A true test ahead of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, an absolutely stacked field of crews opened their racing on Lucerne’s Rotsee today as the 2024 World Rowing Cup II got underway. The opening session provided close racing across the board with many reigning Olympic and World Champions showing their hand ahead of Paris.

Roman Polianskyi, 2024 World Rowing Cup II, Lucerne, Switzerland © World Rowing/Benedict Tufnell

Polianskyi performs again

The reigning Paralympic and World Champion in the PR1 men’s single sculls demonstrated that he is on form this season ahead of Paris. Roman Polianskyi of Ukraine is definitely the one to beat in this boat class. Polianskyi’s time (9:08.66) was the fastest across the two heats with Italy’s Giacomo Perini winning the second heat in 9:31.17.

Dutch duo dominate

Ymkje Clevering and Veronique Meester (NED1) looked well in control of their heat of the women’s pair. Their time of 7:07.61 got them over the line almost ten seconds ahead of Greece, and was the fastest across the three heats, putting them in a strong position to maintain their position as World Rowing Cup series leaders which they established in Varese. With Ireland winning the second semifinal in 7:11.03, the world silver medallists from 2023 took the honours in the third heat. Australia’s Jessica Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre clocked 7:13.66.

Roman Roeoesli, Andrin Gulich, Men’s Pair, Switzerland, 2024 World Rowing Cup II, Lucerne, Switzerland © World Rowing/Benedict Tufnell

Tight times in men’s pair

The winning times across the three heats of the men’s pair were all within less than a second of each other! Great Britain1, claimed a comfortable victory in heat one with Oliver Wynne-Griffith and Tom George crossing the line in 6:29.48. Interestingly, Great Britain’s second boat clocked 6:29.47 in the second heat which, while fast enough to book them a place in the semifinals, wasn’t quite the winning time – the current World Champions from Switzerland took that position. Roman Roeoesli and Andrin Gulich showed they are looking for a home victory when they posted 6:28.65. The third heat was won by Spain’s Jaime Canalejo Pazos and Javier Garcia Ordonez in 6:28.75.

World Cup leaders into repechage

Another Dutch duo that were keen to impress was Lisa Scheenaard and Martine Veldhuis in the women’s double sculls. They went out hard off the start and looked well in control of their heat, comfortably leading at halfway. However, they perhaps went too soon and, in the second half of the race, the field came past them. They finished fourth and will need to go through the repechage. There was another surprise in the second heat when last year’s World Championship silver medallists from Lithuania, Donata Karaliene and Dovile Rimkute finished fourth and will also need to contest the repechage. The top three of the third heat was exceptionally close with Ireland’s Zoe Hyde and Alison Bergin eventually taking the win. It was France’s Margaux Bailleul and Emma Lunatti that missed out on direct qualification that time.

Olympic Champions beaten

The gold and silver medallists from Tokyo lined up against each other again today in heat two of the men’s double sculls, but the result was reversed! Olympic silver medallists Melvin Twellaar and Stefan Broenink are reigning World Champions and will undoubtedly be aiming to become Olympic Champions too in a couple of months. They took the single direct qualifying spot to the A-Final form the heat whereas the reigning Olympic Champions from France, Hugo Boucheron and Matthieu Androdias took third place and will need to contest the repechage.

Women’s Four, Great Britain, 2024 World Rowing Cup II, Lucerne, Switzerland © World Rowing/Benedict Tufnell

Can the new-look GB women’s four overcome World Champions

Great Britain has changed their line-up in the women’s four since they finished in bronze medal position at last year’s World Rowing Championships, and they are clearly on a mission for Paris. They won their heat this morning securing direct qualification for Sunday’s final. The reigning World Champions from the Netherlands took the win in the second heat and will also progress directly to the final. While the Netherlands clocked 6:33.40, the British crew was faster with 6:27.53.

