Kim Brennan leads Aussie charge at Lucerne rowing regatta as men’s four run into oar problems
AUSTRALIA’S rowers have claimed four World Cup medals in Lucerne but the regatta will also unfortunately be remembered for a ‘caught a crab’ moment.
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AUSTRALIA’S rowers have claimed four World Cup medals including two gold as they continued their build-up to the Rio Olympics.
But the World Cup regatta in Lucerne will also unfortunately be remembered for a ‘caught a crab’ moment involving the Aussie men’s four team.
Single sculler Kim Brennan and the men’s quad scull gave the team something to cheer about with victories in their class, while the men’s four and women’s double sculls won silver.
Australia finished the World Cup third on the medal table ahead of World Rowing Cup 3 in Poznan next month.
The Aussies were looking strong in the men’s four final and were going toe-to-toe with Great Britain but two metres before the line Josh Dunkley-Smith “caught a crab”, with his oar getting stuck, and the Brits surged past. They finished second.
“For the first competition of the season it was very good,” crew member Will Lockwood said.
“We caught a crab because we were under pressure in the last 500m, so we need to get it more together before World Cup 3 in Poznan.”
Brennan, who is undefeated since 2014 and the gold medal favourite in Rio, led from the start to finish more than two seconds clear of the field.
She won a silver medal in the women’s double sculls in London and bronze in the single, but is only concentrating on the solo event in Rio.
“It’s nice to do what I wanted to do, especially after a long period of not racing internationally, you sometimes forget a bit how to do it,” Brennan said.
The men’s quad sculls crew of Karsten Forsterling, Alexander Belonogoff, Cameron Girdlestone and James McCrae had a huge finish to cross almost three seconds clear of the second-placed Great Britain crew.
The final medal went to new doubles partners Genevieve Horton and Sally Kehoe, competing in their first international A-Final together.
They got off to a good lead but had to settle for silver with Lithuania creeping past.
Rowing Australia’s general manager Jaime Fernandez said it was a good hit-out for the squad.
“It’s fantastic to see four crews medal here at Lucerne, along with six out of seven Olympic boat classes making the A-Final,” Fernandez said.
“This is our first World Cup of the season and there are plenty of positives to take from the racing.”
The Australians will now head back to AIS European Training Centre in Milan to prepare before for the Poznan event next month.
Originally published as Kim Brennan leads Aussie charge at Lucerne rowing regatta as men’s four run into oar problems
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