Three more Swiss crews into Lucerne semis

Switzerland's Jane Bogorad grits her teeth as she and partner Lea Fluri head for the semis Keystone

There was triple success for the Swiss team during Wednesday's repechage heats at the world rowing championships in Lucerne, with three out of four crews booking themselves places in the tournament's semi-finals.

Both the men’s and women’s boats in the lightweight double sculls performed impressively in the repechage, which gives a second chance to crews who have missed out in the opening round.

In the women’s event, the young pairing of Lea Fluri and Jane Bogorad took full advantage of the opportunity – winning their heat with a narrow victory over boats from Denmark and Spain, the latter having led at the race’s halfway stage.

Atlanta gold medallist Markus Gier and his new partner Nicholas Lätt also did more than enough to make sure of a place in Friday’s semis after finishing their heat in second place.

New combination

Switzerland’s new combination in the lightweight coxless fours just managed to scrape into the semis as well, the experienced Benedikt Schmidt and Mathias Binder coming together with world championship new boys Frédéric Hanselmann and Stefan Steiner to finish their heat in third place.

There was disappointment though for Michael Hegetschweiler and Camille Codoni in the lightweight coxless pairs with the two men finishing the first heat of the day in last place and therefore becoming the first Swiss crew to drop out of medal contention.

Müller time?

On Thursday one of Switzerland’s top medal hopes returns to action with Olympic star Xeno Müller set to take on Estonia’s 1990 world champion Juri Jaanson and Olympic double sculls champion Iztok Cop of Slovenia in the semi-finals of the men’s single sculls.

swissinfo with agencies