World Cup Final Appearance for Women’s Eight

Published On: 29 May 2012

The Australian women's eight competing in Lucerne

WAIS rowers Alex Hagan and Hannah Vermeersch have helped Australia to a fourth place finish in the final of the women’s eight at World Cup 2 in Lucerne.

In a week that saw the Australian girls book their position in the London Olympic Games, the group showed they will be more than capable of pushing for medals on the Eton Dorney course, after backing up to qualify for the World Cup final in Switzerland.

The crew finished in a time of 6:06.79mins for fourth place behind the USA, Canada and the Netherlands, but will take a lot of confidence having competed against some of the boats expected to push for medals in London.

Fellow WAIS scholarship holders Ben Cureton and Todd Skipworth had a strong finish to a difficult campaign. The duo – who are members of the reigning world championship men’s lightweight four boat – missed the A-final in Lucerne, but bounced back strongly to comfortably win the B Final ahead of Germany and the Czech Republic.

The World Cup regatta was a successful one for the Australian team at large, with three crews claiming silver medals on the final day.

The men’s coxless four started the medal rush, before Kim Crow produced Australia’s best ever result in the female single scull, with David Crawshay and Scott Brennan taking to the podium in the men’s double.

The Australian Rowing Team will now travel to the Australian Institute of Sport’s European Training Centre in Varese, Italy where it will complete a two-week training camp ahead of World Cup 3.

World Cup 3 will be staged in Munich, Germany between June 15-17 and serves as the last regatta ahead of the 2012 London Olympic Games.