13 Dec 2011
The Season of Great Britain
This medal haul indicates Great Britain’s strength across the entire field of rowing events and brought out emotions in the usually stoic British team manager, David Tanner. "I'm very proud of our rowers, coaches, and the back-up team that has helped us produce this level of results", said Tanner.
Two of the British golds came from athletes Anna Watkins and Katherine Grainger who won in the women’s double and quadruple sculls. This is the second time for the season that Watkins and Grainger have doubled up on the gold medals. The men’s four and lightweight men’s four also won gold. Silver medals came through in the men’s double, pair, lightweight women’s double and Alan Campbell in the men’s single. Showing their true depth, Great Britain earned bronze in the men’s and women’s eight and the men’s quadruple sculls.
Before the British advancement four years ago, Germany used to finish consistently at the top of the medals table. But with the recent success of Great Britain, Germany has slipped back to being the regular second place getter. Germany finished second this year with 109 points. The German medals came in the lightweight men’s double with the young talent of Lars Hartig and Linus Lichtschlag finishing second. There was also a bronze for the women’s quadruple sculls, silver for the men’s quadruple sculls and gold in the men’s eight.
New Zealand, who finished the Rowing World Cup season third overall with 85 points, were the second highest scorers at the Lucerne Rowing World Cup. In one of New Zealand’s most successful World Cups ever, the squad began by winning three of the first four races on finals day. Both the men’s and women’s pair went New Zealand’s way and then Storm Uru and Peter Taylor finished first in the lightweight men’s double. Uru and Taylor’s win meant the first loss for Great Britain’s Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter since 2007.
New Zealand then went on to take silver in the men’s four and bronze in the men’s double and Mahe Drysdale took bronze in the men’s single. This was Drysdale’s first major race this season after coming back from injury.
Finishing in fourth overall, China earned 82 points. The Chinese team was not so successful at Lucerne where they failed to secure a medal so their Lucerne rating was just tenth. China competed in all three Rowing World Cups sending large teams each time.
The United State, who finished fifth overall and fourth at Lucerne won gold in the Blue Riband event, the women’s eight. The US snuck ahead of Canada in the closing stages of the race to win by a bow ball. From the American eight, athletes Susan Francia and Meghan Musnicki also took silver in the women’s pair. The US picked up a further medal in the women’s double.
For a full detailed race report of all other events please check out other news stories on www.worldrowing.com . Results can be accessed in the results database website from the homepage. Re-watch all the action of the final races as video on demand on World Rowing Live (accessible from the www.worldrowing.com homepage).
About the Rowing World Cup:
The Rowing World Cup series was launched in 1997, and includes all 14 Olympic boat classes. The overall Rowing World Cup winners are determined after a series of three regattas with points being awarded in the 14 Olympic events. This year, the three stages of the series are held in Bled, Slovenia (27-30 May); Munich, Germany (18-20 June); and the final in Lucerne, Switzerland (9-11 July).