World Cup III Day 2 Review: Rowsellas Well Placed for Medal Chase

The Australian Rowing Team (ART) will have 10 boats in medal races at World Cup III in Lucerne on Sunday after three more crews joined the seven that earned places on Day 1.

That leaves the ART with 11 boats in medal races for the regatta, with the Para rowing squad delivering its first finals medal of the regatta on Saturday with a Bronze in the PR3 Mixed Coxed Four – the first medal for Australia in the event at a World Cup regatta.

Australian entries that made Sunday’s A-Finals through Semi-Finals on Saturday were the Men’s Pair, Men’s Quadruple Sculls and Tara Rigney OLY in the Women’s Single Sculls.

Also in medal races will be Australia’s two Women’s Eights, the Women’s Four, the Men’s Eight and from the Para rowing squad, Erik Horrie OAM PLY in the PR1 Single Sculls, the new PR3 Mixed Doubles Sculls crew of Ella Marshall and Sam Stunell and the PR3 Women’s Pair of Susannah Lutze and Wallis Russell.

In what is the ART’s final international test before the 2026 World Championships at Amsterdam in August, Day 2 at Lucerne, the most prestigious event on the international calendar outside the Olympic and Paralympic Games and World Championships, saw nine Australian crews race Semi-Finals, two race in the E-Final and D-Final of the Men’s Single Sculls, and the PR3 Mixed Coxed Four win Bronze.

The strong showing by the ART reflects the support from Hancock Prospecting and commitment of RA Patron Mrs Gina Rinehart AO. From trials to crew selection, and the big stage of international competition, Hancock Prospecting’s investment plays a pivotal role in enabling Australian crews to prepare, perform and succeed globally.

RA also acknowledges the significant support from the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) and the Australian Government through Minister for Sport Anika Wells, whose investment enables athletes, coaches and programs to perform on the world stage and represent our nation with pride.

The PR3 Mixed Coxed Four celebrate their Bronze medal finish. Photo: Patrick Boere

For World Cup III on the pristine Rotsee, Australia’s entry of 20 boats across 15 events was drawn from its Senior, ‘Australia A’ and Para rowing squads. Performances by all crews at Lucerne will go into RA’s determination of its final selection of the ‘Rowsellas’ team for the 2026 World Championships at Amsterdam, Netherlands on August 24-30.

Rowing Australia Performance Director Paul Thompson MBE said after Day 2 of World Cup III: “The regatta has shown our potential with 11 boats in the medal races from all three squads, including the Bronze Medal from the PR3 Mixed Coxed Four today.

“Sunday will see some fabulous races and continuing rivalries as we get to the final day of competition and a last test before the World Championships in August.”

The added tone of optimism for the ‘Rowsellas’ in Sunday’s finals was set on Saturday by the Para rowing squad winning a Bronze Medal in the PR3 Mixed Coxed Four Final.

The crew of Susannah Lutze PLY, Toby Goffsassen PLY, Mac Russell, Wallis Russell, and (cox) Hannah Cowap PLY threw everything into their tilt for the Gold Medal.

The US won (7:00.27) from Ukraine (7:08.78) in second and Australia (7:18.12) third, the same order as in the Preliminary Race, but not for lack of Australia daring to alter that.

The new Australian crew led at 500m and were only passed by the US and then Ukraine just before 1000m. The field then split, with Spain distanced behind Australia.

“We went out and executed exactly what we had planned,” cox Hannah Cowap said.

“We wanted to go out there, have a strong start, try and get up on Ukraine after Friday’s race, and we ended up jumping the whole field, and came out of the blocks first.

“We executed our plan to a tee but just lost it there through the second half.

“It will be exciting to see what we can do in the next couple of months [before the 2026 World Championships] so that we can fill out the race in the second kilometre.

“The support we have received to this point has been incredible.”

Off the back of the PR3 Mixed Coxed Four’s success, all eyes now turn to Australia’s hopes for Sunday, including the crews who joined the medal hunt on Saturday from the Semi-Finals of the Men’s Pair, Men’s Quadruple Sculls and Women’s Single Sculls.

In the Men’s Pair, Australia had two boats in the Semi-Finals, with one securing a place in the A-Final - the Aus 1 crew of Angus Dawson OLY and Alex Hill OAM OLY from the Senior squad. The Aus 2 crew of Mackenzie Thompson and Alexander Baroni from the ‘Australia A’ squad placed sixth in their Semi-Final and will now race in the B-Final.

Hill and Dawson were convincing in their Semi-Final. After getting an early lead they led through every marker to win (6:25.30) from Spain (6:26.44) and Switzerland (6:26.90). Those three crews will be joined in the A-Final by the respective first three finishers of the other Semi-Final – the US (6:26.06,) Greece (6:26.13) and Sweden (6:28.44).

“We are satisfied with that, with it being the first big race of this season,” Dawson said.

