AUSTRALIA KICKS OFF WORLD CUP II IN WINNING STYLE

By Rupert Guinness with the Australian Rowing Team in Europe

A full-strength Australian Rowing Team announced its intent at the World Cup II in Lucerne, Switzerland with three of 13-strong fleet claiming convincing wins on Day 1 of the regatta.

Those three victories were in the heats of the Men’s Four, by the crew of Tim Masters, Fergus Hamilton, Jack Robertson and Alex Hill OAM; the Women’s Pair, by Annabelle McIntyre OAM and Jessica Morrison OAM; and the Women’s Single Scull, by Tara Rigney.

Australia’s win in the Men’s Four rekindled the embers of rivalry between Australia and Great Britain in the boat that began in the 1990s, featuring Australia’s ‘Oarsome Foursome.’

The win qualified Australia directly for the A-Final, as it did second placed Great Britain with the first two finishers in the heat receiving an ‘express ticket’ to the medal race on Sunday. Although, Australia, nor Great Britain, will have it their own way with the United States boat, medallists from last year’s World Championships, winning their heat in a faster time.

But it was a ding-dong battle between Australia and Great Britain. It saw the lead between them change several times. In lane one, Australia (5:54.34), coached by Lyall McCarthy, only snared the win in the very last strokes from Great Britain (5:54.37) who finished second, followed by France 1 (5:55.22), the Netherlands (6:02.44) and France 2 (6:05.49).

“We know the British crew are a really good crew, and there are some other good crews out there as well,’ said Hill who was in Australia’s Gold Medal Four at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

“We just made sure we stayed in our lane, worked on our race plan and tried to be as well-oiled as we can.

“They [Great Britain] are an amazing crew and you try to take the wins when you can.

“We got a little sniff at the end. We are happy to get away with the win today.”

In the Women’s Pair, McIntyre and Morrison led from the start to win comfortably and qualify for Saturday’s A/B Semi-Final.

The John Keogh-coached crew, who won every race last year bar the Final of the World Championships at Belgrade, Serbia in which they took Silver Medal, finished first in 7:13.66.

With the top three finish needed to make the A/B Semi-Final, the Australians beat Spain (7:16.44), Great Britain (7:19.15) and USA2 (7:30.29) in that order.

Australia’s No. 2 pair of Olympia Aldersey and Lily Alton Triggs, coached by Hally Chapman, placed fourth in their heat; but still made the A/B Semi-Final after placing third in the Repechage.

In the Women’s Single Scull, two times World Championship Bronze Medallist Tara Rigney produced a trademark display of poise and power to win her heat in lane six.

Rigney (7:33.77), coached by Ellen Randell, beat Uzbekistan’s Anna Prakaten (7:35.92), while finishing third was the Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) sculler, Tatsiana Klimovich (7:37.25).

With a top two finish, the victory also booked Rigney a ticket for Saturday’s A/B Semi-Final.

In other races for Australia:

Women’s Coxed Eight

Australia, last year’s World Championship bronze medallists, placed second (6:07.60) after leading to 1300m where the United States (6:06.16) charged by and raced away to win.

The John Keogh and Hally Chapman coached Australian crew of Katrina Werry, Lucy Stephan OAM, Samantha Morton, Georgina Rowe, Sarah Hawe, Georgia Patten, Bronwyn Cox, Paige Barr and coxswiain Hayley Verbunt held second, fending off a charge by Canada (6:07.78) in third.

Australia will get another chance to test their measure with all crews making Sunday’s Final.

Women’s Double Scull

Australians Amanda Bateman and Harriet Hudson impressed in their heat, placing second after leading through the middle 1000m to go into the A/B Semi-Final on Saturday.

Their heat was won by Ireland (6:54.62). Australia (6:55.32), racing in lane two and coached by Ellen Randell, finished well clear of France (6:59.28) and Norway (6:48.00).

Women’s Four

The new look Four of Eliza Gaffney, Jean Mitchell, Jacqueline Swick and Molly Goodman coached by Tom Westgarth, needed a win to qualify directly for the Final. They placed fourth (6:42.86) in their heat won by Great Britain (6:27.53) from the United States (6:30.03) and New Zealand (6:32.72). They need a top four finish in Saturday’s Repechage to Final.

Men’s Coxed Eight

Australia (5:35.06), Bronze Medallists in last year’s World Championships, placed fourth in their first race of the year. Their Preliminary race was won by the United States (5:27.95). Finishing second was Great Britain (5:29.65) from the Netherlands (5:34.93) in third.

