Junior Women’s Double Sculls (JW2x) – Final

Greece and the United States won their respective semifinals yesterday and they sat in the middle lanes. The fastest out of the start was Denmark who got to the first 500m mark ahead of Greece in second. Behind these two boats less than half a second separated the rest of the field. Denmark’s Anne Larsen and Maria Kempf kept the pressure on and they still had the lead with half the race gone. Italy, Greece and the United States followed with absolutely nothing between these boats. Then Caroline Sharis and Emily Delleman of the United States then did a push and got ahead of Denmark and they kept on moving.

The United States were in the gold medal spot as the finish line grandstand came into view. Behind them Denmark, Italy and Greece were practically level. Greece now did a push and there was 250m of water to go. Sharis and Delleman kept the pace on to cross the line in first.  Greece’s Anastasia Vontzou and Anneta Kyridou had got ahead of Italy to grab silver. The Italians had secured bronze.

Results: USA, GRE, ITA, AUS, DEN, GER

B-final

The French fast-starting trend continued with their crew in the lead at the start. Spain is also known to have a good start and they followed in second. France remained in the lead through the middle of the race with Spain pushing them hard. In the close of the race Spain had nearly caught France and with 200m left to row, Spain found the lead. Could France react? Yes, France and Spain remained close together. Spain had won.

Results: ESP, FRA, CAN, CHI, NZL, IRL

Emily Delleman (s), Gold, United States of America
“At the start I could only think about how we really wanted to win. When we crossed the 500m I thought ‘We can do this!’. This the first ever gold medal in this event for the USA

Anneta Kyridou (s), Silver, Greece
“It was very close at the finish. Difficult with the wind but also a tough race with the Italians.”

Nicoletta Bartalesi (b), Bronze, Italy
“It was fantastic for us, unfortunately we came third. The competition is really high, but we believe in this boat and we want to continue.”