Sunday dawned on the Rotsee in Lucerne, Switzerland with fast conditions greeting the Finalists on the last day of World Cup 3.
Australia took six medals from the 12 crews racing across the Regatta, with a Gold from the Women’s Eight, and five Silver Medals in the Men’s Pair, Women’s Single, Men’s Eight, Men’s Four and Men’s Double.
Of the success, Performance Director Paul Thompson MBE said, it was, “A very competitive regatta for us, considering the illness and injury that has made so many changes this week. The eights had fantastic rows, especially the women getting Gold, a great result for both crews. Tara, absolutely fabulous, outstanding. For Dave and Caleb to punch in at that level is fantastic. The Men’s Four was obviously wanting a little more – you have two sorts of Silver medals here. From now until the World Championships, for all crews, it’s about converting them to Gold. “
The Women’s Eight of Eleanor Price, Bronwyn Cox, Paige Barr, Jacqui Swick, Ella Bramwell, Olympian Giorgia Patten, Olympian Georgina Rowe, Emma Fessey, and cox Talia Barnet-Hepples had conviction from the starting green light through to the line.
Patten said, of the race, “We came out and executed a really good start which has been a strength of ours, so our main focus was to nail the race rhythm from 750 to 1500m which we know we are capable of. It’s exactly what we did and allowed us to move up through the field and hold off Canada and Romania.
“A big motto of our Women’s Training group is, ‘any person, anytime, anywhere’, so adapting at any point and keeping positive spirits.”
Fessey said that the success of the crew is due to them being, “fresh, flexible and willing to learn at every opportunity.”
The Men’s Pair was the first medal opportunity and racing did not disappoint. Olympic Champion Alex Hill OAM and U23 World Champion Harley Moore led the charge through the first 1000 metres and laid out the challenge to the field. Answering this, were crews from Great Britain and Serbia, both pushing through the Aussies in the final 500m. With a determined response, the Australians clawed back the Serbian crew to clinch Silver behind the British crew.
When asked what they learnt throughout the race, the two grinned, and Moore said, “not to catch a crab.”
On racing, Hill said, “We were trying to execute what we were working on throughout the regatta, we definitely got better as we went on. We had to go the long way round [through the repechage] and I really think that helped us hone our race plan.
“The Brits were definitely a better crew on the day, so all credit to them. Over the next couple of months, we’ll refine our process, focus on moving together, and look to take out the top step come World Champs.”
The Men’s Four of Jack O’Brien, Jack Hargreaves OAM, Spencer Turrin OAM and Alex Purnell OAM led the way in the showdown of the highly competitive boat class. While the Aussies led through the 1500m mark, the old rivals from Britain found a new gear and rowed through to take the win. Then it was the fight for the Silver against Romania, our Four held on for a photo-finish Silver medal.
Of the race, Purnell said, “We got out reasonably well, but probably didn’t find the sweetest rhythm that we needed – it was effective, but inefficient. We just had nowhere to go at the end and were just hanging on in the last 100m – I think we did well to hang on to second. The GB crew rowed a really good race, so well done to them.
Olympian Tara Rigney also managed to go one better than World Cup 3 by securing the Silver in the Women’s Single Scull. A fierce battle between all scullers saw seconds between first and fourth with the final outcome as Germany first, Australia second and Switzerland third.
Of the race, Rigney said, “I was just trying to take what I learned from the quad and implement it here in the scull. There’s a lot more that I know I can do technically to make the scull go faster, I think it comes down to having more time in the boat – it was hard to jump in after being in the quad, but I got the job done. We’ll see if we can make it happen for World Champs.”
The Men’s Double of David Bartholot and Olympic Bronze Medallist Caleb Antill kept race favourites Croatian Sinkovic brothers working to the finish as they crossed within a second of the race leaders.
Antill said, of racing the famous rowing duo, “Our idols become our rivals, we couldn’t quite match them today, but were glad to stay with them for most of the race [to take Silver] and we look forward to challenging them in the future.”
A stretched field pulled by the leading Romanians stretched our Women’s Double of Olympic Bronze Medallist Rowena Meredith and Kate Rowan, they finished the competition in sixth, having had limited time in this boat class ahead of this competition.
Our Senior Men’s Eight of Henry Youl, Benjamin Canham, Olympian Angus Widdicombe, Jackson Kench, Olympian Sam Hardy, Will O’Shannessy, Patrick Holt, Rohan Lavery, and coxswain Kendall Brodie gained on rivals Germany this regatta, taking the Silver behind Great Britain, the same crew that won the Men’s Eight in Henley.
Of the race, bow-seat Youl said, “A really good race today by the Men’s Eight. We had a plan and went out there and executed it.”
