"VAN" (Sports Desk - 28.06.2025) :: The ‘Lake of the Gods’ turned on near-perfect conditions for the first day of the 2025 World Rowing Cup on Friday, with glassy water showcasing strength and technique for the competing crews – although a slight headwind made times slow.
Day 1 of racing on the Rotsee gave an opportunity to race to all crews and the weekend is set up for exciting semifinals and finals.
The closest margin of the day was in heat 3 of the men’s pairs, where Hamish Wynn-Pope and Charles Batrouney of Australia 2 edged out Greece’s Boukouvalas’ brothers by 0.01 seconds for the crucial second automatic qualifying spot through to the semifinals. There was also a sprint through the line for Switzerland’s Lisa Loetscher and Celia Dupre in the women’s pairs, as they beat the Abraham twins of Chile for second place.
With federations able to enter two boats in an event at a World Rowing Cup, there were several races which saw teammates battling for supremacy. In the men’s single sculls, Lithuania’s Giedrius Bieliauskas and Dovydas Nemeravicius went head-to-head in their heat – Bieliauskas winning. Both went on to win their quarterfinals in the afternoon, with Bieliauskas snatching first place in his by 0.06 seconds ahead of Jonas Slettemark Juel (Norway) and posting the fastest time into the bargain.
Peruvian twins Valeria and Alessia Palacios were in the same heat of the lightweight women’s single sculls, with Valeria second and Alessia fourth; the two avoided each other in the semifinals, where Valeria progressed to the final.
It was a good day overall for Latin American scullers with Uruguay’s Bruno Cetraro through to the men’s single sculls semifinals and Felipe Kluver in the lightweight men’s single sculls final, along with Mexico’s Kenia Lechuga in the lightweight women’s single sculls.
The USA and Great Britain both managed to get their two women’s fours through to Sunday’s A-final. In the men’s double sculls, the heat results set up a tantalising semifinal where former crewmates and lightweight men’s double sculls Olympic champions Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan will face each other for a place in the final. McCarthy races with Konan Pazzaia, the two having won European bronze in Plovdiv in May, while O’Donovan has teamed up with Olympic men’s double sculls bronze medallist Daire Lynch for his 2025 season debut.
In other events the form crews of the season continue to look solid. Great Britain’s Lauren Henry again won her heat of the women’s single sculls comfortably and in the fastest time of the day; Australia’s men’s four cruised to a heat win after taking gold in Varese a fortnight ago; and Romania’s women’s pair, who missed the World Rowing Cup Varese, picked right back up from their European Rowing Championship triumph and were comfortably the quickest crew.
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