Germany wins the 2005 BearingPoint Rowing World Cup
Lucerne, Switzerland – 8 – 10 July 2005
For the nineth year running Germany has won the overall BearingPoint
Rowing World Cup, concluding the series of 3 events, and achieving
a total of 153 points in the 14 World Cup events over the
season. They receive the Cup, which was presented at the end
of the regatta to Helmut Griep, President of the German Rowing
Federation. Great Britain follow with 111 points, and at 73
points, Italy roll in third in the point table.
The day concluded with several surprise medallists as well
as a few surprise disappointments:
The lightweight men’s single event is looking good
in preparation for the World Rowing Championships in Gifu,
Japan for a Japanese win after they won gold today, ahead
of a mainly European field. The Japanese took another podium
spot in the lightweight men’s eight, finishing in third
position behind Italy and Ireland.
There were no surprises for the gold medal in the women’s
single, as Ekaterina Karsten from Belarus strolled to the
finish line lengths well ahead of the rest of the field. With
Mirka Knapkova from the Czech Republic not entered, and Bulgaria’s
Rumyana Neykova moving to the double, this left the two other
podium spots up for grabs. It was finally a very fit Sophie
Balmary from France who took silver, followed by Sweden’s
Frida Svensson – over 12 seconds behind Karsten.
The big surprise came in the men’s single when German
favourite Marcel Hacker gave up not only his gold medal, but
also the podium altogether for a fourth place ranking. The
single was taken by Ondrej Synek of Czech Republic, who won
his second gold medal in the single this season and shows
his transition from the double to be working. The World Rowing
Championships next month will certainly be interesting. New
Zealand’s Mahe Drysdale who led for most of the race
admitted he ran out of steam towards the end but still managed
second. Athens gold medallist Olaf Tufte stepped onto the
third step of the podium.
The Skelin brothers from Croatia suffered their second defeat
of the season in the pair and although taking the overall
cup points for this event, today’s race left them behind
New Zealand for the second time.
Great Britain kept the lead in the men’s four and continue
the British four winning tradition alive as well as retaining
the overall World Cup lead with their win today. The Romanian
women’s eight continues where their Athens Olympic boat
left off, in the lead.
More than 700 athletes took part in this last stage of 2005
World Cup competition on the Rotsee Lake in Lucerne, Switzerland.
For full results, detailed race reports and to view archived
images of all the finals (outside Europe only) visit www.worldrowing.com.
Eurosport will show delayed coverage on Monday 11 July at
15:30 – 17:30 hrs CET.
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