Junior Women’s Pair (JW2-) – Final

The United States had proved to be the fastest crew coming through from the heats and they sat in the middle lane next to Italy – the winner of the other heat.  At the start Caterina Di Fonzo and Aisha Rocek of Italy got away very quickly. Italy won at the European Junior Championships and they looked to be enjoying the tail wind conditions. As Italy moved to a full boat length lead, a virtual line formed behind them between the remaining crews.

Going through the middle of the race Italy had broken away to a clear water lead with Denmark, Greece, the United States and France still in a line together. Denmark then broke away from the chasing pack and got into second. Italy led the way home to win in a time of 7:15.85 – a new junior World Best Time. They had broken the former time by a second. Denmark held on to get silver with the United States in bronze.

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

B-final

Romania and Lithuania had the fastest times of these crews from the repechage and they were the first to show at the start. Russia had pulled out for medical reasons leaving this a five-boat B-final. The Romanian and Lithuanian crews went neck-and-neck through the middle of the race and together they moved away from the rest of the field. The remaining boats were very spread out and in the final sprint the exciting part of the race remained the tussle between Romania and Lithuania. Romania’s Andrea Budeanu and Simona Geanina Radis then managed to get a slight margin to win the race.

Results: ROU, LTU, GBR, TUR, UKR

Caterina Di Fonzo (b), Gold, Italy
“We were not happy after the qualifiers because we saw that USA had set a new World Best Time. Today we knew we are not quick starters so we decided to do a strong middle part. We’re happy to set a new World Best Time today.”

Frida Sanggaard Nielsen (b), , Silver, Denmark
“It was really tough with lots of wind, but we are used to the water from home. We could deal with it.”

Kailani Marchak (b), Bronze, United States of America
“We worked so hard but this it wasn’t our race today. It’s sad to see that it had to happen today.”