The final battles for the World Rowing Cup

With the third and final event in the 2023 World Rowing Cup series just around the corner, the battle for the overall World Rowing Cup is coming to a close. The 2023 World Rowing Cup III will finalise the winners in each individual boat class, as well as the overall winner of this year’s trophy.

How the World Rowing Cup Points work

The World Rowing Cups are an annual series of three regattas. Each Olympic boat class earns points based on the finishing order. The highest placing boat from a country is awarded the following points:

1^st = 8 points, 2^nd = 6 points, 3^rd = 5 points, 4^th = 4 points, 5^th = 3 points, 6^th = 2 points, 7^th = 1 point

Individual Boat Classes

Current Standings

Men’s Single Sculls

The reigning World Rowing Champion in this boat class, Oliver Zeidler of Germany, is going for the World Cup Hat Trick this year. And he’s well on his way, with two World Cup wins, and 16 points overall so far.

Denmark’s Sverri Nielsen sits behind him with 12 points, and is the only one who could potentially take the World Rowing Cup from Zeidler. Nielsen would need to win in Lucerne, and see Zeidler finish not higher than fourth to win the World Cup.

Men’s Pair

What might be one of the most surprising crews of the year, Roman Roeoesli and Andrin Gulich of Switzerland, currently stand atop the World Rowing Cup leaderboard in this boat class. With 14 points compared to Great Britain’s 8, they would need to finish no lower than 5th to win the World Rowing Cup if the British were to top the podium as they did in Varese. The Croatians could also win the overall series if they win in Lucerne and the Swiss do not finish higher than seventh.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls

While the Swiss will win the overall World Rowing Cup in this boat class – they currently lead the boat class total by over 10 points, and the most a crew can gain at a World Cup is 8 – the question will be where they end up on the overall leaderboard.

With two World Cup wins, and a European Championships title in their belt, Raphael Ahumada and Jan Schaeuble are the crew to beat. But they have not yet lined up against the Irish Olympic Champions in this boat class – Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan. Could the Swiss combination go for the Hat-Trick on home waters, or the reigining Olympic and World Champions of Ireland have a gold medal in Lucerne ?

Men’s Double Sculls

The Italians are the current World Rowing Cup Leaders in this boat class, after their win at the 2023 World Rowing Cup II in Varese. But they are tied for points with the 2023 World Rowing Cup I winners – the Sinkovic brothers. With the Italians absent from the World Cup in Lucerne this weekend, it might seem that the Sinkovics have the overall World Rowing Cup for the taking. But as we saw last year at the World Rowing Championships, where the Sinkovics finished in 4th, they will have their work cut our for them. The Spanish duo of Rodrigo Conde Romero and Aleix Garcia Pujolar are the reigning World silver medallists, and are only two points down on the Sinkovic brothers. Were they to stand atop the podium in Lucerne, the World Rowing Cup would be theirs.

Men’s Four

It’s all to play for in this boat class. the Swiss are currently leading the field with nine points, but the British, the Australians, and even the Ukrainians can sit atop the classification on sunday evening. The Brits have won World Cup II and the European Championships and will come in as the heavy favourites, but don’t count out the reigining Olympic Champions of Australia, who will need a win in Lucerne and a third place from Switzerland to take home the trophy in the men’s four.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls

Once again, the Swiss are leading the standings. But once again, it’s all to play for in this one – with Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Great Britain in hot pursuit of the Swiss. The reigning World and European Champions of Poland are coming in as the favourites, and need to win on Sunday to get the trophy home – same goes for the crew from Czech Republic. But the Brits, who just beat the Poles at Henley Royal Regatta last weekend, can play spoilers – they need a bit of help from the other crews, but don’t count them out just yet.

Men’s Eight

Without any men’s eights in Zagreb, the results from Varese mirror the actual standings. It’s hard to overlook the GB crew, who hasn’t lost a single race in this Olympic cycle. But a win by Australia will put them atop the standings – and have them as winners of the overall World Cup.

Women’s Single Sculls

A three way tie in the women’s single sculls sees Germany, Spain, and the Czech Republic at the top of the leaderboard in this boat class. Virginia Diaz Rivas of Spain and Alexandra Foester of Germany won the first and second World Rowing Cups respectively. Lenka Luksova and Anna Santruckova of the Czech Republic finished third and 5th at the first and second World Rowing Cups respectively, adding up to their nation’s current 8 points.

Foester looks to have tough competition at the event in Lucerne, going up against the Netherland’s Karolien Florijn, the reigning World an European Champion, and Emma Twigg of New Zealand, the reigning Olympic Champion. Neither Florijn or Twigg have raced the World Cup series yet this year, leaving Foester with a solid lead in that respect.

Women’s Pair

The Spanish are the current World Cup leaders in this boat class, with 13 points. The Australians sit behind them with 8 points after they won gold in Varese. If the Spanish finish with bronze, and assuming the Aussies will repeat their feat from Varese, they will win the World Rowing Cup.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls

In a tie with eight points each, the Swiss and British have both won a stage of the World Cup so far this season. The Austrians, who will also be present in Lucerne, are behind them with 6 points.

It will be hard for anyone to beat the British, however, as the combination of Emily Craig and Imogen Grant has yet to lose a race since since their 4th place finish at the Tokyo Games. They set a new World Best Time at the World Rowing Cup in Varese ,and their biggest threat in the final, the USA, will be absent from this event.

Women’s Double Sculls

The People’s Republic of China and Switzerland are tied in the women’s double sculls, both with eight points. But since the People’s Republic of China finished ahead at the last World Rowing Cup in Varese, they are the boat class leaders. Both crews will be present in Lucerne, which will surely lead to an interesting showdown for the trophy. Watch out too for Austria, sitting right behind these crews with six points, and still in contention for the overall trophy with a win in Lucerne.

Women’s Four

With the two nations who are atop the leaderboard in this event – Chile and the United States – being absent, it will be all eyes on Great Britain, who holds six points, to take home the World Rowing Cup trophy. The Aussies might be their only threat to the World Rowing Cup with a current 5 points – if they win in Lucerne, the trophy will be theirs.

Women’s Quadruple Sculls

The Swiss have 10 points in this boat class, with the Olympic and World Champions of China behind them with eight. However, the Chinese have only contested one event so far this season, while the Swiss have contested both stages of the World Rowing Cup so far. It will be a tough one for the Swiss to hold onto, as they would need to finish ahead of China and/or Ukraine to win the World Rowing Cup on home waters.

Women’s Eight

The women’s eight has only been contested at the 2023 World Rowing Cup II this year so far this season, and only by three boats.

With only 4 boats racing, all are guaranteed World Rowing Cup points. The Aussies are the leaders with eight points, followed by the British with 6, and Canada with 5.  Should Great Britain beat the Aussies to the top of the podium, they would take the World Rowing Cup.

Overall World Rowing Cup

The Dutch, last year’s World Rowing Cup winners, will be present in Lucerne, and may be able to accumulate quite a few World Cup points, but will not be a contender for the overall title after the majority of their senior team was absent at the first and second World Rowing Cups of the season.

Switzerland currently sits atop the points table, with an impressive 80 points, 57 of which they accumulated in Zagreb at the first World Rowing Cup of the season. The last time Switzerland won the overall World Rowing Cup was in 1997, the first year of the series. Just behind them are Great Britain with 60 points, all of which they won in Varese, and Australia with 55 points, also all won in Varese.

Of note, Iraq and Thailand both won their first ever World Rowing Cup points, with one point each.