The Swiss team among the world's best

In Varese, they had rather surprisingly finished on the podium, but Jonah Plock and Patrick Brunner started the home regatta with higher expectations. Although they were unable to keep up with the Romanians and the New Zealanders, they had the rest of the competition under control and crossed the finish line in a clear third place. After their second podium finish in two weeks, it is clear that they will be a force to be reckoned with at the World Championships in Shanghai in September.

Kai Schätzle/Raphael Ahumada “only” in 4th place this time

It had already become clear in the preliminary heats that the competition in the double sculls was extremely strong. Kai Schätzle/Raphael Ahumada had held their own with second place in the heats and the semi-final and also kept up well in the final. However, Ireland, New Zealand and the previously convincing Serbs were also in top form and so the Swiss were in 4th place after 1500 m. They were unable to overtake another pair in the final phase and so for once they were left with only first place next to the podium.

Raphael Ahumada nevertheless drew a positive conclusion: “We have improved from race to race, the last race was our best. But we are a young team and still have a lot of points to work on.” The two Swiss riders were nevertheless awarded a prize: they received the trophy for winning the overall World Cup, which only includes two stops in Varese and Lucerne.

Lisa Lötscher/Célia Dupré take the next positive step

Before the World Cup in Varese, they had only rowed together for five days in the double sculls, now it’s just under 20 – which is still a huge lack of experience compared to the competition. Lisa Lötscher/Célia Dupré got off to an excellent start in their first A final together and were even in second place after a quarter of the distance. However, they were not quite able to keep up the pace after that and gradually fell behind in the concert of the world’s best, ultimately finishing in sixth place.

“It’s probably the maximum that’s possible at the moment,” said Dupré and Lötscher added: “It hurts, we would have loved to win a medal in front of a home crowd, but we have to take it step by step.” And by qualifying for the A final, they have undoubtedly taken a step in the right direction. The fact that there is still a relatively long time until the World Championships will be particularly beneficial for this duo. The newly formed women’s quadruple sculls took 5th place out of 7 teams.

Salome Ulrich/Fabienne Schweizer with a strong reaction

Salome Ulrich/Fabienne Schweizer had only missed out on the A final by 13 hundredths of a second on Saturday and now they had to find new motivation for the “little showdown”. The local heroes did just that – 7th place was their well-deserved reward and further confirmation of their potential after 5th place two weeks ago in Varese.

Claire Ghiringhelli with successful European Championship revenge

Claire Ghiringhelli had already made it clear in the final dress rehearsal on Friday that she wanted to give her all to finish ahead of Eva Mol, who she had lost out to at the European Championships in Plovdiv. And the Ticino native, who lives in France, also showed her best side on the final day. Halfway through the race, she overtook the Dutchwoman and from then on, she steadily extended her lead. Accompanied by huge applause from the spectators, she rode unchallenged to the finish line as the winner. For Ghiringhelli, her first World Cup victory a few weeks after her first European Championship bronze medal is another milestone.

Satisfied assessment by association director Christian Stofer

Shortly after the end of the race in the sweltering afternoon heat, Christian Stofer drew his conclusions. The Director of SWISS ROWING was satisfied with his team’s performance: “Of course we would have liked to have won one more medal in front of this fantastic home crowd, but overall we can be satisfied. We are closer to the top than we were at the European Championships in Plovdiv and have gained a lot of valuable input for the run-up to the World Championships in Shanghai.”