An all-round successful launch day on the "Göttersee"

The LUCERNE REGATTA could not have got off to a better start from a Swiss perspective. In the first race of the weekend, Aurelia-Maxima Janzen showed that she was already well rested even at 8.30 am. In a thrilling finish, the Ticino native defeated Mazarine Guilbert from Belgium in her preliminary heat. With a wafer-thin lead of one tenth of a second, Janzen qualified directly for the semi-finals on Saturday.

Celia Dupré and Lisa Lötscher provided the second exclamation mark in the double sculls. The two members of the Olympic double four fought a fascinating duel with Chile in the final phase and were ultimately able to distance themselves from the South Americans with an impressive final spurt – the lead for the semi-final qualification was ultimately just under seven tenths. The favored Romanians remained out of reach.

Jonah Plock/Patrick Brunner confirm performance in Varese

Two weeks after their excellent performance in Varese, Jonah Plock and Patrick Brunner also impressed in front of a home crowd. They won their preliminary heat and thus qualified for the semi-finals. There, however, they will have to improve once again – no fewer than seven boats were faster in their category on the start day.

Salome Ulrich/Fabienne Schweizer solid in the semi-finals

Salome Ulrich/Fabienne Schweizer were in the strongest heat. The two women from Lucerne, who grew up in the immediate vicinity of the regatta course, were still in fourth place after a quarter of the race distance, but then regularly made up ground. They had to concede to China and France at the finish, but were more than one and a half seconds faster than the athletes competing under a neutral flag. With the fifth best time of all the boats, they deserved their semi-final place.

Kai Schätzle/Raphael Ahumada also continue safely

After their victory in Varese, all eyes were naturally on Kai Schätzle and Raphael Ahumada. The Romand and the Lucerne native got off to a clearly worse start than the unleashed Serbs Martin Mackovic/Nikolaj Pimenov and were around 1.5 seconds behind after 500 meters. This deficit did not change much until the finish, but the two Swiss skaters made it to the semi-finals without any problems and with a reserve of around 3.5 seconds.

The newly formed women’s quadruple sculls team went straight through to the A final. The “reinforced Olivias” – Nacht, Negrinotti and Roth – are completed by Nina Wettstein and kept one of the two Chinese teams at bay in the mini field. With the fifth-best time, they secured a place in the top 6 for Sunday’s final.

Claire Ghiringhelli confident in the “dress rehearsal”

Claire Ghiringhelli would love to take revenge on Eva Mol these days – the Dutchwoman had relegated her to third place at the European Championships in Plovidiv. In the first race after the lunch break, the athlete from Ticino improved continuously over the first 500 meters after falling behind in the heat and ultimately crossed the finish line safely in first place. On Sunday there will be the same constellation again in the four-man field, Ghiringhelli will start the competition from the best starting position.

Tim Roth misses out on semi-final qualification

Tim Roth flirted with a semi-final qualification for a long time. In the second race of the day, he passed the 1500 meters with a lead of 0.13 seconds, but was subsequently unable to keep up with the extreme pace, ultimately missing out on advancing by around four seconds.