Great Britain win 2025 World Rowing Cup, Romania top Lucerne medal table

The 2025 World Rowing Cup Lucerne came to an end on Sunday with Great Britain crowned as the season World Rowing Cup winners. However, Romania topped the medal table after winning three gold, two silver and one bronze medal.

History was made for Switzerland on the Rotsee with the nation’s first para-rowing gold for Claire Ghiringhelli. New Zealand’s Logan Ullrich also won his first single sculls gold, showing his rapid improvement from seventh in Lucerne on his debut in the boat.

Elsewhere, several crews backed up strong results from the 2025 World Rowing Cup Varese with a second win in a fortnight – but there is now a big gap until the 2025 World Rowing Championships in Shanghai, and plenty more speed to find in the break.

Ghiringhelli wins first Swiss para-rowing gold

In the PR1 women’s single sculls preliminary race, Switzerland’s Claire Ghiringhelli had had things all her own way. But experienced Dutchwoman Eva Mol had clearly been hiding her speed, and she set off hard in the final. Ghiringhelli stuck with her, and made a huge move just before halfway that took her through Mol. She kept moving, finishing with a good clear water advantage for Switzerland’s first para-rowing gold medal in history. In the race for bronze, Tunisia’s Ahlem Jedidi improved on fourth in the preliminary to take a medal on her international debut.

Result: SUI, NED, TUN, CZE

Ghiringhelli said: “It’s exceptional, I’m very, very happy. It’s been a lot of work for the last three years, and to have this gold medal in Lucerne, it’s just unbelievable. It’s a beautiful day for me.”

Horrie claims gold once more

As at the 2025 World Rowing Cup in Varese, and in the preliminary race, Erik Horrie of Australia had the fastest start in the PR1 men’s single sculls. Although Frenchman Alexis Sanchez stayed closer to Horrie in the first half of the race than he had in the preliminary, Horrie’s lead was never truly threatened. In turn, Sanchez was always comfortably ahead of Germany’s Marcus Klemp to claim silver.

Result: AUS, FRA, GER

Horrie said: “It was good. Even though we only had three competitors, it’s good to get out there and show everyone that the PR1 class, we’re here for business, and we like to race each other, but when we come off, we’re all friends.”

Romania dominant, Czechia outsprint GB

There was no doubt about the victors in the women’s pair, with Romania’s European champions Maria Magdalena Rusu and Simona Radis fastest out of the blocks and opening out a lead by 500m. But behind them it was a five-boat race through the halfway mark. Great Britain and Czechia had a bit more speed in the third quarter, and had opened out a small gap on the chasing pack. In the sprint, Czechia’s Anna Santruckova and Pavlina Flamikova just found more power to take them through the British, Eleanor Brinkhoff and Megan Slabbert. Both crews improved one place from Varese.

Result: ROU, CZE, GBR, CRO, USA, SUI

Radis said: “The World Championship is the most important competition for us, and we’ll start to train again; we will not have free time after this World Cup. We go home and start to prepare because there is a lot of time until the World Championship and we want to improve more.”

Men’s pair also goes to Romania

Lucerne was the first time that we got to see European men’s pair champions Romania (Florin Lehaci and Florin Arteni) go head-to-head with 2025 World Rowing Cup Varese winners New Zealand (Oliver Welch and Benjamin Taylor). And these two crews stretched out a big lead over the rest of the field in the first half of the race. Romania then piled on the pressure, and took enough of a lead to hold on. New Zealand won silver, while Switzerland were the best of the rest, taking a popular bronze medal in front of the Lucerne grandstand.

Result: ROU, NZL, SUI, RSA, SWE, DEN

Lehaci said: “It’s very good for us. We started last year in this boat, but the results in the last year were not so good. This year we came back, we came fresh, and until now we are undefeated.”

USA row down Australia for women’s four gold

In a superb race, USA 1 took a second successive World Rowing Cup gold medal in the women’s four. They made a move after the halfway mark, gradually closing down Australia – who had started quickly – and taking a win of almost three seconds on the line. Australia just had enough in the tank to hold on to silver, with New Zealand claiming bronze, after they rowed through Great Britain in the second half of the race.

Result: USA1, AUS, NZL, GBR1, USA2, GBR2

Azja Czajkowski of USA1 said: “We did a really good job of executing our plan, just staying internal. We just trust each other a lot.”

Men’s fours deliver a cracker

The men’s four semifinals promised an excellent final, and so it proved. Romania led at 500m before Varese gold medallists Australia took the advantage, but never by much. Into the finish there were four boats fighting for two medals. Lithuania’s surge took them past France, who had been second at 1500m, and Romania followed – and the Romanian sprint was more effective, giving them silver over Lithuania. France and Croatia were left out of the medals, with the USA sixth.

Result: AUS1, ROU, LTU, FRA, CRO, USA

Australia’s stroke Alexander Hill said: “We didn’t quite have everyone at Varese; it’s really strong competition here today and during this week, so it’s nice to see where we’re at.”

China take second World Rowing Cup gold

Coming out of the Chinese quadruple sculls crew from the last two Olympiads, Yunxia Chen and Ling Zhang have proven instantly fast. France’s Elodie Ravera Scaramozzino and Emma Lunatti challenged them during the heats and semifinals, but in the final the Chinese duo had the lead through every marker and held on for a 0.71 second victory over France. The French, meanwhile, had caught Greece, and took silver 0.32 seconds over Evangelia Anastasiadou and Zoi Fitsiou.

