USA take first World Rowing Cup trophy; Great Britain top Lucerne medal table

The 2026 World Rowing Cup season came to an end on Sunday in Lucerne with a set of superb finals. While Great Britain topped the Lucerne medal standings, with six golds, one silver and one bronze medal, it was the USA who went home as the overall World Rowing Cup winners. It is the USA’s first World Cup title ever, built off the back of strong showings at both World Rowing Cup II and III.

Australia cruise to opening win

Australia’s Susannah Lutze and Wallis Russell added gold to the bronze they won in the PR3 mixed coxed four on Saturday. The Australians took a decisive early lead over Japan and never looked back.

Results: AUS, JPN

Pritchard wins first Lucerne gold

In his first appearance in Lucerne, Paralympic and world champion Benjamin Pritchard took gold in the PR1 men’s single sculls. But initially Pritchard did not have things his own way, after Erik Horrie (AUS) – who won in Lucerne last year – stormed out of the blocks and led to 500m. Pritchard’s push in the second quarter was decisive, however, and he claimed a big victory to open his 2026 season.

Results: GBR1, AUS, FRA, GBR2, ISR, ESP

Ghiringhelli opens Swiss account

Claire Ghiringhelli (SUI) won last year’s World Rowing Cup Lucerne in the PR1 women’s single sculls, and she took another victory on Sunday with a solid performance over Ebba Einarsson (SWE) and the newly reclassified Katie O’Brien (IRL). O’Brien, who is in her first regatta as a PR1 sculler, had a better start than in the preliminary race on Friday, but Einarsson moved into silver medal position just before the 500m mark.

Results: SUI, SWE, IRL

USA outsprint Czechia for gold

Czechia’s Anna Santruckova and Pavlina Flamikova led the women’s pairs World Rowing Cup standings before Lucerne and knew if they beat Chile they had a chance of the trophy. They led out the final, but Regina Salmons and Mia Levy (USA2) were never far behind and through 1750m unleashed a devastating sprint which Czechia were unable to respond to. Melita and Antonia Abraham (CHI) were comfortably ahead of France for bronze. Czechia did secure the World Cup event win.

Results: USA2, CZE, CHI, FRA, USA1, GER
World Rowing Cup winner: CZE

Salmons said: “I just trusted Mia’s legs, and she’s such a racer, and I knew when we were going to go we were going to go.”

Australian men’s pair dominate

The Australian men’s pair of Alex Hill and Angus Dawson took an early, decisive lead in the final at a speed nobody could contend with. it was a much closer fight for the minor medals; Switzerland raced hard from lane 6 and got themselves into silver medal position early on, but were unable to stay in second as the USA moved in the last quarter. However, Switzerland had done enough for bronze, despite a determined Spanish effort that led to a photofinish and a 0.25 second margin.

Results: AUS1, USA, SUI, ESP, GRE, SWE
World Rowing Cup winner: NZL

Dawson said: “We’re really happy with the win, it’s the first big race, so our goal was just to progress through heats, semifinal, and I think we delivered a really good product in the final.”

Dutch take gold and World Rowing Cup trophy

Roos de Jong and Benthe Boonstra (NED) won the women’s double sculls final and claimed the World Rowing Cup event trophy for the Netherlands, but what looked like a fairly straightforward win early on turned into a battle at the finish as the two USA boats charged. The Dutch were only able to hold on by 0.48 seconds over Sophia Vitas and Emily Kallfelz (USA1) at the line, while Isabela Darvin and Evan Park (USA2) rowed an excellent second half to take bronze from the fast-starting Ireland.

Results: NED, USA1, USA2, IRL1, POL, GER
World Rowing Cup winner: NED

Boonstra said: “They came pretty close, and we were just thinking we had to attack and not defend that much. We really focused on ourselves.”

