Rowing World Cup: Glover and Swann win gold as GB struggle

Great Britain could only manage one gold and one bronze medal from the 10 finals they contested on the last day of the World Cup regatta in Lucerne.

Women's pair Helen Glover and Polly Swann got Team GB off to a promising start by winning Sunday's opening race.

Peter and Richard Chambers were third in the lightweight men's double sculls, but it was an otherwise disappointing showing from Britain's other crews.

The men's and women's coxed eight boats both finished fourth.

There was plenty of expectation surrounding the GB men's eight in the final race of the regatta as they faced Olympic champions Germany and the pace-setting United States.

However, Britain's challenge failed to materialise as the US narrowly beat Germany into first, while the Netherlands were third.

Only the exploits of Glover and Swann, along with the Chambers brothers, proved a source of solace from the final day in Switzerland.

Britain had won a gold in the lightweight men's pair on Saturday and the women's pair earned another in the first A final race on Sunday.

Glover, who won Olympic gold at London 2012, and Swann led from 500 metres onwards and held off a late New Zealand challenge to complete a hat-trick of wins in this year's World Cup regattas.

"It was good for us to have to row away from people at the end," said Glover.

"When I looked at 2013 I thought I wouldn't win a gold. Every race we have entered we have gone with a 'must learn' rather than 'must win' attitude."

Elsewhere, the men's quadruple sculls and lightweight women's double sculls both finished fourth.

The lightweight men's four and women's double sculls crews were each fifth, while the men's double sculls and Alan Campbell in the men's single scull were sixth in their races.

"We knew that medals would be hard to come by here," said GB rowing team performance director Sir David Tanner. "Now we know what work we need to do."

The World Cup in Switzerland is the last major event before next month's World Championships in South Korea.