USA Rules the Roost on the Rotsee

The blue World Rowing carpet was out for USRowing this weekend as a combination of courage (team and individual) and good decisions gave them the Victor Ludorum at the third and final world cup regatta of the year, something to celebrate in the nation’s sesquicentennial year and the fifth season under Dutch supremo Josy Verdonkschot.

2026 World Rowing Cup Series

They only took one world cup trophy, the women’s four, but being the biggest points scorer at the Plovdiv world cup two weeks ago gave them a solid head start. They were the biggest team in finals (all 17 of their crews), and converted at a magnificent rate, giving them 12 medals. Of these four were gold, including two Olympic (women’s four and pair) and one Paralympic (PR3 coxed four), plus the mixed doubles which has become the race used at the end of the day to separate the flurry of the eights from the final singles contest of the regatta.

With selection still to be finalised for most of the crews this speaks of a strength in depth which must have Verdonkschot’s rivals going green with envy at this early stage in the year. One of the few Yanks already confirmed for the worlds, single sculler and former lightweight Sam Melvin, was busy defying the odds and Olli Zeidler’s power to put the wind up the entire men’s singles field.

Despite an erratic but noticeable headwind in the first half of the course, he kept up with the pack while Dutchman Simon van Dorp tried to bully Zeidler into folding during the first 1500 metres, and then took up the cudgels when van Dorp faded quickly in the last quarter, chasing AIN sculler Yauheni Zalaty, as both stormed towards Zeidler nearing the line. There’s a fabulous bit of footage in the video at around 1400m gone where the camera just has Zeidler, all six foot eight of him, and beyond him the considerably shorter Melvin hunting the German down, just before van Dorp concedes and Zalaty comes past the Dutchman and the US sculler.

Zeidler was unconcerned, and is still the one to beat, but Melvin and Zalaty are not making life easy for him, though they manfully hoisted him up on their diminutive shoulders at the medal ceremony.

How to Watch World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne

By contrast the women’s singles was rather a coronation, Lauren Henry untouchable while the rest wallowed in her wake, nailing her determination to the wall and challenging the rest to face her. The nearest contender for most of the race was 2025 world champion Fiona Murtagh, again, but cheeky returner to the sport Tara Rigney (AUS) was bent on causing havoc and scurried towards the line so fast that she ran Murtagh down to a 0.3 second margin for the silver medal. Afterwards the Irishwoman and Australian, both working full time for big finance companies while training at the top level, were swapping notes on juggling jobs with selection.

“That was good, I just rowed it the way I wanted to,” said Henry. “Headwinds are different, I was pleased with that. I didn’t want to have a dingdong like in Seville, the theme for this regatta was to really enjoy it.” She has also now nailed two regattas on the trot in stifling heat — the kind which gave her heatstroke before Shanghai last year — and come through unscathed, a confidence boost. “When you’ve had a heat-related illness you kind of worry. It’s about coming here and learning how to manage the heat, learning what’s my best strategy.”

Rigney divulged that it had been seeing Murtagh win the worlds last year despite working full-time which had inspired her to reconsider returning to the sport even though she had moved into her business career. “I was star-struck when I saw her,” Rigney explained. “I went into international racing [this year] knowing this was the hardest it would ever be, because this is the most unfit I’ve ever been. Absolutely stoked to be out in the mix there, and very grateful to my coach Alfie Young. He has a saying, ‘be shrewd, not chaotic’ — sometimes I can be a bit too all guns blazing. Which I think I was a bit world cup 1. I watched my Olympic final the night before the [Seville 2026] heat, obviously just went out for blood and my body was like ‘whoa dude, we’re about a year behind on the training’!”

Henry’s superb singles gold was just one bright spark of six for the British team, which had a particularly good weekend. Matt Aldridge and newcomer Josh Knight were slightly caught out by the pace of the men’s doubles race and ended fifth — still an encouraging start for an untested combination and a race from which they will learn much — but the rest of the team delivered in spades. Eight medals, all Olympic or Paralympic, from ten finalists, and crowned by six golds, to cheer interim performance director Tom Dyson, who has temporarily stepped into Louise Kingsley’s shoes.

“We wanted just to see a step up from Seville,” explained Dyson. “The whole team should be incredibly proud and pleased. Across the team so far nearly everyone has stepped a place up or confirmed another gold, so that’s an incredible set of results. Any day like this when you end up with almost an hour of people being on the podium, you’ll take that. We’ve got to be realistic, there are still some crews to come back in, but it’s a nice point in the middle of the season to see we’re on track.”

“Mia’s got some big watts!”