Belgium shock in men’s double sculls

Belgium’s Aaron Andries and Tibo Vyvey won a surprise silver medal at the World Rowing Cup I in Seville and shocked again in Lucerne with a stunning gold. The new British combination of Matthew Haywood and Joshua Knight led to halfway, but the Serbian world silver medallists, Martin Mackovic and Nikolaj Pimenov, pushed through the 1000m to draw level with the British. Belgium made their move in the last quarter to storm through Serbia, while Cedar Cunningham and Jacob Plihal (USA) claimed bronze behind Serbia. This is Belgium’s first World Rowing Cup gold medal for a very long time, and they also win the individual event.

Results: BEL, SRB, USA, ESP, GBR1, FRA2
World Rowing Cup winner: BEL

Vyvey said: “I think we did a mediocre start and the first 1000, but the last 1000 we went for it all and then seeing we were coming close to the medal positions it give us extra wings, so we did an extra push and take the first place.”

USA storm women’s fours

The USA won the women’s fours by open water, but not after Australia had challenged them hard. The Australians led out the race to 1500m, with the USA gradually inching back at every marker; it was a devastating push at that point which took them into the decisive lead. Behind them, there was a similar story for bronze, with the Netherlands leading Great Britain for the first three-quarters of the race before fading in the finish under the British pressure.

Results: USA, AUS, GBR, NED, DEN, POL
World Rowing Cup winner: USA

Teal Cohen (USA) said: “We knew our middle 1k was super strong, and our base, no matter head, tail, any wind, was really powerful, so we trusted that. We had a really good third quarter and the last 500 we just were hanging on.”

Great Britain remain on top in men’s fours

Great Britain secured the individual trophy in the men’s fours after their second victory of the season, albeit by a smaller margin than at the World Rowing Cup I in Seville. The British took a small clear water lead by halfway and continued to stretch out that advantage in the third quarter of the race. The field came back to them in the closing stages as Romania, France and USA1 all fought for the minor medals; it was the Romanian sprint which proved decisive, and the USA were off the podium.

Results: GBR1, ROU, FRA, USA1, NED, USA2
World Rowing Cup winner: GBR

James Robson (GBR) said: “I’m really happy with how we executed our middle k, that was predominantly the focus for us, and has been since Seville. We’ve got a lot of training camps between now and world champs to put either end on it a little bit.”

Brits back on top in women’s quads

Great Britain and the Netherlands were the front two crews early on in the final of the women’s quadruple sculls, and into 1500m the British quad, stroked by Olympic lightweight women’s double sculls champion Imogen Grant, had almost a length’s lead on the Netherlands. Seville World Rowing Cup winners Germany left things late but into the final quarter they started moving on the Dutch. That brought the race back towards the British, but they had done enough early on and claimed victory. Germany took silver in a photofinish ahead of the Netherlands, by 0.15 seconds.

Results: GBR, GER, NED, GRE, SUI, FRA
World Rowing Cup winner: GBR

Lola Anderson (GBR) said: “We are experienced as a nation at rowing quads, but we’ve been changing the order around a lot, trying out a lot of different combinations, and this one has come together so quickly it’s just been fun.”

Three in a row for Great Britain

A new-look British men’s quadruple sculls crew took on the field in the final, and their early lead translated into victory. Estonia and the AIN crew were in the minor medal positions at 500m, but the Netherlands had got themselves into third behind Estonia by halfway. The Dutch speed then started to show as they came through Estonia. In the final quarter, the Dutch were charging, but Great Britain held on for a win of about quarter of a length ahead of the Netherlands, while Germany grabbed bronze ahead of AIN. Germany also took the individual World Cup win.

Results: GBR, NED, GER, AIN, EST, AUS
World Rowing Cup winner: GER

Rory Harris (GBR) said “I’m so proud of our whole team. We were pretty annoyed with how the semifinal went yesterday, but was pleased that we got through. We just said to ourselves we were going to take it to the rest of the world, and that was exactly what we did. I don’t think I’ve put together a better race as a crew before.”

Dutch hold off Britain in men’s eights

The Dutch men’s eight are world champions and also won the World Rowing Cup I in Seville. They secured the 2026 event trophy with another victory in Lucerne, but Great Britain got much closer than in the first regatta. The Netherlands had the best start, taking a slight lead by 500m. Great Britain had a very solid middle 1000m to row through Australia and Germany. The Dutch still led by about a second at 1500m as the world champions held the field at bay. In the closing metres the British were charging, but the Dutch had just done enough early on, and claimed victory by 0.24 seconds. Australia won bronze.

