The Australian Rowing Team capped off its World Rowing Cups series with a strong showing at the 2025 World Rowing Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland, where 29 Australian athletes stepped onto the podium across six crews.
With the Rotsee providing a dramatic stage, Australia’s Olympic, Paralympic and development crews delivered fast, fearless racing in their final international test before the World Championships in Shanghai in September.
Australia’s men’s four claimed back-to-back World Cup gold medals, doubling down on their victory in Varese, Italy with another dominant performance.
They set the tone from the front, leading from the first stroke and holding off a late charge from Romania and Lithuania to take gold in 5:47.03.
The women’s four also impressed, surging out to an early lead before the USA rowed through in the final 500m. Australia held off New Zealand and Great Britain to secure a well-earned silver medal.
Rowing Australia Performance Director Paul Thompson MBE praised the performances while highlighting opportunities for further improvement.
“They’ve obviously got great speed, we just need to stretch that out over the full distance,” Thompson said.
“We’ve seen competitive racing right across the squad and that’s exactly what we want before bringing the team together for Shanghai.”
The men’s eight produced one of the most courageous rows of the regatta, attacking early and pushing the pace through the middle 1000m.
While Germany claimed gold, Australia finished just behind for a strong silver, ahead of Romania.
The women’s eight followed up with a tight race of their own, racing through to claim bronze behind Romania and the USA.
While not all crews reached A-Finals, many delivered important performances.
The women’s pair of Jaime Ford and Paige Barr placed second in the B-Final, and two Australian men’s pair crews finished third and fifth respectively in the B-Final.
Australia’s men’s quadruple scull took fifth in a fast A-Final, while additional crews picked up racing experience in C-Finals.
Several crews will head to the Henley Royal Regatta, on 1-6 July in Great Britain, where they’ll take on traditional side-by-side knockout racing on one of the sport’s most historic courses.
Australia finished third overall in the medal tally with two gold, three silver and one bronze medal across the two World Cup regattas.