Coached by Mark Prater, the crew of Ben Canham Josh Hicks, Spencer Turrin OAM, Alexander Purnell OAM, Jack Hargreaves OAM, Jack O’Brien, Angus Dawson, Angus Widdicombe and cox Kendall Brodie will be better for their first hit-out come Sunday’s Final.

Men’s Coxless Pairs

A medical issue impeded Australia’s No. 1 Pair of Simon Keenan and Paddy Holt in their heat. Racing in lane five, the Rhett Ayeliffe coached crew placed fourth (6;47.49), behind the winners Switzerland (6:28.65), Great Britain 2 (6:29.47) and then New Zealand 2 (6:35.64).

Australia’s result was a concern, but Holt was diagnosed with a respiratory tract infection that impeded his oxygen intake. The Pair was medically withdrawn from the Repechage.

Meanwhile, in the same event, Australia’s No. 2 Pair of Rohan Lavery and Jackson Kench, the ART men’s ‘Spares,’ placed third (6:34.85) in their heat won by Great Britain 1 (6:29.48) from Ireland 1 (6:31.47), to also make the A/B Semi-Final with a top three place needed.

Women’s Quad Scull

The Australian crew of Rowena Meredith, Caitlin Cronin, Laura Gourley and Kathryn Rowan placed sixth in their Preliminary race won by Great Britain (6:21.53). Second was Germany (6:24.28), followed by the Netherlands (6:24.93), Switzerland (6:25.98) and China (6:26.61).

The Tom Westgarth-coached Australian crew (6:35.22) should be better after their first race together for Sunday’s Final which all crews made because only six boats entered the event.

PR1 Men’s Single Scull

Five time World Champion and triple Paralympic medallist Erik Horrie OAM produced an assured and smooth second place in lane two of the first heat of the PR1 Single Scull to qualify for Sunday’s A-Final. The heat was won by Ukraine’s Roman Polianskyi (9:08.66). Horrie (9:29.79), coached by Chad King and needing a top two finish to qualify for the Final.

PR3 Men’s Pair

Ukraine (7:24.33) won in a two-up from Australia (7:30.21); but Australians Nicholas Bartlett and Tobiah Goffsassen, coached by Chad King, put up a valiant show on debut as a crew.

WHAT’S UP FOR AUSTRALIA – World Cup II Day 2: Saturday

9.22AM (5.22PM AEST) – Women’s Pair  A/B Semi-Final: AUS1 -Annabelle McIntyre OAM, Jessica Morrison OAM and AUS 2 – Olympia Aldersey, Lily Alton Triggs - First three to the A-Final. The rest to B-Final.

9.37AM (5.37PM AEST) – Men’s Pair A/B Semi-Final: Rohan Lavery, Jackson Kench – First three to the A-Final. The rest to B-Final.

9.47AM (5.47PM AEST) – Women’s Double Scull A/B Semi-Final: Hariet Hudson, Amanda Bateman - First three to the A-Final. The rest to B-Final.

11.00AM (7.00PM AEST) – Women’s Four Repechage: - Eliza Gaffney, Jean Mitchell, Jacqueline Swick, Molly Goodman - First four to the A-Final.

11.10AM (7.10PM AEST) – Women’s Single Scull A/B Semi-Final: Tara Rigney - First three to A-Final. The rest to B-Final

12.32AM (8.32PM AEST) – PR3 Men’s Pair Final: Nicholas Bartlett, Tobiah Goffsassen.

How to Follow the 2024 World Rowing Cup II:

This year the 2024 World Rowing Cup II will be taking place in Lucerne, Switzerland from May 24-26 2024.

A total of 234 crews from 43 nations will compete in 23 boat classes, in the hopes of earning points that will contribute to their countries overall standing in the series.

The international medal races start on May 25 at 12:20 CET, and the World Rowing Cup medal races start on Sunday, 26 May at 10:05.

Here is how to follow the event on mobile, tablet, or desktop:

1. The provisional time table for the events can be found here and entries for all the events can be found here.
2. Live race tracker and LIVE audio will be available for ALL races on www.worldrowing.com.
3. LIVE video streaming will be available on the World Rowing website on Sunday, May 26 from 10:00 for all World Rowing Cup boat class A-Finals. The video streaming will start 5 minutes before the first race.