"VAN" (Sports Desk - 29.06.2025) :: The first medals of the 2025 World Rowing Cup Lucerne were handed out on Saturday, with all three gold medallists backing up their wins from the World Rowing Cup Varese two weeks ago.
Germany’s Jan Helmich and Hermine Krumbein won gold again in the PR3 mixed double sculls, with Australia’s Lisa Greissl and Sam Stunell taking a second successive silver medal. In the lightweight women’s and men’s single sculls, Mexican Kenia Lechuga and Uruguay’s Felipe Kluver took gold, a fortnight after both won their debut World Rowing Cup gold medals.
Lara Tiefenthaler (Austria) and Hin Chun Chiu (Hong Kong, China) won silver in the lightweight singles, again matching their results from Varese. But bronze medallists Mariia Zhovner (AIN) and Shahkzod Nurmatov (Uzbekistan) both celebrated debut World Rowing Cup medals. Nurmatov’s effort to pass fourth-placed Peter Strecansky of Slovakia caused him to tip out of his boat on the finish line, but he was recovered from the water and was able to collect his medal and then celebrate enthusiastically.
Earlier on, the day’s semifinals proved thrilling with only fractions of a second separating qualified crews from those relegated to the B-finals. Hosts Switzerland had a good day, qualifying both their men’s and women’s pairs and men’s double sculls crews.
The women’s double sculls looks set to be a close final after a second tight battle between China and France, with Germany also in the mix. Likewise, five boats qualifying from the men’s four semifinals were separated by just over 2 seconds. The final will feature three sets of brothers: the Stankunas twins and their older brother Povilas in the Lithuanian crew, plus the Sinkovic and Loncaric brothers for Croatia.
Belgium’s Mazarine Guilbert and New Zealand’s Logan Ullrich will contest their first single sculls finals on Sunday after making it through the women’s and men’s semifinals. But European champions Lauren Henry (Great Britain) and Yauheni Zalaty (AIN) set themselves up as the favourites to take victory, posting the fastest times in the semifinals.
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