“We didn’t have the greatest race last weekend against the Brits [Henley Royal Regatta], and we really wanted to try and close that gap and be a bit of a challenge to them. They’re a very strong crew and we’ve got a bit more speed to find, but we’re moving in the right direction.”
The B Finals took place earlier in the morning, seeing the U23 Men’s Four of Charles Batrouney, Torben Ungemach, Nicholas Smith, and William Achermann place fourth in their race finishing with a World Ranking of 10th.
The Lightweight Men’s Double placed fourth in their race, with less than a second between first and fourth, the crew managed to improve from their 13th overall ranking at World Cup 2 to place 10th overall here in Lucerne.
The U23 Men’s Eight had a tight tussle with the Dutch crew once again, finishing second. This will give them an overall World Ranking of eighth ahead of the joint Junior and U23 World Championships in Varese at the end of the month.
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Results and highlights can be seen via the World Rowing website:
Follow the Rowing Australia social media channels for the latest updates, as well as photos and video coverage of the Australian Rowing Team.
For any information about team members, have a look at their biographies here: Australian Rowing Team Biographies.
Full Regatta Results:
Women’s Eight (W8+) GOLD
Eleanor Price
Bronwyn Cox
Paige Barr
Jacqueline Swick
Ella Bramwell
Giorgia Patten
Georgina Rowe
Emma Fessey
Cox: Talia Barnet-Hepples
Men’s Pair (M2-) SILVER
Alex Hill OAM
Harley Moore
Men’s Double (M2X) SILVER
David Bartholot
Caleb Antill
Men’s Four (M4-) SILVER
Alex Purnell OAM
Spencer Turrin OAM
Jack Hargreaves OAM
Jack O’Brien
Women’s Single (W1x) SILVER
AUS2
Tara Rigney
Men’s Eight (M8+) SILVER
AUS 1
Henry Youl
Benjamin Canham
Angus Widdicombe
Jackson Kench
Sam Hardy
Will O’Shannessy
Patrick Holt
Rohan Lavery
Cox: Kendall Brodie
Lightweight Men’s Single (LM1X) FOURTH
Oscar McGuinness
Women’s Double (W2X) SIXTH
Rowena Meredith
Kate Rowan
Men’s Eight (M8+) EIGHTH
AUS 2
Darcy McCluskey
Joshua Hill
Jamie Arnold
Marcus Emmett
Patrick Long
Fergus Hamilton
Alexander McClean
Angus Dawson
Cox: Harry Keenan
Men’s Four (M4-) 10TH
AUS2
Charles Batrouney
Torben Ungemach
Nicholas Smith
William Achermann
Lightweight Men’s Double (LM2x) 10TH
Redmond Matthews
Hamish Harding
Men’s Single (M1x) 14TH
Simon Keenan
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World Cup 3 Crew Lists
Women
W1x AUS2
Tara Rigney
Coach: Ellen Randell
W2x
B) Rowena Meredith
S) Kate Rowan
Coach: John Keogh
W8+
B) Eleanor Price
2) Bronwyn Cox
3) Paige Barr
4) Jacqueline Swick
5) Ella Bramwell
6) Giorgia Patten
7) Georgina Rowe
S) Emma Fessey
Cox: Talia Barnet-Hepples
Coach: Tom Westgarth
Men
Lwt M1x
Oscar McGuinness
Coach: David Fraumano
Lwt M2x
B) Redmond Matthews
S) Hamish Harding
Coach: David Fraumano
M2x
B) David Bartholot
S) Caleb Antill
Coach: Lyall McCarthy OAM
M2-
AUS 1
B) Harley Moore
S) Alex Hill OAM
Coach: Lyall McCarthy OAM
M4-
AUS 1
B) Alexander Purnell OAM
2) Spencer Turrin OAM
3) Jack Hargreaves OAM
S) Jack O’Brien
Coach: Rhett Ayliffe
AUS 2
B) Charles Batrouney
2) Torben Ungemach
3) Nicholas Smith
S) William Achermann
Coach: Matt Ryan
M8+
AUS 1
B) Henry Youl
2) Benjamin Canham
3) Angus Widdicombe
4) Jackson Kench
5) Sam Hardy
6) Will O’Shannessy
7) Patrick Holt
S) Rohan Lavery
Cox: Kendall Brodie
Coach: Mark Prater
AUS 2
B) Darcy McCluskey
2) Joshua Hill
3) Jamie Arnold
4) Marcus Emmett
5) Patrick Long
6) Fergus Hamilton
7) Alexander McClean
S) Angus Dawson
Cox: Harry Keenan
Coach: John Bowes