Monday debrief: Lucerne brings World Rowing Cup season to an end

Well, that was exciting. The 2025 World Rowing Cup season came to a really excellent conclusion on Sunday in Lucerne, continuing the year’s theme of close racing from the first race in the regatta to the last.

We saw tight finishes, crews being rowed down in the last few hundred metres, the return of champions, and the season’s breakout athletes continuing to impress. Without further ado, here’s the Monday debrief.

God-like conditions

The Rotsee is known as the Lake of the Gods for good reason. Conditions were practically perfect throughout the weekend. On Friday there was, some said, a confusing wind which shifted round down the course from head to tail, but it was never too strong to disrupt racing.

On Saturday and Sunday the sun came out and things sped up a little bit, and the water was a deep glassy green. It truly is a special place.

That said, the heat did cause challenges; during heats and semifinals, rowers were pausing at the finish pontoons to accept frozen towels, ice down their backs and cold water as they recovered from their efforts. More than one medallist was also spotted pouring water over their heads. Mastering the art of staying cool could also be key at the World Rowing Championships later this year in Shanghai, as September in southern China can also be hot and humid.

A good regatta for …

Lithuania. The men and women in green may have claimed just one medal, but their bronze-medal winning men’s four is an impressive unit. Formed since the European Rowing Championships from their men’s pair and double sculls, the three Stankunas brothers and crewmate Mantas Juskevicius pressed Varese winners Australia and European champions Romania extremely close, and pushed European silver and bronze medallists France and Croatia off the podium. They are ones to keep an eye on.

Also impressing were the Lithuanian single scullers. Giedrius Bieliauskas and Dovydas Nemeravicius went head-to-head in the heat, and eventually finished sixth and ninth respectively. Viktorija Senkute was fifth in her final, after her spectacular Olympic bronze last year.

The Baltic nation might not be a rowing giant, but its rowers are definitely making a splash.

And also …

Logan Ullrich. After winning bronze in the men’s four at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Ullrich went back to the University of Washington and their varsity eight. He beat his native New Zealand in the Windermere Cup, and won the IRA national championships, in a string of good results.

Ullrich then had a matter of a couple of weeks to master the single scull, but rather like Tom Mackintosh before him, the sweep-to-sculling transition has gone rather well. In Varese a poor semifinal relegated the tall Kiwi to the B-final, which he then won. In Lucerne, he sat patiently in fourth place for most of the final and then unleashed a really excellent sprint to row through European champion Yauheni Zalaty. On the line, Ullrich beat his chest in joy.

Off the water, he then had a brief meeting with Norwegian great Olaf Tufte. Could Ullrich follow in Tufte’s footsteps to Olympic and world glory?

A mixed bag for …

Great Britain. Usually somewhere near the top of the medal table, a reduced British squad did enough to bring home the overall World Rowing Cup trophy, but with only three medals to show from Lucerne, after topping the medal table at the European Rowing Championships and featuring heavily in Varese.

Lauren Henry has swiftly become a banker in the women’s single sculls, and the men’s quadruple sculls win over Poland was perfectly executed, while the women’s pair had a good race for bronze.

But there was disappointment for the women’s fours, missing the podium, while the men’s four did not make the A-final. And the women’s double sculls – including three members of the European champion quad – did not quite click either. However, there is little doubt the British team will get hard to work in the next couple of months, shake off a few lingering niggles and illnesses, and show up in force in Shanghai.

Best celebration

The best celebration of the weekend must surely go to Shahkzod Nurmatov of Uzbekistan. The 26-year-old lightweight single sculler has been on the scene for a while, generally in the lightweight men’s double sculls, and he was 15th together with Sobirjon Safaroliyev at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. This is his first season in the single; he was fifth in Varese, and in Lucerne took bronze.

The effort of Nurmatov’s sprint was such that he crossed the line and promptly tipped into the water. The rescue boat was swiftly there to haul him out and bring him (and his boat) to land, where he was checked over and pronounced well enough to collect his medal. After a triumphant photograph waving a blade in the air, Nurmatov then got back in his boat and sculled away. Given the heat, a dunking in the cool water of the Rotsee was probably just the ticket.

Off the water

The Lucerne World Rowing Cup this year coincided with the Stadtfest Luzern, a festival of music and food and drink in the city centre (and parades in traditional costume). This year it also included a 250m erg race, ‘the Duel’ between retired Swiss rowers Roman Röösli and Andrin Gulich in front of an enthusiastic crowd in the city centre. Gulich won, despite trying to launch his erg off the stage with the power of his strokes. But on Sunday the pair went out rowing together on Lake Lucerne, just for the joy of it.

Next stop: Shanghai

While some of the younger athletes competing in Varese will be aiming for the under 19 or under 23 World Rowing Championships, most are looking to the 2025 World Rowing Championships in Shanghai. Those are nearly three months away, giving plenty of time to recover from the World Cup Season, finalise crews and fine-tune sprints.

With the new progression system proven to produce close racing, there is little doubt that Shanghai will be a regatta to remember. See you there!