Result: CHN, FRA, GRE, AIN, USA, FRA

Chen said: “Today we are so happy to be the champions. We said before the race it was possible and we’re so pleased we could take this World Cup win.”

Serbian sprint secures Lucerne win

 Ireland 1, European bronze medallists Fintan McCarthy and Konan Pazzaia, seized the men’s double sculls final by the scruff of its neck and had the early lead. But coming into the finish it looked like they might have gone too hard, too early, as New Zealand and Serbia sprinted. And indeed it proved that way. Serbia’s Martin Mackovic and Nikolaj Pimenov, who had been quick all weekend, piled on the power and moved through the Irish, followed by Finlay Hamill and Benjamin Mason. There were just 0.05 seconds splitting Serbia and New Zealand on the line, and just over a second back to Ireland.

Result: SRB, NZL, IRL1, SUI1, IRL2, AIN1

Mackovic said: “It was pretty nice. I was trying not disturb the power from the stroke seat, he was doing all the work, I was trying to follow him. But it was a fun race, it was good, we are happy. I think we can improve a lot in our technique – we row a little bit different styles, but we have a little bit of power, so it was a good race.”

Germans take confident gold

Despite claiming a poor start, the German women’s quadruple sculls crew led throughout their final, never looking troubled by the crews behind them. Czechia were the best of the pack to 500m before fading. That left Poland and Romania battling for the minor medals; Poland were second at 1000m and 1500m, but Romania won the sprint for silver.

Result: GER, ROU, POL, CZE, SUI, CHN2

Germany’s Sarah Wibberenz said: “We went out today just to do our own race, stay in the boat, and I think that worked pretty well. Our start was not a perfect one, but after that we just stayed in the boat, did our thing in the middle 1000m. So really proud.”

Gold for British men’s quad

Poland’s men’s quadruple sculls crew attacked the final, but Great Britain stuck with them, moving through from fourth at 500m to second at 1000m and 1500m. Then they moved, attacking in the closing stages to row Poland down and win by nearly two seconds. Poland remained strong for silver, while the USA, in a new combination including Varese men’s single sculls silver medallist Jacob Plihal, won bronze.

Result: GBR, POL, USA, GER, AUS, CHN

Great Britain’s Matthew Haywood said: “We were down for most of the race, but we just had to trust that the Poles had put in the work and they were going to be tired and we could really shift through, and that was what we did.”

Ullrich storms to maiden singles win

After only a few weeks in the men’s single scull, after finishing the USA collegiate season in eights at the University of Washington, Logan Ullrich of New Zealand executed a brilliant race in Lucerne. He was third at 500m, before dropping back to fourth, but never out of contention – and he piled on the power to row past Yauheni Zalaty (AIN2), Jonas Slettemark Juel (Norway) and German Marc Weber to secure gold, his first in this boat class. Zalaty won silver and Slettemark Juel a second successive bronze.

Result: NZL, AIN2, NOR, GER, JPN1, LTU1

Ullrich said: “I dreamed about this for years, I didn’t think it would come that quick in my sculling career. I’m just blown away.”

Romanians surge to women’s eight victory

The USA challenged hard, but Romania had the superior speed in the women’s eights out of the blocks and right through into the finish. The Americans – soon after racing the women’s four final – were second. The race for bronze took some time to be decided, with Poland, Germany and Australia all sitting in third place at various points in the race, but Australia were the medallists on the line.

Result: ROU, USA, AUS, GER, POL, CHN

Romania’s Maria Lehaci said: “It was a really tough race. We were expecting that. All the girls are very good and we compete here at the highest level.”

Henry wins again, but field closing in

The women’s single sculls final was the closest we have seen this season. Favourite Lauren Henry (Great Britain) was slow out of the start, while Canadian Katie Clark took the advantage, but there was really little splitting the field. Coming into halfway Henry started to move and began to stretch out her lead. As at the 2025 European Rowing Championships, it was Ireland’s Fiona Murtagh and Denmark’s Frida Sanggaard Nielsen who followed her, resulting in the same podium as in Plovdiv. Henry’s win looked comfortable, but the margin was the tightest so far.

Result: GBR, IRL, DEN, CAN, LTU, BEL

Henry said: “Normally pretty much all the world is here, and at this event everyone I’ve raced has been here, so it’s the fields at Europeans and Varese put together. As the season progresses people are finding more speed, so it’s good to see where you’re at.”

Deutschlandachter back to top of podium

It has been three years since the German men’s eight last won at a World Rowing Cup but on Sunday, in the absence of Great Britain, they raced well to catch the fast Australian crew. Australia took the race on, leading out with sharp catches and intensity, but Germany found more speed in the third quarter and earned a victory of almost 1.5 seconds on the line. Romania won bronze.

Result: GER, AUS, ROU, POL, CHN, USA

Germany’s Paul Klapperich said: “It was pretty painful, the Australians did a really good job to go out with us. We did an even better third 500 where we started inching out, centimetre by centimetre, metre by metre, and then the final sprint was brutal.”