Bumpy start, smooth finish in Junior Championship semifinals

Under overcast skies with a cross wind which challenged the steering of crews and caused some bumpy water early in the race, athletes raced to be in the top three of their semifinal which would earn them a spot in the finals.

There were also bumps in the night with predicted thunderstorms causing a number of volunteers getting up at 2am to keep an eye on the boats. All turned out to be fine and racing continued as normal today.

Junior Men’s Pair (JM2-) – Semifinals
Semifinal One of the junior men’s pair featured the second fastest from yesterday’s quarterfinals, Germany. The German’s, Malte Grossmann (17), and Michael Trebbow (18), shot out with incredible speed at the start and got a very handy lead. This power and aggression kept Grossmann and Trebbow in the lead through the first half of the race with a much more relaxed looking Slovenia following in second. The question was would the Germans run out of steam in the second half of the race? But then the German’s pushed on again. They took their stroke rate to 41 just after the 1000m mark and gained a rather handy margin for their effort.

Meanwhile the Czech Republic had come up to challenge Slovenia for second. Miha Ramsak and Gaspar Ferlinc of Slovenia fought back and held on to second. At the line Germany had taken first, Slovenia second and the Czech Republic earned third to qualify for the A-final.

From the quarterfinals, Greece’s Georgios Papasakelariou and Michail Kouskouridas had recorded the fastest time. Today in Semifinal Two, however, Greece were at the back of the field, four seconds down on leaders, Austria at the start. But then the Greek’s picked up their stroke rate, found their rhythm and closed on the Austrians.

Austria, looking solid, smooth and relaxed, held the lead and looked well set moving into the second half of the race. But then Greece took their stroke rate up again and were looking like only first place would be good enough. Austria tried to hold on with Serbia, despite some steering problems, chasing hard. In a beautifully timed race Greece crossed the line in first. Austria qualified for the final from second and Serbia qualified from third.
Qualifiers: GER, SLO, CZE, GRE, AUT, SRB

Junior Women’s Double Sculls (JW2x) – Semifinals
Romania finished second in 2012 and they come to Semifinal One having recorded the fastest qualifying time from Wednesday’s heat. Elena Logofatu and Nicoleta Pascanu of Romania, the European Junior Champions, got out in front at the start and by the middle of the race they had a three second lead over Germany in second. Germany had to qualify for this semifinal through the repechage but, despite the extra race, they were looking on form.

Australia then moved up to challenge Germany. They were successful. At the line Romania, Australia and Germany had qualified for the final from finishing first, second and third respectively. Romania had recorded the fastest qualifying time overall, earning them in a centre lane for tomorrow’s final and putting the title ‘favourite’ on their backs.

Semifinal Two had Aikaterini Zerva and Athina-Maria Angelopoulou of Greece in the lead. The Greek’s had the second fastest qualifying time from the heats and they were just ahead of Denmark. The Danes then challenged for the lead as they began to match Greece stroke for stroke. Mathilde Persson and Ida Jacobsen of Denmark had qualified for this race through the repechage and they were making a fine job of this race. In a huge sprint to the line, Persson and Jacobsen had outraced the Greeks. Denmark, Greece and Italy had qualified for the final.
Qualifiers: ROU, AUS, GER, DEN, GRE, ITA

Junior Men’s Double Sculls (JM2x) – Semifinals
In yesterday’s quarterfinals, Romania scored the fastest qualifying time, but it was Poland who took the lead at the start. Marcin Pawlowski and Dominik Czaja of Poland looked on form as they held the lead through the middle of Semifinal One. Then Marian-Florian Enache and Gheorghe-Robert Dedu of Romania began to really move and coming through the third 500m the patient Romanian’s pushed into the lead.

In the sprint to the line Poland could not hold Romania’s pace, but the Poles had done enough early on in the race to come through in second. Great Britain came through in third after holding off a challenge from Hungary.

For the past four years Germany has dominated the top spot in this boat class. A new crew this year of Philipp Syring and Tim Ole Naske looked to be beautifully holding up to this daunting task in Semifinal Two. Syring and Naske got out in front at the start and by the middle of the race they had a small lead over second placed Australia. Australia’s time in yesterday’s quarterfinal was almost identical to the German time and Naske and Syring must have known this.

But looking cool and calm coming into the final 500m sprint, Germany remained ahead of Australia with Lithuania now hunting down the Australians. The crowd was loving this final sprint and the noise rose. Australia’s Jack Cleary and Tyron Boorman reacted beautifully and raised their stroke rate to 40 strokes per minute.

At the line Germany remained in front, Australia held on to second and the slow-starting Lithuanian’s came through in the third and final qualifying spot.
Qualifiers: ROU, POL, GBR, GER, AUS, LTU

Junior Men’s Quadruple Sculls (JM4x) – Semifinals
Semifinal One saw New Zealand shoot out at the start and get to the first 500m mark in the lead. Slovenia followed in second with margins between all six boats remaining very, very tight. By the half-way point New Zealand’s O’Leary, Davenport, Crosbie and the one returning athlete, Mackenzie-Mol remained in the lead with Italy now closing on them.

