Britain, China win 3 golds at World Cup regatta - Yahoo! Sports

LUCERNE, Switzerland (AP) Rowing powerhouse Britain showed its strength heading into the London Olympics, winning three gold medals in the World Cup regatta Sunday.

China also placed first in three finals on the Rotsee course in Lucerne, which attracted the world's top crews two months before the Olympic regatta begins on Dorney Lake outside London.

The men's four and the women's pair and double sculls all won for Britain, with the Olympic host's overall haul completed by a silver in the men's eight and lightweight four.

Germany and New Zealand, expected to challenge Britain strongly at the London Games, also claimed five medals, but couldn't match Britain's three golds.

"We have had some outstanding performances and I'm really pleased with how it has gone," said David Tanner, performance director of British Rowing.

The most exciting of Britain's wins came in the men's four, when the reigning Olympic champions overhauled an Australia crew featuring triple Olympic gold medalist Drew Ginn only in the dying stages.

"This race reminded me a lot of the Olympic final in Beijing," said Britain's Peter Reed, who rejoined the four with Andrew Triggs Hodge this year after a spell in the pair.

During that stint as a pair, Triggs Hodge and Reed failed to beat the New Zealand combination of Hamish Bond and Eric Murray in 14 races and the Kiwis extended their unbeaten record in the event since 2009 by winning here ahead of Canada and Greece.

"This year the field is very strong and it's a little bit of a wake-up call for us," Bond said.

That was New Zealand's only gold at Lucerne, with five-time world champion Mahe Drysdale surprisingly beaten in a fiercely competitive men's single sculls by Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic.

In another surprise result, Stany Delayre and Jeremie Azou of France won the lightweight men's double sculls, with Olympic and world champions Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter of Britain way down in sixth.

The United States' women's eight narrowly maintained its six-year winning streak by edging Canada by 0.03 seconds, and Germany continued its hold on racing in the men's eight by beating a rejuvenated British crew by a second.