“It was good to piece together a good heat and then building off that a little bit more in the Semi-Final and we still have got another gear to go tomorrow [in the A-Final].

“We probably could have got through [the Semi-Final] a little cleaner, but we're happy.

“It'll be good to go out tomorrow and execute our race plan right through the finish.”

In the Men’s Quadruple Sculls, the crew of Cormac Kennedy-Leverett, Johnson Daubney, Jackson Free, and Marcus Della Marta showed their impressive second place behind Germany in their Heat on Friday was no flash in the pan in their Semi-Final.

The Australians, in only their second race together, placed third (5:47.88) in their Semi-Final behind the Netherlands (5:45.82) and AIN (5:46.21) to qualify for the A-Final.

Considering how close they were to the winners of the other Semi-Final, Germany in Friday’s heat (0.01 seconds), the A-Final presents a potentially thrilling opportunity.

In their Semi-Final, the Australians started well, then passed Czechia in the third 500m to move into third place, after which they held the race pace up front to hold third.

“This group of guys are continuing to learn the boat class and learning how to move it together,” coach Nick Mitchell said. “The A-Final will be another step on that journey.

“The exciting thing is that we're competitive in the field. We know that we've got a long way to go. But we're not out of it. So, the exciting thing is how do we put our best race together and put ourselves out there in the race while still using our framework, our skill, and our intelligence to be excited about the challenge that an A-Final presents.“

In the Women’s Single Sculls, Australia had two Semi-Finalists - Tara Rigney OLY and Annabelle McIntyre OAM OLY, both former Gina Rinehart AO Leadership Award recipients. They raced in separate Semi-Finals, with Rigney making the A-Final.

In sweltering conditions, Rigney took the lead soon after the start. By 1000m Rigney found herself behind Swiss Under-23 world champion Aurelia-Maxima Janzen and followed by Irish World Champion Fiona Murtagh. But by 1500m, Rigney was back in the lead.

Rigney then took control of the race to win (7:27.24) by more than a length from Murtagh (7:28.59) and Janzen (7:31.89), slowing her pace and effort to be fresh of the A-Final.

The performance by Rigney, who is coached by Alfie Young, was confident and assured, and again showed she has progressed further since her return to international racing at World Cup I in Seville where she won the B-Final.

In Semi-Final 2, McIntyre, in her first regatta since winning a Bronze in the Pair in Paris 2024 and undergoing back surgery, gave it her best shot, staying with the leaders up to 1500m.

Briton Lauren Henry got the best start, and by halfway had a comfortable lead to win (7:21.45), leaving it a race for second and third places between McIntyre, in Lane 1, and Belgian Mazarine Guilbert in Lane 3.

But after McIntyre faded in the last 500m and could not answer Guilbert who finished second (7:27.77), she fell off the pace to be passed by Germany’s Alexandra Foester who came through in Lane 5 for third (7:28.46) and the last A-Final berth, followed by Ukraine’s Kateryna Dudchenko who took fourth (7:31.27), leaving McIntyre to place fifth (7:37.25) and booked into Sunday’s B-Final.

 

In other races on Day 2:

The Women’s Pair, the Australian crew of Emmie Frederico and Katherine Easton were unable to qualify for Sunday’s A-Final as they placed fourth in their Semi-Final after a valiant late charge that almost saw them secure a late reservation for the race.

The Semi-Final was won by Chile (7:04.16) from France (7:04.94) and Germany (7:05.24) leaving Australia (7:05.59) fourth and outside the top three to make the medal race. They will now race the B-Final on Sunday.

In the Men’s Four, Australia’s two entries both missed out on qualifying for the A-Final in their Semi-Finals and will now race each other in Sunday’s B-Final.

From the Senior Team, the Aus 1 crew of Charles Batrouney, Lachlan Doust, Darcy Watter, and Jackson Kench placed fourth (5:58.81) in their Semi-Final won by France (5:52.28) from the US 1 (5:54.87) and Romania (5:54.95).

From the ‘Australia A’ squad, the ‘Aus 2’ crew of Henry Blackwell, Alexander McClean, Ben Canham OLY, and Benjamin Scott were also fourth (5:59.00) behind winners Great Britain 1 (5:52.88) and the US (5:55.91) and Netherlands (5:56.93).

In the Men’s Double Sculls, Oscar McGuinness and Nicholas Blackman placed fifth in their Semi-Final (6:20.44) behind the winner Serbia (6:13.57), Spain (6:14.69), France 2 (6:15.13) and Czechia (6:19.24), to miss the A-Final and race in the B-Final.

In the Men’s Single Sculls, Hamish Danks won the D-Final to secure 19^th place in the regatta, while Hamish Allan finished second in the E-Final for 26^th place.

 

 

HOW TO FOLLOW 2026 WORLD CUP III – Lucerne: June 26-28

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Photo: Patrick Boere

Who's Up for Australia on Day 3 - Sunday

B-Finals

A-Finals