Juniors Big Day Out ? B Finals

By Melissa Bray

A crowd of 4,500 filled the finish area ready for finals day at the 2005 World Rowing Junior Championships in Brandenburg, Germany. By the end of the day 13 new championship crews would be crowned and going into it host country Germany were lined up to race in 12 of the 13 A final events.

B and C Finals

The day opened with two C-final races the first for the men's single and a superb effort by Kakla Kandelaki of Georgia had him finish first. Kandelaki warmed up for these championships by racing at the Under-23 Championships last month.

Forchino and Sanchez – the Argentinian JM2-

The second C-final featured the men's double with Martin Forchino and Nicolas Sanchez of Argentina pushing their way past Switzerland and then a full-on fight with the Czech Republic to take the race to a photo finish. Forchino and Sanchez had the edge by a mere 2/100 of a second.

B Finals

Junior Men's Coxed Four (JM4+)

All six boats got off the line together with Romania pushing through to a bow ball of an advantage over Great Britain by the middle of the race. Romania, on the outside lane had to rely on coxswain Gheorghe Calenciuc to tell them how they were doing against the Brits as both crews charged for the line. A better sprint by Great Britain, rating 40 strokes per minute gave them the first place over Romania with Ukraine in third.

Junior Women's Pair (JW2-)

Latvia and China were in three lanes apart and had to keep glancing over at each other as they went head to head at the front of the field. China had a slight first half advantage but coming through the third 500 Latvia's pink haired Jana Cekstere and partner Zane Drozda made a move. China was unable to respond and the lower rating Latvians finish first with China in second and France taking third.

Junior Men's Pair (JM2-)

Estonia's Rauno Talisoo and Alo Kulsap were part of their country's eight at last month's Under-23 World Championships and both are in their second year as junior competitors. Today they improved on their 2004 results by winning the B-final. Behind them Croatia pushed past Ireland to take second and Australia finished in third in a sprint that had Australia clocked at 39 and Croatia holding on with a 35 stroke rate.

Junior Women's Four (JW4-)

Ukraine had control of this race and with that their style and rhythm looked more in control than their closest challengers ? France, Romania and Canada. Despite a rather unstable looking Canadian boat the crew was holding on to Ukraine and in the final sprint Canada, rating 37, moved on Ukraine. But Ukraine remained in control at 34 strokes per minute and take first over Canada and Romania sprinting through to third. Lithuania, at the back of the field, seemed to be suffering from equipment problems.

Junior Men's Four (JM4-)

Canada and Australia came through from the semi-finals as the crews to beat and that's exactly what Hungary had in mind. Stroked by Bela Simon, who has just turned 17 and is competing at his first junior championship, the Hungarians aggressively took the lead at the start. But Australia was having nothing of that and took control through the middle of the race with Hungary slipping to the back of the field.

In the final sprint the Hungarians suddenly came alive and taking their rating to 46 they attacked. At the line a very happy Hungary finished first, Australia had to settle for second and Slovenia took third.

Junior Women's Single (JW1X)

The only German crew not to make an A-final, Kathrein Schulze had something to prove. But after an initial fast start Schulze could not hold the pace and last year's 13th finisher, Martina Hilbrandt of Denmark moved into the lead. Not happy just to be in front, Hilbrandt did a piece just after the 1,200 metre mark and pulled into an open water lead. Holding 35 strokes per minute, Hilbrandt finished in first with a seven second advantage over Estonia in second and Australia pulling into third.

Junior Men's Single (JM1X)

CRO JM1x – Valent Sinkovic

Both Michael Schmid of Switzerland and Valent Sinkovic of Croatia are in their second year of racing at the junior championships and today they challenged each other at the head of the field with Schmid holding a slight lead over Sinkovic. This remained the story until the final sprint when Sinkovic decided enough was enough and took off leaving Schmid in his wake. Sinkovic finishes first, Schmid second and Argentina take third.

Junior Women's Double (JW2X)

After a fast start by Poland, Italy's Valeria Alleruzzo and Francesca Gallo took over at the head of the field using a strong and consistent middle 1,000. Both Gallo and Alleruzzo raced last year but in different events and today, together they were moving clear of the rest of the field. This left the real fight to go on between Hungary and Poland and neither were budging for the second spot.

In the final sprint Alleruzzo and Gallo remained in the lead while the higher rating Hungarians managed second over Poland.

Junior Men's Double (JM2X)

Uros Smiljanic and Igor Radakovic of Serbia & Montenegro made no bones about it. They wanted first and nothing else would do. This left Mexico then Bulgaria to try for second. Mexico then ran out of steam leaving Bulgaria to control second. But the final sprint was all about Ireland. With a good bit of ground to make up Ireland sprinted through to take a close third.

Junior Women's Quad (JW4X)

An early lead by Russia was soon squashed when Romania showed that they had more stamina and overtook both Russia and then Denmark to take the lead. Going through the middle of the race Russia was still clinging tightly to Romania but beginning to falter. This gave the Netherlands the opportunity to attack and as the final sprint came into view the Netherlands had found second. At the line Romania retained first, the Netherlands in second and Denmark take third.

Junior Men's Quad (JM4X)

Yavheni Tseliapun stroking the leading boat for Belarus must have been feeling good to be able to look back on the rest of the field. He was feeling so good in fact that Tseliapun decided to keep his boat in this position. This left Poland to hold on to second just ahead of Denmark and Japan. At the line Belarus remained in first, Poland held on to second over Denmark who sprinted past Japan to take third.

Junior Men's Eight (JM8+)

Cox of the JM8+ Charles Linacre of Great Britain

Greece was not happy in the semi-final when they missed out on an A-final place. Today, in the B-final, they came back with a vengeance. Leading from the start they aimed to hold off any challenges. And challenges did come – first from Italy, then Belarus and finally by Great Britain. The best sprint of the day must go to Great Britain, but happiest crew was Greece who crossed the line first. Belarus finished third after being overtaken by Great Britain.

A finals to come…
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