2013 World Rowing Under 23 Championships - Ready for first round of finals

Rowers from 52 nations have enjoyed excellent water conditions on the Linz-Ottensheim regatta course which runs alongside the Danube River. They have also endured temperatures in the low 30s degrees Celsius with expectations of continued heat over the next two days of finals.

The rowers in the women's four will be the first to be crowned 2013 Under-23 World Champions and Australia come into it as the favourites. Australia used the Samsung World Rowing Cup in Lucerne to prepare for these championships and, in their heat two days ago, the crew easily recorded the fastest qualifying time. Australia's stiffest competition is likely to come from Russia who dominated their heat.

The men's four could see a new crew on the top of the podium. The crew from Turkey beat the reigning under-23 champions Germany in the heats with the best time of all and they will meet again in the finals. Romania and Australia are also in with a fighting chance having won their repechage races.

Italy look to be the ones to beat in the men's coxed four. They showed their high-stroke rate abilities in the heats. They are, however, likely to face tough competition from the big-hitting rowing nations of New Zealand, Australia and Germany.
Reigning under-23 champions, Germany look set to retain their title in the lightweight women's quad but the field has expanded this year and the Germans will face on-form crews from Great Britain and Australia. In the men's event the Germans may make it a double header after showing their speed in Thursday's preliminary race.

The lightweight men's pair is looking to be one of the feature races of the day. Italy's Vincenzo Serpico and Francesco Schisano are the defending champions and they stamped their dominance in the heats. However, both Germany and Great Britain are looking to earn medals and the crew that best handles the heat may be the crew that wins.

Romania's Mihaela Petrila and Madalina Beres came through from the heats in the women's pair with the fastest qualifying time when they were pushed hard by Australia. But they will need to watch out for Italy which recorded a very fast time when they qualified for the final through the repechages.

The women's quadruple sculls event has a very strong field in the final. The United States have shown their ability to sprint and so has Poland which was pushed hard by Italy during Wednesday's heats. These crews will meet again in the final.

The first eight of 21 finals will commence at 16:00 (CET) going through until 17:30 on Saturday, 27 July 2013. Please note that the Sunday finals will commence at a new time now of 10:05 and continue without a lunch break until 12:46 due to the forecasted high temperatures.

Stay tuned to www.worldrowing.com  for live event coverage.