Regina Salmons

The GBR men’s four repeated their Seville and 2025 worlds wins calmly, ahead of a rollicking cats and dogs battle between the other five crews, which were separated by half a second at the 500m marker. After a flourish from USA 1 which didn’t quite stick and a good attempt from France, the Romanians, veteran Ciprian Tudosa leading a trio of under-23s, took over second place, but the British four were already 20 metres up and flying. France pulled away a little from the US to claim bronze.

“We felt like we were in a good spot last summer, and challenging ourselves to be in a better spot this summer has been something that Christian [Felkel, coach] has been bringing to us,” said James Robson (GBR). “He always says ‘guys just go out, deliver your best race, win or lose we can accept it, just do your process.’ For me it’s the first boat I’ve been in that’s been consistently doing well, it’s been really useful to me to have that sort of mentorship, it makes everything very simple,” added Dan Graham (GBR).

The GBR M4- gold was followed in quick succession by titles for the British men’s and women’s quads, the latter stroked by Imogen Grant in her first 2000m international race as a heavyweight. The Paris LW2x champion had while a student stroked the Cambridge Boat Race crew to victory in the heavy seas of the Thames Tideway, but the well-behaved Rotsee water was a new experience, and a welcome one after disrupted months for the crew following badly-timed injuries.

A mere six and a half minute race which they led from gun to tape put Grant in a gleeful mood, and showed the rowing world that defence of the Paris title is in solid hands. Behind them Germany pulled off a brilliant coup stalking the rapid Dutch for minutes until finally pouncing to snatch silver in the last few moments. “The Rotsee is a very special place to row, it always has this feeling like you’re coming home even though it’s a completely different country,” said Lola Anderson (GBR). “We’ve been excited about this combination for a while and it’s been cool to test it out for the first time here.” “They did amazingly in Seville without me, I was gutted to be on the bank [then], but to be able to keep building on that, amazing,” said Grant. “I had so much faith in the whole sculling squad to keep this project going.”

The Dutch men’s quad also had to settle for silver after being bested by Britain’s quartet who put right their race approach at just the right time. The Brits had less of a cushion but still managed to stay ahead of the Dutch charge to the line, which didn’t fire as effectively as normal, though it worked against world cup I winners Germany who seemed slightly off their Seville form. Nevertheless Germany held off the AIN crew for third, while quick starters Estonia faded to fifth.

“be shrewd, not chaotic”

Tara Rigney

Australia had ten boats in Olympic or Paralympic finals, and took away the women’s eights trophy due to their points total, but only captured one gold from the ten, that of the men’s pair, though they claimed good silvers for the women’s four and eight and PR1 sculler Erik Horrie. The men’s pair were masterful, Alex Hill and Angus Dawson leading the entire way and able to relax in the third quarter as USA 1, Pieter Quinton and Madison Molitor, bundled their way through from the back of the field to swipe second from the unwary Swiss in the closing stages.

“I’m really enjoying the pair,” said Hill afterwards. “It’s nice to do something different, especially with Dawes. We’re from the same part back in South Australia, have rowed together a few times back at home.” “There was a good push there at the end from all the crews,” said Quinton, “and we were able to get ourselves into a prominent spot.” Like most of the US crews they have yet to hear what the coaches will decide about crews for the worlds, with a speed order taking place for many of them next weekend.

Horrie had the tricky task of rowing his first race of 2026 against world champion Ben Pritchard (GBR) three weeks after the Welshman had become the first PR1 rower to go under 7 minutes on the erg for 2000m. That’s using only his arms and body — think about it…. Horrie, who now describes himself as ‘the grandad of the PR1 category’, has tweaked his rig and gamely tried to shoot off the start but couldn’t hold past 700m against the sheer power being put down by his rival, who then flew away.

“We’re trying new things — equipment, a whole different set-up, how we’re trying to row the stroke,” said Horrie. “It’s one of the biggest things, trying to adapt and keep up with the younger generation.” Afterwards Pritchard spoke about being pushed on by training against newcomer Jake Woods, who finished fourth, thirty seconds behind his team-mate. “He keeps each session at home accountable. I’m doing a hybrid model, training at home in Swansea and then Caversham one week a month. Jake’s doing something similar so it’s really nice that when we come together we push each other on. In trials, he’s pushed me closer than anyone else has pushed me. He’s learning how to compete here but at home he’s a fantastic sculler and I can’t wait to see that come through on the international stage.”

