World Rowing Cup III: winners’ reactions

Find out what Sunday’s winners had to say about their World Rowing Cup III victories.

Manuela Diening (GER) – PR1 W1x, gold

“My coach and I discussed about it before I started here, and we said that we’d do the best of this. We tried out some different techniques and tactics so I could do the best of the situation.”

Benjamin Pritchard (GBR) – PR1 M1x, gold

“Elated. Hasn’t quite sunk in. I was just trying to stay conscious during the race, and make sure I stuck to my race plan and not try to get too emotive with who’s around me. Just try to do what I always do. Compared to the preliminary race, where I kind of got sucked in to who I was racing, that was so much better.”

 Annabelle McIntyre (AUS) – W2-, gold

“We were hoping to just go in there and start refining the race for the Games in five weeks or so. It’s definitely a good step forward, first step in the final preparation. We’re happy with that.

“We’re really just practising trying to lead out a race, really get that start going. We’ve seen over the last couple of years all the boat classes getting faster and faster, so that’s something we have to adapt to as well.”

Jessica Morrison (AUS) – W2-, gold

“We always want to come off the water having learned something new, or tried something different out there, find 1 per cent here or there and try and execute it. We did a good job there. Tried to enjoy it as well, really focus on staying relaxed. That’s when we tend to go fast.”

Roman Roeoesli (SUI) – M2-, gold

“Poznan was our last option to exercise racing before the final race. Every race is hard and you learn from it, and also every race is fun. It’s always a chance to enjoy a race.”

Amanda Bateman (AUS) – W2x, gold

“Great to get some more tough racing in prior to the Olympics, especially here in Poznan. The wind’s turned off for us and so we were able to really throw down a race plan and try and execute what we want to take into Tokyo. We did a good job, and definitely a step forward in the lead into the Games. It’s always good to beat a European crew as an outsider, us and the Kiwis love taking down any European countries we can.”

Daire Lynch (IRL) – M2x, gold

“It’s different to usual because we normally come from the back, so when we’re up there at the k we’re a bit shocked. It was good that we could keep going towards the end.

“Since World Cup I we’ve had a good long block. We missed World Cup II so maybe we’ve got a bit fitter. We’ve spent a lot of time on the bikes too so maybe the aerobic system’s got better. But maybe tactics too.”

Philip Doyle (IRL) – M2x, gold

“You’re learning every race, you’re learning new things, that we know will work and don’t work. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you get it wrong and try and hold on when you get the speed.”

Jed Altschwager (AUS) – PR3 Mix2x, gold

“It feels good. It’s been nine, 10 months since we had a crack last year, and we knew in another 12 months everyone’s going to move on. Racing’s tighter, but we’re still feeling confident out there, and we had fun.”

Jackie Kiddle (NZL) – LW2x, gold

“For us every race is a new experience, and for us this was very much about gaining experience as a combination. To come away with the win, we’re stoked with it, but it definitely was only part of the plan. We wanted to work on some parts of our race, like the first 500, and we really nailed that. That’s something that we’ve been trying to do, just focus on something really specific and nail that thing, so it felt like we did that really well.”

Hugo Beurey (FRA1) – LM2x, gold

“We came to Poznan for a final practice before the Games, and after qualifying in Lucerne. Given that there were supposed to be five boats (in the event) and then we became four, we changed our strategy a bit. We decided to do a course full out and then rest. On Friday we did a really good race; today the first 1000m were a bit tricky. But it’s good, we’re leaving Poznan happy and having practised everything, so we can relax. It’s cool.”

 Lauren Rowles (GBR) – PR2 Mix2x, gold

“We always go out to plan and win now, we’d be settling for nothing less now at this stage in our careers, and the winning streak that we’ve had. But today we wanted to go out and really just work as hard as we could, get that marker down just before Paris, and see what work we’ve got left to do.

“It’s nice to come out here in Poland. I’ve never won out here in Poland, I’ve bad history with Poland, so I had some wrongs to right today for sure. Last time I was here I was in my single, I got silver; last tiome I was here before that was in 2017 in the double where I lost my first race, actually against Corne (de Koning, NED). So for me I wanted to go out there and leave Poznan with my own gold medal today.”

Gregg Stevenson (GBR) – PR2 Mix2x, gold

“We’re expected to win. That’s been a bit of pressure for me this season, but we enjoyed it and to keep winning and keep that streak going in Paris.

“We’ve been on an intensive training block, working really hard. We haven’t missed a session – you can’t when you’ve got Lauren as the boss – we enjoy it and that’s what we do together. We race for each other and we enjoy it, and that’s a good combination.”

