The “Lake of the Gods” in Lucerne hosted the second of this year’s Rowing World Cups with CUBC alumni playing a leading part as they move closer to the Olympics and Paralympics.
Men’s Single Scull: Dara Alizadeh (BER – Hughes Hall)
Having recently qualified for Paris at the American Qualification Regatta, Dara, coached by CUBC Men’s Chief Coach Rob Baker, took his speed to race a field of 30 scullers including Olympic Champion Stefanos Ntsoukous and Olympic favourite Ollie Zeidler.
Dara’s heat was led from start to finish by World Championship medallist Tom Mackintosh, and he finished 4th, narrowly behind Cuba’s Blanco, and will progress to the quarter final, where he needed to finish in the top 3 to make the A/B Semi final.
Dara finished 5th in his Quarter Final, and then took 2nd in the D-Final after a strong race which saw him in the lead with 1500 to go, but was outsprinted by Mercier of Belgium.
Women’s Lightweight Double Scull (Imogen Grant – Trinity)
After a frustrating Euro Championships where partner Emily Craig was forced out of racing due to injury, Imogen and Emily raced a strong field and sought to resume their winning ways.
Imogen’s first race saw normal service resumed, as she and Emily led from start to finish in a dominant display. They progressed to the A Final on Sunday with the fastest time in both heats. Making no mistakes in the final, they lead from start to finish and controlled the race, winning by 3 seconds over New Zealand with the USA another 4 seconds back.
Watch Imogen’s final HERE
Men’s Pair: Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George (GBR – both Peterhouse)
Fresh from a win in the European Championships, Tom and Ollie were favourites in a field of sixteen pairs and were looking to move towards Paris with increased speed and confidence.
In their heat, they led from start to finish, controlling the race and booking a place in Saturday’s A/B Semi Final, in which they dispatched Switzerland with some style. In the final, Tom and Ollie established a small lead by 500 into the race, which they continued to build throughout and crossed the line 3 seconds in front of the Spanish pair.
Watch Tom and Ollie’s final HERE
Mixed PR3 Double Scull: Jan Helmich (GER – Trinity Hall)
After punching his ticket to the Paris Paralympics in the German PR4+ in 2023, Jan switched to the PR3 Mixed Double for World Cup 2. Dominating the preliminary race by over 20 seconds, Jan and partner Hermine Krumbach went yet quicker in the final, leading from start to finish and winning by 13 seconds.
Watch Jan’s final HERE
Men’s Four: Freddie Davidson (GBR – Emmanuel)
European Championships were a happy race for the GB 4-, returning to their winning ways, and the World Champions sought to put down a marker going into Paris.
In their heat, the GB 4- was in 4th at the 500 mark, before pushing up to first with 500 to go, overtaking the Australian 4- who had led to the 1k mark. With only a .25 second lead to defend, every stroke would count, but the Australian 4- caught the finish line on the surge, finishing .03 of a second ahead with both crews progressing directly to the final.
The final was controlled by the new look American 4, who led throughout the race and defeated a new look New Zealand 4- by 2 seconds, with GB another 2 seconds behind.
Watch Freddie’s final HERE
Women’s 8: Henry Fieldman (GBR – Homerton) and Olivia Coffey (USA – Homerton)
Both 2021 Olympians, Fieldman and Coffey raced twice this weekend, firstly in the preliminary race on Friday, then in Sunday’s final.
The preliminary race saw GB have a clearing of the pipes in the first 500, then row a controlled race to finish 4th, while Olivia’s crew finished 1st, working their way through the pack.
A see-sawing race in the final had GB leading Canada through each marker to 500 to go, the lead not growing to any more than 0.4 of a second until the Canadian crew sprinted and overtook the GB crew to win by just over a second.
The USA was narrowly behind Canada and GB at the 500, then slowly began to lose margin over the leading two boats, maintaining third position and crossing the line 3 seconds behind GB.
Watch Henry and Olivia’s final HERE