Women’s Four – Jacqueline Swick OLY, Georgina Rowe OLY, Eliza Gaffney, Emmie Frederico.
THE Australian Rowing Team capped off its World Rowing Cups series with a strong showing at the 2025 World Rowing Cup – Lucerne, 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 and PR1 Men’s Single Sculls crews both claimed back-to-back Gold medals, doubling down on their Varese victories with dominant performances.
In the PR1 Men’s Single, former Penrith resident Erik Horrie OAM PLY absorbed early pressure from France’s Alexis Sanchez before powering away to win comfortably in 9:01.16.
There were also medals for two crews based at the Hancock Prospecting Women’s National Training Centre in Penrith. The Women’s Four won Silver, finishing behind the USA but ahead of New Zealand and Great Britain, whilst the Women’s Eight followed up with a tight race of their own, claiming Bronze behind Romania and the USA.
Rowing Australia Performance Director Paul Thompson MBE praised the performances, whilst 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.
Several crews will now shift gears and head to the Henley Royal Regatta, where they’ll take on traditional side-by-side knockout racing on one of the sport’s most historic courses.
“Henley’s completely different,” Thompson said. “It’s racing for pride and an experience every rower should embrace. They should enjoy it, take it one race at a time, and see how far they can go.”
Australia finished third overall in the medal tally with two Gold, three Silver and one Bronze medal across the two World Cup regattas.