Kerri Williams (NZL) – W4-, gold

“That’s our last race before Paris, and we’re a new combination so we haven’t had a lot of racing together. So we wanted to put down a good performance before our build into the Games.

“We lacked a little pace out of the start in Lucerne, so we’ve done a little work on that. It’s hard to tell when a lot of our competition who was in Lucerne. I guess that was just our last opportunity to race on the international stage before the big one in Paris.”

Phoebe Spoors (NZL) – W4-, gold

“We learned a lot of lessons in Lucerne, and we don’t have long to go until the Olympics, so we just wanted to put it all on today and see where that got us, and race really hard. We knew that we were going to learn the quickest if we did that going forwards. So it was really good to come away with this today.”

Ollie Maclean (NZL) – M4-, gold

“It was good. It was our last international race before Paris. We wanted to execute what we might possibly want to execute in Paris, so happy that we could get the job done in Poland. We knew from the heats that the Australians were definitely going to be up there with us by the 1000m-mark, so we were not surprised that they were up. Stayed calm and trusted the process.”

Erin Kennedy (GBR) – PR3 Mix4+, gold

“We’re trying stuff out. There was a real opportunity to learn. This is the last exposure to multi-lane racing before every crew goes behind closed doors and tries to find that little bit more speed before the summer. It’s the last opportunity to really test things out, and it was really fun.”

Edward Fuller (GBR) – PR3 Mix4+, gold

“Coming into it there was a lot of unknowns. There was a lot of unknowns racing crews we haven’t actually faced this year, so it’s nice to know where we stand. Now everyone’s going to go away for a few months leading into the big one in September.”

Morgan Fice-Noyes (GBR) – PR3 Mix4+, gold

“Our start was very successful. That’s something we’ve been working on over the last couple of races and it was a lot better today.”

Frankie Allen (GBR) – PR3 Mix4+, gold

“The pressure never gets less, it almost increases each race, but we’re privileged to be in the position where we’ve got that pressure. We thrive off it and we’ve just been training and keeping internal whilst we’re in training, not thinking about any of the other crews. It seems to be working for us.”

Tabea Schendekehl (GER) – W4x, gold

“It was really good. The preliminary race, we did exactly what we wanted to do, keep a little bit in the bag to have today. It worked out today. I’ve been out with a rib injury so I’ve just got back into the boat two weeks ago, so we haven’t had that many k yet but we’re very excited as to where we’re at. We have some more time to get things perfect.”

 Fabian Baranski (POL) – M4x, gold

“It was a great race for us. This race was the end of the final stage before the Olympics. We wanted two good races and we did it, so we are happy and we go ahead to the Olympics and the final preparation. We tried to improve our performance from the start to the start. We tried to check our tactics, our performance, and we’re happy.”

Sarah Hawe (AUS1) – W8+, gold

“It was a really good building block in our step to Paris, and just builds a bit of trust and confidence as a crew. It wasn’t our best race, but it’s a good step forwards.

“The biggest learning is just trusting in us as a crew and not worrying about the other crews as much.”

Bronwyn Cox (AUS1) – W8+, gold

“We executed a good start. It’s just bringing all the pieces together. We were lucky enough to have another Australian eight, so we could have a bit more of a ding-dong battle at the end and really see how we perform under pressure, but it’s just putting it all together and seeing how it goes.”

Tom Mackintosh (NZL) – M1x, gold

“It feels good. It was a solid race, and there was some good competition out there with Sverri (Nielsen) and Damir (Martin), so happy with the performance. It definitely puts me in the mix; there’s still a good training block to go, so I’ll be looking to find a few seconds there.”

Tara Rigney (AUS1) – W1x (gold)

“It feels unusual, but I’m quite stoked to be winning the gold. It was a good race. I was hoping for a bit more lumpy conditions like yesterday to prep for Paris, but Poznan turned it on and it was beautiful and flat. I feel like I’m definitely in a good place. It’s always hard, World Cup II, when we come off the plane and it takes a while to find your feet, but honestly I’m just having so much fun with my coach and my training squad of the double and Kate Rowan. I laugh every day, train hard – it’s going really well.”

Angus Widdicombe (AUS) – M8+, gold

“We’ll keep progressing. We’ve got six weeks still, I don’t think anyone racing now has yet peaked, so we’d like to think that we’ll get better in six weeks’ time. But it was a good step, that’s for sure.”

Kendall Brodie (AUS) – M8+, gold

“A pretty key regatta, we were looking to really build from our Lucerne race, and just relax more into our rhythm in the final and take confidence from the training we’ve been doing.”