Switzerland’s cowbells celebrated Claire Ghiringhelli’s win in a spread-out PR1 W1x field to defend her 2025 title, on a day in which several of their finals hopes fell slightly short of the medals. They weren’t the only disappointed smaller team: Regina Salmons and Mia Levy in USA 2 upset both Chile and the Czechs in the women’s pair, gunning it at the start of the final quarter to pass Czechia after having to stop the rot several times in the earlier stages. “We trusted our base, we knew it would put us in a good position into the last 500m,” said Salmons. “We stuck to it, we found a good rhythm and it was really nice. And Mia’s got some big watts!” “That was very hard for us,” said Czech Anna Santruckova afterwards. “I’m so proud of us, we had a very hard training block.” The Abrahams sisters (CHI) were delighted to hold off late-sprinting France after USA 1 faded, though they were clearly exhausted at the end.

2026 World Rowing Cup Series

Both doubles races were extraordinary, with three US crews on the podium but the Dutch and Belgians claiming the top spots. Roos de Jong and Benthe Boonstra (NED) had looked relatively comfortable leading the women’s doubles along the track until a battle between the two USA doubles towed them past Ireland and into a serious challenge to the Dutch dominance.

De Jong’s head was swivelling rapidly to check on position, but with a largely steady rate 37 and impressively long strokes, the experienced Dutchwomen managed to hang onto a half-second lead to take the top spot. It was good to see them back in the double together, hopefully for the season. “That was a big effort,” said Boonstra in the mix zone. “It always feels like they are really close, coming to get you, when you are in front,” said de Jong. “So you have to focus on keep attacking instead of defending, and it went better than yesterday.” “We executed what we wanted to but obviously wish we could have put on a bigger sprint,” said Sophia Vitas. “But we’ve only been together for a short time so I’m really proud.”

The men’s doubles race was led out by the dynamic new GB combination but they couldn’t quite cope in the pace and were passed soon after halfway by Serbia’s bronze medallists in Seville, Martin Mackovic and Nikolaj Pimenov. It wasn’t long before Spain, the USA and Belgium were having a go too, and a four-way dash to the line resolved itself into gold for Belgians Aaron Andries and Tibo Vyvey, whilst Serbia won a tense photofinish for silver ahead of the USA. “The plan was staying alive in the first thousand and then flying ourselves to death in the second thousand,” explained Andries. “Plan well executed!”

They are giving away a large amount of height and stroke length, particularly against the USA’s towering giant Jacob Plihal. Vyvey explained the strategy for dealing with this problem. “We know up front we are not the strongest, not the tallest, so we have to be on another level when it comes to technique and doing everything together.” They could end up having an encouraging European championships with the Dutch absent, but it bears remembering that Simon van Dorp and Melvin Twellaar (NED) will be back in the double for their home worlds in August.

One of Australia’s hopes was the women’s four, which they led for the first half, but found themselves trading pushes with the USA for about 90 seconds at the start of the second thousand. A final shove from the USA at 1450m gone shunted them into the lead, which broke Australia’s grip for good. Not long after that the new British four managed to sneak past the Dutch for bronze.

“staying alive in the first thousand and then flying ourselves to death”

Aaron Andries

Battle was joined in both eights races, the Australian women being toppled from their Seville win by a revenge row from the Brits. Undaunted the Aussies had another go as the line came into sight, and nearly did it, but ran out of water about half a minute too soon. The US crew, doubling up into their small boats, heroically pushed past the Dutch as the buoys turned red to set out their stall to defend the 2025 world title. “It was good, but definitely a tough one,” said Teal Cohen, the American stroke. “Three of us rowed the four last year but we just got back into it ten days ago, so to be able to pick up where we left off and build off it was great.”

More predictably the powerful Dutch men’s eight claimed gold again, and the M8+ trophy, after a dingdong battle with the Brits in which the men in orange steadily held the upper hand. Rather like the Australian women, GBR’s men threw the dice one last time near the line, but also narrowly fell short. What will console them is that they’ve sliced the gap between them and the Dutch from half a length in Spain a month ago to a miserly 0.24 seconds now. Australia were well clear of Germany for third place. “We had a slight headwind at some point which was a bit unexpected, that made it a bit challenging, technically,” said Jorn Salverda (NED). “We’ve had a change in the line-up since the last time we raced, and we’re just seeing what works,” said David Bewicke-Copley (GBR). “The rowing’s definitely getting there, it’s just getting a 2km race which works, and we’re seeing what that means for us.”

So that’s a world cup wrap, but Varese lying ahead in July will be one of the most unusual European championships of recent years. The Dutch are staying away wholesale so they can prepare for their home world champs soon afterwards. The Italians (as hosts) will be out in force, as will the Romanians who do love an anthem, a flagpole and a medal bonus. Britain’s women and Australia’s men will be in Varese anyway on training camp, one squad able to compete and the others relegated to the position of non-European spectators, but the other halves of their squads are elsewhere. And less than a month later we will find out which strategy was better, at the worlds in Amsterdam.

2026 World Rowing Cup Series