Results: NED, GBR, AUS, GER, AIN, POL
World Rowing Cup winner: NED

Jonna de Vries (NED) said: “The boys were doing an amazing job. We had to change our race plan a little bit based on what the Brits were doing, and they just responded and that was just enough on the line.”

Henry claims another win for Great Britain

A well-paced and patient race from Lauren Henry (GBR) gave her her second win of the season and the women’s single sculls World Cup trophy. Henry was slow initially as Aurelia-Maxima Janzen (SUI) blasted out of the blocks, but once in her rhythm, she moved through the field to lead just after 1000m, ahead of world champion Fiona Murtagh (IRL). There was no catching Henry in the finish. Tara Rigney (AUS) claimed her first World Rowing Cup medal since 2024, bronze, after just failing to overtake Murtagh in the sprint.

Results: GBR, IRL, AUS, GER, BEL, SUI
World Rowing Cup winner: GBR

Henry said: “I’m really pleased. I really liked the way I rowed that race, I was very internal.”

Britain win women’s eights

Great Britain secured their sixth gold medal of the day with a fantastic row in the women’s eights. They went out hard and led through every marker, establishing enough of an advantage in the first 1500m that when Australia 1 started charging they had enough water to hold on. Australia, the winners of 2026 World Rowing Cup I and the event trophy, in turn were able to fend off the USA who charged through for bronze despite every member of the crew having already raced in the women’s pair or four.

Results: GBR, AUS1, USA, NED, AUS2, GER
World Rowing Cup winner: AUS

Annie Campbell-Orde (GBR) said: “I actually had no idea where everyone else was. I felt like it was very internal and we just did what we’ve been practising in training, which is obviously very hard to do in those conditions.”

World champions cruise to PR3 mixed doubles win

There was no doubt about the winners of the PR3 mixed double sculls. 2025 world champions and world best time holders Valentin Luz and Kathrin Marchand opened their 2026 campaign and, remarkably, won their first World Rowing Cup medal with a dominant victory in a pretty fast time given the slow conditions. Ukrainian couple Stanislav Samoliuk and Dariia Kotyk raced well for silver, with Sam Stunell and Ella Marshall winning bronze on Marshall’s international debut.

Results: GER, UKR, AUS, USA, ESP, ISR

Marchand said: “It’s my first World Cup medal ever, and I’m rowing for 20 years, so it’s a really nice feeling to finally get a World Cup medal. And it’s gold, it’s the best you can have.”

Gold for USA in mixed doubles

Cedar Cunningham and Sophia Vitas (USA1) won the mixed double sculls at World Rowing Cup II in Plovdiv and they did it again in Lucerne, beating Arno Gaus and Sarah Wibberenz (GER) to gold. Jacob Plihal and Emily Kallfelz (USA2) won bronze, and Finland were fourth.

Results: USA1, GER, USA2, FIN

Zeidler claims another win

There was no catching Oliver Zeidler (GER) in the men’s single sculls final. The Olympic champion got his bows in front early on and went through 500m in world best time pace, despite the slight headwind. Simon van Dorp (NED1) was the only sculler able to stay in touch, with Kai Schaetzle (SUI) another 1.6 seconds back alongside Yauheni Zalaty (AIN). Van Dorp made his move early, just after 1500m, but that effort cost him and with Zeidler holding on to his advantage the Dutchman slipped back. Meanwhile Sam Melvin (USA) and Zalaty both opened up their sprint; the Olympic silver medallist had more in the tank and was even gaining on Zeidler. Melvin took bronze to go with his gold from World Rowing Cup II.

Results: GER, AIN, USA, NED1, SUI, SLO1
World Rowing Cup winner: GER

Zeidler said: “I was a bit nervous, because it was a long time since I won here. I’m happy that I have another good result for this season now, and let’s see what Europeans and worlds will bring.”