“It’s always special heading to Lucerne” – Pritchard included for World Rowing Cup III

Rhodri Evans
World and Paralympic champion and multiple world record holder Benjamin Pritchard is included in Great Britain’s team for the World Rowing Cup III.
14 crews will be competing in Lucerne, Switzerland, after Britain finished the event as the overall winner in 2025.
It’s been a busy season already for Pritchard, who won BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year last year.
The European, World, and Paralympic Champion is fresh off the back of breaking his own PR1 World Record over 2000m on the Concept 2 Rower.
After racing at the Paris Para Regatta and on home soil, Pritchard and Jake Woods will both travel to the Lake of the Gods, where the rest of the world will meet them for the first PR1 racing at a World Cup this year.
After winning gold in their 2026 season opener, the Men’s Four all return. Reigning World Champions Dan Graham, James Robson, Douwe de Graaf and George Bourne won in Seville by more than five seconds ahead of France, who took silver.
Lauren Henry will once again race the Women’s Single Sculls. The 2024 Olympic Champion started the 2026 season in fine form, edging out a thrilling final to beat Olympic bronze medallist Viktorija Senkute of Lithuania in Seville by 0.14 seconds.
There has been movement amongst the rest of the Men’s Sculling squad ahead of the racing in Lucerne.
Following their race together at World Rowing Cup I, Callum Dixon and Tobias Schröder will move into the Men’s Quadruple Sculls.
They’ll join up with Welshman Cedol Dafydd, who races for the first time since winning silver in this boat class at last year’s World Rowing Championships in Shanghai alongside Rory Harris, who is back stroking the crew.
Dafydd is a graduate of the South West Performance Development Academy.
“The standard on display at the first two rounds of the World Rowing Cup series in Seville and Plovdiv has set the scene for some great racing at World Rowing Cup III,” said Interim Performance Director Tom Dyson.
“It is always special heading to Lucerne to race, and this year we will be joined for the first time by members of the GB Rowing Team Paralympic Programme.
“They will race alongside some crews of their compatriots who are unchanged from World Rowing Cup I, while others have undergone adjustments and will be eyeing a first test of their new combinations.
“Everyone is eager to get racing again, and we must all capitalise on the opportunity to learn in the Games qualification venue for 2027 and 2028.”
“It was great to get the World Cup season up and running in Seville,” added Women’s Head Coach Andrew Randell.
“For Lucerne, we have new line-ups in both the Women’s Quadruple Sculls and Women’s Double Sculls. I am looking forward to seeing how these boats perform, as well as how the continuing crews step up and progress.
“Results at World Rowing Cup II in Plovdiv saw the American, Chinese, and Italian crews race for the first time this year. It will be good to pit ourselves against these strong crews in a large field on the Rotsee.”
“We’ve had a good block of training and conducted a small amount of testing off the back of a successful start in Seville with the Men’s Four and Eight,” explained Men’s Head Coach Paul Stannard.
“It was great to see the fast times at the World Cup in Plovdiv, particularly from the New Zealand Men’s Pair who just missed out on the World Best Time.
“In Lucerne, we’re looking forward to going racing again! Whilst the sweep team remains largely unchanged, we have some exciting new combinations in the sculling. It will be great to get back to the Lake of the Gods, which is a favourite venue for many of the athletes.”
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