hold the best time long as in the next heat the speedy Czech, Ondrej Synek knocked a second off the time. Again this time didn’t last. In Heat 3 local rower, Marcel Hacker smashed the best time to record 6:33.

At the London Olympics in 2012 Synek won silver with Campbell picking up bronze. Hacker was in sixth place.

Hacker hung on to his best time for six years before New Zealand’s Robbie Manson smashed it by three seconds when racing in Poznan. The new World Cup Best Time became 6:30.

The men’s eight has seen a rather large increase in speed. In 1999 the time sat at 5:25, achieved by Russia on the waters of Lucerne’s Rotsee. This time got obliterated by the Australians in 2006 when the Aussie crew went 5:21 in Poznan. In the boat was Karsten Forsterling who would go on to win bronze in the quad at the 2012 London Olympics and follow it up with silver, also in the quad, at Rio.

The Australians hung on to the best time until 2012 when Canada went below the 5:20 threshold and recorded 5:19 in Lucerne. The crew then took silver later in the year at the London Olympics. One member of the boat, Conlin McCabe is still an active rower and at the Tokyo Olympics he finished fourth in the men’s pair.

The men’s eight best time was broken again in 2017 when Germany recorded 5:18 on a hot June day in Poznan. This best time remains today although many of the crew have retired.

For the women’s eight a similar increase in speed has been recorded through the World Cup Best Times. Back in 1998 Romania set the time at 6:04 at the Bloso Centrum in Hazewinkel, Belgium. Some of the great names in Romanian rowing sat in the boat including Georgeta Andrunache, Viorica Susanu, Doina Ignat and Veronica Cochela-Cogeanu. A year later, with some of the same crew members, Romania broke their own best time by an amazing three seconds. Racing in Lucerne, Romania recorded 6:01. They did it again four years later, this time rowing just 0.10 of a second faster, and again in Lucerne. Then China stepped up and in 2007 the Chinese crew went half a second fasters. Their time didn’t last long as the United States recorded just over 6 minutes in 2008 before going off to take gold at the Beijing Olympic Games.

Then Canada blew the best time out of the water. Going under the magical six-minute threshold, the Canadians recorded 5:55 on Lucerne’s Rotsee in 2012. Not to be outdone one race later the United States knocked over a second off Canada’s time to set the World Cup Best Time at 5:54. The United States went on to win gold at the London Olympics with Canada taking the silver. A year later with an almost completely new crew, the United States broke their own time, but just by 0.01 of a second. The World Cup Best Time now stands at 5:54.16 and remains until today.

The record for the longest standing best time and for the least amount of change goes to the men’s double sculls. Sixteen years ago Adrien Hardy and Jean-Baptiste Maquet of France set a time of 6:03. No one has been able to better this although, the Sinkovic brothers set a World Best Time in 2014 in the double and also became one of the only crews to go sub-six minutes.

The biggest change in time goes to the women’s four. When the World Cup series began the four was not an Olympic event and the World Cup Best Time was at 6:38. It remained a World Cup event with Australia dominating. They set a World Cup Best Time in 2003 of 6:30. The best time remained for 14 years when in 2017 Australia recorded 6:22.

For the men’s four Great Britain has dominated the setting of the best times. They first set it in 1997 with a time of 5:48 and the famous Redgrave, Pinsent, Cracknell and Foster crew who would go on to win gold at the Sydney Olympics. Canada briefly held the best time before Great Britain took it back in 2006 and then retook it with a time of 5:37 in 2012. No one has been able to break that time since.

Lucerne has seen many World Cup Best Times set on the Rotsee waters over the years. Will there be more this weekend?