Pan flat water and a clear blue sky set the scene for today’s racing at the 2023 World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne, Switzerland. The Heats for boat classes with 13 or more entries were run as Time Trials, a necessary component to test during the season ahead of the qualification events at the World Rowing Championships and next year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games, should those events need them.

New blood in the men’s four

Great Britain are the reigning World and European Champions in the men’s four, and if the time trials are anything to go by, they are going to be tested in Lucerne. The first down the track, GBR1 posted the fastest time. In the very next race, the new Kiwi combination, who has not yet been seen this season, finished within 0.3 seconds of the British’s time. In the third Heat, the Australians, who finished second behind the British in Varese, crossed the line in 5:53.45, nearly a full second faster. Fireworks are expected in the semis and in the A-Final!

Arakawa does it again

At the last stage of the 2023 World Rowing Cup in Varese, Japan’s Ryuta Arakawa posted the fastest time across the heats, and finished the regatta with a bronze medal. He has once again posted the fastest time, this time out of the eight Heats, and with a clear margin in front of the reigning Olympic and World Champions.

New Zealand’s Tom Mackintosh, Olympic gold medallist in the Men’s Eight, has been swapped into the single this season, and has made a statement on his first run down the course. He finished first in his Heat, in front of reigning World Champion and World Rowing Cup leader Oliver Zeidler – who almost missed out on a qualification to the Quarterfinals.

But with the majority of crews in each race progressing directly to the Quarterfinals, many of these athletes will be saving their energy for races to come.

Who run the world?

Unbeaten since she swapped into the women’s single last year, The Netherlands’ Karolien Florijn showed she has no plans of slowing down. She posted the fastest time overall, and was more than 10seconds faster than the second placed crew in her Heat.

The Romanian women’s double of Simona Radis and Ancuta Bodnar also finished with the fastest time overall, and a 10+ second margin back to the second crew in their race. They have been unbeaten in this boat together since the 2019 World Rowing Championships.

The other unbeaten crew since the beginning of this Olympic cycle is the lightweight women’s double sculls combination of Emily Craig and Imogen Grant for Great Britain, who also comfortably won their heat.

New Zealand and Romania re-assert themselves in Lightweight Women’s Doubles

Both New Zealand and Romania have boated lightweight women’s double sculls at this regatta. New Zealand had sent a crew to last year’s World Rowing Championships, but Romania has not raced since the Tokyo Olympic Games.

For New Zealand, Jackie Kiddle and new partner Shannon Cox finished first in their Heat, giving them the only direct spot in that race to the A/B Semifinal.

Romania’s Ionela Cozmiuc also has a new partner – the 19 year old Mariana-Laura Dumitru. They crossed the line in 6:50.06, just 0.26seconds ahead of the Olympic silver medallists from France, who will have to contest the Repechage.

Luwis on fire

In the Heats of the lightweight women’s single sculls, with only 12 entries, A-Final spots were on the line. It was Siobhan Mccrohan of Ireland who took the honours in the first Heat, and Sophia Luwis of the USA in the second. Luwis comes off a serious car accident that cut her 2022 season short, and is slowly building back. By the looks of things, she is on the right path.

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2023 World Rowing Cup III: Pundit's Picks

A Test of Time Trials kicks off the 2023 World Rowing Cup III

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