By Mike Rowbottom

United States womens eightJuly 14 - The United States women's eight rowed home to a new world best time of 5min 54.16sec, while the men ended the four-year unbeaten run of Germany with a win against the Olympic champions at the Samsung World Rowing Cup in Lucerne.

Leading from start to finish at what is the last big competition before the World Championships in South Korea on August 25-September 1, the American women crossed the line ahead of Romania and Canada.

The performance was even more remarkable as conditions on Lucerne's Rotsee course were almost windless.

The US men's eight were also victorious in a race which left Britain's new flagship eight, which included double Olympic champions Andy Triggs Hodge and Pete Reed, back in fourth place.

It was the first time since 2008 that the US had won a World Cup men's event.

Although the US finished top of the points table in the Swiss city, the overall World Cup title for 2013 went to Britain with 179 points, despite the fact that they only won two medals in Switzerland – gold from the new pairing of Olympic champion Helen Glover and Polly Swann, and bronze from Peter and Richard Chambers in the lightweight men's double sculls.

The men's single sculls provided a great spectacle as the Czech Republic's Ondřej Synek finished ahead of Marcel Hacker of Germany with Cuban favourite Angel Fournier Rodriguez taking third.

kim crowKim Crow of Australia en route to an outstanding win in the women's single sculls at Lucerne

Kim Crow of Australia raced superbly in the final of the women's single sculls against a talented field, which included American Eleanor Logan, a gold medallist in the women's eight at the London 2012 Games, and Czech Olympic champion Mirka Knapková.

Crow finished in 7min 14.35sec, with Logan holding off Knapková to take second place in 7.16.08.

Along with the men's and women's eights, the US also struck gold in the men's four.

The nation also won medals in the women's pair taking bronze, lightweight women's double sculls, silver, and the women's double sculls, bronze.

Second on the points table was New Zealand with gold medals in the men's pair – through Olympic champions Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, men's double sculls and lightweight men's four.

Third place went to Germany who scored gold in the women's quadruple sculls.

Behind Britain on the overall 2013 World Cup series standings comes New Zealand with 144 points and Australia in third place on 119 points.