A familiar rivalry in the men’s four

Photo finish, Men’s Four, 2024 World Rowing Cup II, Lucerne, Switzerland

The USA secured a relatively comfortable win in the first heat of the men’s four with New Zealand taking the second direct qualification through to the final. It was a shock to see reigning World Champions Great Britain sitting in fourth at 500m in the second heat and while they managed to work their way through the field, it wasn’t quite enough to win the final sprint to the line against the Australian crew. Both will progress directly to the A-Final, where we expect to see an epic battle. Australia are reigning Olympic Champions in this boat class and Sunday’s final will give us an idea of what to expect in Paris.

Reigning Champions in the women’s single

We have the reigning Olympic and World Champions here racing in the women’s single sculls and they were the winners of heats two and one respectively. Dutch sculler Karolien Florijn is the World Rowing Cup series leader having claimed gold in Varese earlier this season – her winning time was 7:32.01. However, we haven’t seen New Zealand’s Emma Twigg on the international circuit yet this season and her winning time of 7:33.30 suggested we could have some exciting racing in the later rounds. Australia’s Tara Rigney is also racing at her first international event this season; she won the third heat in 7:33.77.

Tom Mackintosh, Men’s Single Sculls, New Zealand, 2024 World Rowing Cup II, Lucerne, Switzerland © World Rowing/Benedict Tufnell

Zeidler looking for hat trick

The men’s single sculls is another field that has the reigning Olympic and reigning World Champions entered, and we can’t wait to see them against each other later in the competition. Greek sculler Stefanos Ntouskos took the win in the first of six heats, comfortably securing his place in the quarterfinals. Olli Zeidler is the reigning World and European Champion and, last year, completed the Hat Trick, winning all three World Cups. He has won the first so far this season, but could someone break his streak here in Lucerne? While he was the winner of the second heat, clocking 7:01.40, other heat winners were faster than him. Simon Van Dorp of the Netherlands took the winning place in the third heat in a time of 7:00.69 while Yauheni Zalaty, representing AIN, won heat four in 6:55.99. With 25 entries in this boat class, there are still 3 more rounds of racing until the medals are decided.

Michelle Sechser, Molly Reckford, Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls, United States of America, 2024 World Rowing Cup II, Lucerne, Switzerland © World Rowing/Benedict Tufnell

Craig and Grant reunited

Emily Craig was absent on medical grounds from the Great Britain lightweight women’s double sculls at the recent European Rowing Championships, but the duo were reunited here on the Rotsee looking to maintain their position as World Rowing Cup leaders. Craig, with partner Imogen Grant comfortably won the first heat, their winning time significantly faster than the winning time of Michelle Sechser and Molly Reckford of the USA in heat two. We’ll see them again in the final on Sunday!

Fintan Mccarthy, Paul O’Donovan, Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls, Ireland, 2024 World Rowing Cup II, Lucerne, Switzerland © World Rowing/Benedict Tufnell

More World Champions back in action

The reigning World Champions in the lightweight men’s double sculls were also back today – the first time we’ve seen them since Belgrade last year. Ireland’s Fintan Mccarthy and Paul O’Donovan won the final heat of three, but their time wasn’t the fastest across the heats. While Ireland clocked 6:25.63, the 2023 silver medallists clocked the fastest time across the heats. Jan Schaeuble and Raphael Ahumada Ireland of Switzerland won heat one in 6:25.31.

Preliminary races in quads

The morning session of racing concluded with two excellent preliminary races in the quadruple sculls. It was Great Britain that took the lead in the women’s race whereas a phenomenal battle between Poland and the Netherlands saw the Dutch crew finish on top of the men’s race. We’ll see them all in action again in the finals on Sunday.

Ntouskos out

After a delay due to adverse weather, the men’s single scullers were back out on the Rotsee for the second time in the day to race the quarterfinals. The biggest surprise of that round was the Greek reigning Olympic Champion Stefanos Ntouskos missing out on qualifying for the semifinals. Although he was in the all-important top three at halfway, he slipped back to sixth by the end of the race, and will race next in the Final D

USA impress in the eights

The racing day finished with the preliminary races of the eights which saw a double win for the USA. Their women beat Australia by just over a second whilst the men, who just a few days ago secured qualification for the Olympic Games, beat the British men’s eight by almost two seconds. All the eights will be seen again racing in the finals on Sunday.

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