The world cup is in full swing. Fans are spoilt for choice this summer as the world’s best compete for pride and glory in national team colours. I’m not of course talking about the football currently being played in Russia but about rowing’s three-part world cup taking place in Belgrade, Linz and Lucerne.

Rachel Quarrell is reporting for Row360 from the thick of the action in Europe. The first two legs have whistled by. Only the decider, world cup III in Lucerne remains. Read Rachel’s reports on world cups I and II in this issue.

At the top, or very near the top, of the pile in international rowing of late has been the mighty German men’s heavyweight eight, which is this issue’s cover story. Reigning world champions and holders of the world best time for 2k, the ‘Deutschland-Achter’ has amassed a total of ten Olympic medals to date. For this issue we spoke to head coach Uwe Bender and current team members Richard Schmidt and Max Planer.

On the other side of the world, the Australian and New Zealand eights have adopted whole-heartedly FISA’s new gender neutral coxing policy. Since a significant rule change was made in 2017, a cox’s gender is no longer required to match that of their crew in international racing. In this issue we hear from New Zealand’s Sam Bosworth, the first man to win in a women’s eight, and Australia’s Kendall Brodie, the first female cox of an international men’s eight.