Kiwis swamp Aussie crews in rowing cup

Australia lost grip of the world rowing cup series after only just three of their nine boats won medals in finals in Lucerne.

Rowing World Cup in Switzerland.

Australia lost grip of the world rowing cup series after just three of their nine boats won medals. (AAP)

New Zealand's champion small boats have swamped Australia's crews at the final regatta in Switzerland to take out this year's World Rowing Cup series.

Leading the teams event heading into World Cup 3 in Lucerne, Australia finished with just three silver medals on a disappointing final day to be overtaken by the Kiwis and Great Britain to finish third.

New Zealand (141 points) claimed the prize largely thanks to four victories - headlined by Olympic champion sculler Mahe Drysdale and world champion pair Eric Murray and Hamish Bond.

Kiwi sculler Emma Twigg also continued her recent success against Australian world champion Kim Crow in a tense women's single sculls final late on Sunday night (AEST).

Crow's silver - plus second places to lightweight scullers Alice McNamara and Ella Flecker, and the double sculls crew of James McRae and Sascha Belongoff - saw Australia finish with 125 points.

Showing they remain a rowing super-power heading into August's world championships, Britain (126) - who sat out the opening World Cup regatta in Sydney in March - also bagged four gold medals to finish second overall.

Australia had nine boats contesting A finals, which did not include the flagship men's four who won the B final in their first event with Alex Lloyd back from heel surgery.

Both the men's and women's eights finished last in their finals which could lead to crew changes ahead of the upcoming world titles in Amsterdam.

In-form sculling duo Sally Kehoe and Olympia Aldersey also missed a medal but were still crowned the best women's double sculls crew of the season after winning at both World Cups 1 and 2.

New combination McNamara and Flecker's silver was the most meritorious after they beat the world champion Italian crew in the semi-final and then finished behind only Britain's Katherine Copeland and Imogen Walsh in the final.


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