The high rating Italians continued on their aggressive way keeping New Zealand honest and pushing the pace with South Africa now in third. New Zealand then decided to leave the field behind with a remarkable sprint that saw them get to the line before the reigning World Champions, Italy. The Italians took second and South Africa qualified for the final from third.

The fastest qualifiers from Wednesday’s heats, the United States started in Semifinal Two. What would they do today in the semifinal? At the start Germany got out in front with the United States – Coyle, Davison, Wales and Kelly – just a fraction back in second. But it was about to all change. As the middle of the race came into view, the United States had inched ahead of Germany. It was, however, by only an inch and the Germans were not giving up. Germany came second to the United States in the heats which pushed them into the repechage. Would they turn the tables today?

With just 500m left to row Germany had got back into the lead by a small half length. The United States fought back but Germany got to the line in first. The United States had to be happy to qualify from second and China got the better of a battle with the Czech Republic to become the last qualifying boat.
Qualifiers: NZL, ITA, RSA, GER, USA, CHN
 

Junior Men’s Single Sculls (JM1x) – Semifinals
This event started off with a huge number of entries and this meant quarterfinals were raced yesterday. In Semifinal One Poland’s statuesque Natan Wegrzycki-Szymczyk had the fastest start. Wegrzycki-Szymczyk won his quarterfinal and in the second fastest time overall and he looked to be the one to beat in this race. Settling into a rather comfortable 29 stroke rate pace, Wegrzycki-Szymczyk still had the lead, and now a very handy leading margin, with half the race gone.  Wegrzycki-Szymczyk finished fifth last year and it looked as if he had stepped up a notch over the last year.

Meanwhile Norway’s Jan Helvig followed in second but was not anywhere close to the pace of Wegrzycki-Szymczyk. The real race going on was for the third spot. Canada and the Czech Republic were neck-and-neck with each other with Belgium charging through at the final sprint.

At the line Wegrzycki-Szymczyk was easily first, Helvig took second and Stepan-Adam Havlicek of the Czech Republic just pipped Belgium at the line. The Belgian had missed out on the final by just 0.03 of a second.

Coming through from the quarterfinals, Azerbaijan’s Boris Yotov had the fastest qualifying time. But at the start of Semifinal Two, Yotov was down on the leader, Nicolas Schlueter of Germany by nearly four seconds. Then as Schlueter found the pace a bit hot, Andrija Sljukic of Serbia pushed his way into the lead. The race, however, was far from over as Yotov started to overtake boats and move up on Sljukic. Cuba’s Orlando Sotolong, after being overtaken by Yotov, followed in third.

In the final sprint Yotov overtook Sljukic to take first in the fastest qualifying time with Sljukic taking second and Sotolongo qualifying from third.
Qualifiers: POL, NOR, CZE, AZE, SRB, CUB
 

Junior Women’s Single Sculls (JW1x) – Semifinals
It is not often to see a top single sculler from Great Britain, but there may be one coming through. In yesterday’s quarterfinals, Jessica Leyden of Great Britain scored the fastest qualifying time and she raced again today in Semifinal One. Three boats came out at the start in a virtual line – Great Britain, France and Germany. By the 1000m mark Leyden had pushed into the lead with a very small margin over Elodie Ravera-Scaramozzino of France.

Leyden remained at the head of the field but Ravera-Scaramozzino refused to give the Brit much breathing room with Tina Christmann of Germany very much on the leader’s pace. Germany won this event last year and are often at the head of the field in the final, but it looked like Christmann had some very stiff competition this year. At the line Leyden had finished first, Ravera-Scaramozzino took second and Christmann qualified for the final from third.

Tatsiana Klimovich of Belarus is at her third junior championships and this experience paid off in Semifinal Two when she led from start to finish. Brazil’s Beatriz Cardoso followed in second with Lovisa Claesson of Sweden right on Cardosa’s tail. Then Italy tried to push into a qualifying spot. Claesson reacted beautifully and the three leaders remained unchanged. Klimovich was first Claesson overtook Cardosa to take second and Cardosa qualified from third.
Qualifiers: GBR, FRA, GER, BLR, SWE, BRA
 

Junior Men’s Eight (JM8+) – Semifinals
The reigning World Champions, Italy recorded the fastest qualifying time on Thursday in the heat and they raced in Semifinal One. But it was Germany, silver medallists in 2012, who had the early lead. The Germans continued to remain in front with the United States, Australia and Italy making a virtual line just behind the Germans. This meant three crews were giving it their all for two spots.

Italy then upped their stroke rate and got into second, albeit only just. Stroke rates went into the low 40s as Germany looked to be fading over the last 10 strokes. Germany had just held on to first. Italy, just half a second down on Germany, took second and Australia made it through to third. These are the three qualifying boats for Sunday’s final.

From the times in the heats, Serbia looked to be the one to keep an eye on in Semifinal Two. All crews got off the line at speed with Romania managing to just get their nose in front by the first 500m mark. This lead remained through the middle of the race with Serbia following in second and Great Britain still very much on the pace in third. These three crews had to keep the pressure on as the Netherlands were right there challenging for a qualifying spot.

The final sprint saw Serbia and Great Britain overtake Romania by rating much higher with Romania managing to hold off the Dutch. Serbia, Great Britain and Romania had qualified for tomorrow’s final.
Qualifiers: GER, ITA, AUS, SRB, GBR, ROU