World Cup 1, Seville – Day 1: Rowsellas impress with flying start

The Australian Rowing Team kicked off their 2026 international campaign with impressive performances by all five boats on Day 1 of World Cup I in Seville, Spain.

It marked a promising next step for Rowing Australia’s high-performance program that is underpinned by more than a decade of support from Hancock Prospecting and enduring commitment of Rowing Australia Patron Mrs Gina Rinehart AO. From trials to crew selection, and now the big stage of international competition, Hancock Prospecting’s investment plays a pivotal role in enabling Australian crews to prepare, perform and succeed against the world’s best in events like the World Cup regattas.

RA also acknowledges the support of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), Australian Sports Commission (ASC), and Australian Government, whose investment enables athletes, coaches and programs to perform on the world stage.

Friday’s highlights were heat wins by the new-look Women’s Four and Pair that saw the Four qualify for Sunday’s A-Final and the Pair for Saturday’s Semi-Finals.

Former Gina Rinehart AO Leadership Award recipient, Tara Rigney OLY also made the Women’s Single Sculls Semi-Finals with her heat third place time being the third fastest outside the first two finishes, as per World Rowing’s progression system.

In the Women’s Eights Preliminary Race to determine lane draws for Sunday’s A-Final, Australia’s third place indicated that they can be in the medal hunt on Sunday.

And in the Women’s Quadruple Sculls, a brave third place by another new-look Australian crew, while not securing an A-Final start, showed plenty of promise.

“It was a promising with all boats being competitive and stepping on from last year's World Championships.,” RA Performance Director Paul Thompson said.

“They are racing with more maturity and will take confidence from the heats and bring it into their next rounds.”

In the Women’s Four, Australia booked their berth for Sunday’s A-Final by winning their heat comfortably in the fastest time of the two races.

The crew of Georgia Patten OLY (bow), Bronwyn Cox OLY (2), Jacqueline Swick OLY, and stroke Georgie Rowe OLY (stroke) led Heat 2 from start to finish

The heat was won by Australia (6:36.28) from a fast-finishing New Zealand (6:40.53) who overhauled third placed Great Britain (6:41.00) in the very last metres.

The time by Australia, a new-look crew coached by James Harris, was faster than the winner of Heat 1, Netherlands (6:37.24) who beat Ireland (6:51.60) comfortably.

“It was a solid first race to start our campaign,” said Jacqueline Swick. “We got away early with a clean start and stuck to our race plan through the middle.

“We are really excited to see how fast we can go in the Final on Sunday.”

In the Women’s Pair, the new Australian crew of Emmie Frederico (bow) and Katherine Easton (stroke) stamped their arrival to the world stage with a win.

The win by the Xavier Dorfman coached crew, in an extremely tight race that saw only 0.66 separate the first three, assured them a place in Saturday’s Semi-Final.

Racing in Lane 5, Australia started fast and led at the 500m and 1000m marks.

However, in the second 500m, the race behind the Australian boat between two crews from Romania and one from Lithuania for the vital second place guaranteed Semi-Final berth kept the pressure on the Frederic and Easton to the finish line.

The Australians, in their first international race since being selected, kept their nerve superbly under so much pressure, and they held off the challenge to win (7:24.42).

In second was the Lithuanian crew of Ugne Juzenaite and Kamile Kralikaite (7:24.43) and the Romania 1 crew of Adriana Adam and Maria Lehaci (7:25.08).

“We are really happy to piece a solid first race together.” Emmie Frederico said.

“We are really looking forward to working off that and getting better with each racing opportunity.”

In the Women’s Eight, Australia raced from Lane 4 to place third in the Preliminary Race between five crews to determine the lane draw for Sunday’s Final.

The Ellen Randell coach crew of Georgie Gleeson (bow), Eliza Gaffney (2), Lily Triggs OLY (3), Ella Bramwell (4), Samantha Morton (5), Paige Barr OLY (6), Jaime Ford (7), Laura Gourley OLY (s) and Hayley Verbunt OLY (coxswain) raced well.

Netherlands set the pace early, but Great Britain and Australia never let the Dutch race away, and by 1500m the tables turned with Great Britain taking the lead.

With 500m to go, Great Britain led by 0.63 over second placed Netherlands and 2.50 over Australia. Romania and Germany followed at 5.92 and 9.26 respectively.

All crews were assured of places in Sunday’s medal race, but the importance of the lane draw and opportunity to gain a competitive edge was clear by the tight finish.

Great Britain still hung on to win (6:07.26) but they were challenged right to the finish by second placed Netherlands (6:07.52), while third place went to Australia (6:09.06). In fourth was Romania (6:13.42), followed by Germany (6:18.16) in fifth.

In the Women’s Single Sculls, Rigney, competing in her first international race since placing fourth at the 2024 Paris Olympics, finished third in Heat 2.

The heat was won by Lithuania’s Viktorija Senkute (7:36.90), the 2024 Olympic bronze medallist who placed fourth at last year’s World Championships in Shanghai.

Second was Belgium’s Mazarine Guilbert (7:41.85,) followed by Rigney (7:45.88.)

With the first two in the four heats making the Semi-Final, Rigney’s hopes of joining them in the next round hinged on her time being among the next four fastest.

Rigney, coached by Alfie Young, did not shy from her return to the world stage.

She led from the start and at 500m, but Senkute surged by her and led to the finish line. However, in Senkute’s wake, an exciting fight for second place then unfolded.

Rigney, racing in Lane 4, held second spot well through the 1000m and 1500m marks, but in the last 500m Guilbert unleashed a mighty challenge from third place.

Guilbert passed Rigney in the last 250m shore up her Semi-Final berth and leave Rigney to sweat on her third-place time being fast enough to qualify – which it was.

In the Women’s Quad Sculls, Australia placed third in Heat 1 in a brave first outing.

While they fell short of earning a place in Sunday’s A-Final, their third will give this new combination much to grow from as their 2026 World Cup campaign continues.

Racing from Lane 2, this new Jamie McDonald coached crew of Romy Cantwell (bow), Emily Sheppard (2), Sara de Uray (3) and Sarah Fahd (stroke), chasing a top two finish to make the A-Final, were second at 500m behind the winners Romania.

Australia was still in the fray at 1000m, but then New Zealand passed, leaving them to chase the clock to be one of the next two fastest finishers to make the medal race.

Australia did well to respond to the challenge, especially after France and Netherlands came from behind to chase their hopes of a last gasp effort paying off.

However, it was too late, as Romania (6:29.60) won from New Zealand (6:34.99), leaving Australia (6:35.83) to settle for third place and a place in Sunday’s B-Final.

“We knew coming in that we were up against some very strong crews,” Sarah du Uray said.

“So, to come away away finishing in the middle of the field and only just missing the A-Final is something we’re proud of.

“We raced hard, and showed we can compete, giving us a lot of confidence moving forward.”

Australian Crews Racing Saturday – Day Two

19.05 (AEST) – Women’s Single Sculls Semi-Final 1 (Lane 1): Tara Rigney OLY

19.27 (AEST) – Women’s Pair Semi-Final 1 (Lane 4): Emmie Frederico, Katherine Easton

HOW TO FOLLOW 2026 WORLD CUP I – Seville: June 5-7

Follow the action across Rowing Australia’s social channels.

The provisional timetable for the events can be found here, and entries for all the races are available here.

Live race tracker and LIVE audio will be available for ALL races on www.worldrowing.com.

LIVE video streaming will be available on the World Rowing website on Saturday, 30 May for the Semifinals and A-Finals, as well as on Sunday, 31 May for the A-Finals. The video streaming will start 5 minutes before the first race.