Clanging cowbells and perfect conditions welcomed spectators on the final day of the 2025 World Rowing Cup II in Lucerne, Switzerland. With sporting dignities in attendance the rowers put on a spectacular show. Newly elected International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry dropped in from Lausanne to watch the racing. The former South African swimmer is the first female IOC president.
There were two South African crews racing in Lucerne, neither made the podium but their men’s pair of Christopher Baxter and Damien Bonhage-Koen came close with a fourth place finish. And it was a solid performance from Paige Badenhorst in the women’s single sculls, who finished second in the B-Final behind Brazil.
Romania were top dogs at this regatta. Despite losing their charismatic head coach Antonio Colamonici to his native Italy, Romania topped the Lucerne medal table with three golds and three minor medals. All six podium performances came on the last day, with their three gold medals (pairs and women’s eights) near-bookending the race schedule.
“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,” said Olympic champion Simona Radis of her win in the women’s pair with Maria Magdalena Rusu. “We go home and start to prepare because there is a lot of time until the World Championship and we want to improve more.”
Behind Radis and Rusu, Czechia’s Anna Santruckova and Pavlina Flamikova outsprinted Great Britain to win silver. Megan Slabbert and Eleanor Brinkhoff (GBR1) showcased an enviable midrace rhythm to return to the podium, following their third and fourth place finishes in the pair in Plovdiv and Varese, respectively.
It was not the most illustrious of days for Great Britain, whose medal count would likely have been boosted if the European champion men’s eight and Paralympic champion Ben Pritchard raced.
“I dreamed about this for years”
Logan Ullrich
Nevertheless Great Britain placed fourth on the medal table and secured the overall World Rowing Cup, ten points clear of the USA.
Two sculling gold medals were the highlights for the British team today. Lauren Henry (GBR) continued her dominance of the women’s single sculls and the British men’s quad secured a historic gold medal.
Cedol Dafydd, Callum Dixon, Matt Heywood and Rory Harris (GBR) heaped the pressure on the Poles in the second half of their race – steadily softening their opponent’s lead before launching an unanswerable sprint finish.
“We showed true grit and willpower to get our bowball in front at the end,” said Heywood. “Christian (Felkel), our coach says, ‘it doesn’t matter where you come through, it doesn’t matter where it happens, just make it happen’, and today it only happened in the last 250, but it was there.”
Silver then for Poland’s Olympic bronze medallist, who came second in Varese two weeks ago, and second in this event last year. Behind them a newlook American men’s quad showed promise winning bronze: Olympic single sculler Jacob Plihal making the jump into the quad for only the second time in his senior international career.
In the women’s single sculls Lauren Henry continued her golden season. She eventually broke clear of Ireland’s Fiona Murtagh in the final few hundred meters. It is Henry’s first Lucerne gold medal in the women’s single (she won the women’s quads event last year), it is also her nation’s first ever win in this event in Lucerne. Silver medallist Murtagh is likely to take confidence from her performance. Frida Nielsen won bronze.
On the men’s side, New Zealand’s Logan Ullrich unleashed a huge sprint to overhaul Paris Olympic silver medallist Yauheni Zalaty (AIN2). The Kiwi sculler, who finished seventh in Varese, is making big steps in the single and there’s likely more to come from the Olympic men’s four silver medallist and former Washington Husky.
“I dreamed about this for years, I didn’t think it would come that quick in my sculling career. I’m just blown away,” said Ullrich, whose late charge left Norway’s Jonas Juel in the bronze medal position.
Ullrich’s former event also served up a spectacle. There was only half a second separating all six men’s fours finalists at the first marker. Despite a fierce second quarter from the French and big pushes in the second half from Romania and Lithuania, it was the Australians who kept their bowball in front.
Nikolas Pender (AUS): “It’s a fantastic field out there so it’s pretty exciting to beat some of the best rowers in the world – the Romanians are special and Lithuania has stepped on – we will still go back and train hard. It was so tight! I think we can take confidence from this result.”
It was a gutsy effort from Aussie women’s four too, who took the race by the scruff early on and powered to the first marker under world best time pace, but the Americans one lane across reeled them back midrace and put a length on them to seal victory in the final 500 meters. Australia held off their Antipodean neighbours New Zealand by 0.43 seconds to secure silver.
USA women’s four, said Azja Czajkowski: “We did a really good job of executing our plan, just staying internal. We just trust each other a lot.”
Czajkowski and her teammates were back in action at the end of the day too. Despite doubling up there was no sign of tired legs in the USA women’s eight who secured a sensational silver medal behind the Romanian Olympic champions. Behind them Australia and Germany vied for bronze, which the Australian nabbed by less than a tenth of a second.
Germany secured second on medal table, aided by a resurgent men’s eight and women’s quad. Deutschland Achter secured their first World Rowing Cup gold medal since 2022 on the Rotsee.
It was a controlled performance from the German women’s quad, who wasted no time getting to the front of the field and then built on an open water led to the finish line. Behind them Poland evoked their glory days to claim a bronze medal behind silver medallists Romania.
“We just trust each other a lot”
Azja Czajkowski
One of the best races of the day came courtesy of the men’s double. Serbia’s Martin Mackovic and Nikolaj Pimenov sprinted to a narrow victory over New Zealand and Ireland 1; a first-ever World Rowing Cup victory for Pimenov, and the first in a sculling event for Mackovic.
The first medals of the day went to the PR1 scullers.
Claire Ghiringhelli roused her home crowd by winning Switzerland’s first ever gold medal in para rowing. It was a strong performance from the Swiss sculler, who rowed through Dutchwomen Eva Mol. In Plovdiv, at the start of the season, Mol beat Ghiringhelli at the European championships. This time Mol had to settle for silver ahead of Tunisia’s Ahlem Jeddi, who won a bronze medal on her international debut.
Gold Coast sculler Erik Horrie (AUS) took the top spot in the PR1 men’s single sculls, although his finish line reaction – a frustrated shake of the head – was incongruous to his dominant victory. Perhaps a sub-nine-minute performance was his aim, which he missed by just over a second. Frenchman Alexis Sanchez, claimed silver, half minute back, but safely ahead of Germany.
Horrie is in a hurry to make ground on the big three – Benjamin Pritchard, who withdrew from this event for medical reasons, Roman Polianskyi (UKR) and Giacomo Perini (ITA) – ahead of the world championships in Shanghai.
The international racing season continues in July and August with the 2025 World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Poznan, Poland, and the 2025 World Rowing Under 19 Championships in Trakai, Lithuania. It will culminate in Shanghai with the 2025 World Rowing Championships between 21-28 September.
