Grainger claims golden double as British rowers dominate

BRITISH rowers enjoyed their most successful World Cup regatta ever in Lucerne - claiming four golds, four silvers and three bronzes - with Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins flying the flag the highest.

DOUBLE GOLD: Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins claimed two golds on a day of British rowing dominance in Lucerne (Getty Images)

The duo delivered victory in the women's double sculls and then joined forces with Beth Rodford and Annabel Vernon to win the quadruple sculls.

The world champion men's four then rebounded from their recent defeat in Munich to claim gold while the lightweight men's four took the scalp of world champions Denmark to win by fractions after a storming finish.

And with all the world's top nations in attendance, British performance director David Tanner is rightly looking ahead to the World Championships later this year with confidence.

"All the world was here in Lucerne so to come away with so many medals has been an exceptional whole team performance," he said.

"I'm very proud of our rowers, coaches, and the back-up team that has helped us produce this level of results."

However, there was more disappointment for the men's pair of Andy Triggs-Hodge and Peter Reed, who were beaten for the tenth time in succession by New Zealand's world champions Eric Murray and Hamish Bond.

"We needed to have the perfect race to beat these guys," admitted Reed, after again settling for second best, as they did in Henley last week.

"We got close but we're not quite there.  We had rhythm and stuck to our race plan but more is needed."

Merging Triggs-Hodge and Reed back into the men's four - the gold they won in Beijing - has been suggested but the current owners of those seats - Matt Langridge, Alex Gregory, Ric Egington and Alex Partridge - are doing all they can to make the decision tough for men's coach Jurgen Grobler.

"I'm really proud of that race", said bow Partridge, after beating New Zealand and France to the line in a powerful performance.

"We performed really badly in Munich so we knew we had to do something. We missed Henley Royal Regatta which we love but it was worth it. I feel proud of the guys."

Matthew Wells and Marcus Bateman, the British men's doubles sculls, were determined to see the positives despite a second place behind France's Cedric Berrest and Julien Bahain.

The winners of two early season World Cups now know the challenge ahead with the French crew, who also beat them at Henley last week, their likely major rivals at the World Championships.

"We can be really proud of our campaign this year," insisted Wells 

"The event has moved on since last year and we have had nine tough races in three weeks. We know the standard we have to aspire to."

Elsewhere, Olympic champions Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase were beaten as a lightweight men's double scull for the first time since the World Championships three years ago when they finished a distant fifth and Beijing medallist Debbie Flood, coming back into full training and competition after a year out of the sport, came home in the same position in the single scull.