Germany dominates finals at junior championships

Germany took away the biggest bunch of medals and YOG spots by winning one silver and four golds out of the eight events contested. The highlight for Germany came in the last race of the day, the men’s eight, which was won in the final stroke of the race over Italy and Serbia.  

After a major storm last night, the sun broke through the overcast conditions over Lake Galve for these finals. A handy tail wind for the B-finals turned into a slight tail – side wind for the A-finals which then turned to a very slight head wind as the day progressed.  

Junior Men’s Pair (JM2-) – Final
Following yesterday’s semifinals, it looked as though Malte Grossmann and Michael Trebbow from Germany were the crew to beat. Grossmann and Trebbow shot out at the start and already had an impressive length and a half advantage after the 500m mark. With 1000m gone Grossmann and Trebbow had moved further out in front with the real battle now going on for the silver medal spot with the remaining five boats.

Slovenia, Austria, Greece, the Czech Republic and Serbia were giving it their all to take a small advantage over their competition. Slovenia’s Miha Ramsak and Gasper Ferlinc had a small silver medal advantage but they knew they had to keep the pace going.
As Trebbow and Grossmann crossed the line in first, Greece’s Georgios Papasakelariou and Michail Kouskouridas came storming through to take second with Ramsak and Ferlinc earning the bronze. The time of 6:35.22 was one of the fastest ever recorded at a World Rowing Junior Championship.
Results: GER, GRE, SLO, SRB, CZE, AUT
YOG Qualifiers: GER, GRE, SLO, SRB, CZE
 

Junior Women’s Double Sculls (JW2x) – Final
The Romanian crew of Elena Logofatu and Nicoleta Pascanu have been flying through this regatta and they took up the centre lane in this final. With just 300m rowed Logofatu and Pascanu already had the lead. A year ago Romania finished second at the junior championships and they were looking to step up this season.

By the middle of the race Logofatu and Pascanu had a bit of a lead but were still very much under pressure from Denmark’s Mathilde Persson and Ida Jacobsen who were close by in second. Australia and Greece also had the pace to get into the better medals.

A big piece by Narelle Badenoch and Eleni Kalimnios of Australia got them ahead of Denmark and into the silver medal spot at the 1400m mark. Denmark did not seem to be able to react. Could Australia close on the Romanians?

Romania took their stroke rate to 41 and then even higher to remain in the lead. Logofatu and Pascanu had the energy to really sprint. Australia came through in second and Denmark just held off Greece to take bronze.
Results: ROU, AUS, DEN, GRE, GER, ITA
YOG Qualifiers: ROU, AUS, DEN, GRE

B-final
Ireland’s Hilary Shinnick and Bridget Jacques had the next fastest time coming through from yesterday’s heats and after a fast start by Lithuania, Shinnick and Jacques took over in the lead. Lithuania are the reigning World Champions, but with a different combination, and they tried to keep up with Ireland. The Irish had a very high stroke rate and it was keeping them in the lead. At the line Shinnick and Jacques had won the B-final earning them seventh place overall with a very quick time of 7:14.52. Lithuania held on to second.
Results: IRE, LTU, CRO, BLR, SLO, AUT

Junior Men’s Double Sculls (JM2x) – Final
The reigning World Champions, Germany had a new crew this year and, coming through from yesterday’s semifinals, Philipp Syring and Tim Ole Naske of Germany looked like the crew to beat. Germany has won this event every year since 2009 – quite a legacy for Syring and Naske be part of. But also having a great semifinal time was Marian-Florian Enach and Gheorghe-Robert Dedu of Romania. Enach and Dedu won the European Junior Championships earlier this season and come to Trakai with big expectations.

Poland, however, was the first to show leaders speed at the start. The Polish lead did not last long as Romania and Germany pushed in front. Both Romania and Germany settled into a 34 stroke rate as these two crews matched each other stroke for stroke.

Going through the middle of the race Syring and Naske got their bow ball ahead of Romania and started to move away. But Enach and Dedu were far from giving up. Fighting back with a 40 stroke rate piece, Romania closed on the Germans. Back in third, Poland’s Marcin Pawlowski and Dominik Czaja looked secure for the bronze. But then in the final sprint Lithuania came flying.

At the line Germany had cracked the Romanian’s. Germany had defended their World Championship title. Romania held on to silver and Poland held off the flying Lithuanian’s to take bronze.
Results: GER, ROU, POL, LTU, GBR, AUS
YOG Qualifiers: GER, ROU, POL, LTU

B-final
Hungary, Denmark and Italy raced in the faster semifinal yesterday with Denmark and Italy recording almost identical times. Today, though, it was Uzbekistan in the lead at the start. But Uzbekistan had their work cut out for them as going through the middle of the race margins were tight across the entire field. Then the Czech Republic’s Miroslav Jech and David Kral pushed into the lead and never looked back. Jech and Kral crossed the line in first with Italy charging through to a second place. Italy celebrated their strong finish.
Results: CZE, ITA, HUN, DEN, UZB, KOR

Junior Men’s Quadruple Sculls (JM4x) – Final
The winners of the two semifinals yesterday, New Zealand and Germany had almost identical times. This was looking to be a race between the two centre lanes. Also in the mix were the 2012 World Champions, Italy. The Italians had the best start and looked to be doing their signature high rating race.

By the first 500m mark, however, Germany had their nose in front. But there was nothing in it with barely a second and a half separating the entire fleet. Then Germany (Appel, Sievers, Redenius and Teichmann) and New Zealand (O’Leary, Davenport, Crosbie and returning athlete MacKenzie-Mol) managed to move slightly away from the rest of the field. The real fight was now on for bronze between Italy and China.

Coming into the final sprint five boats were still very much on the pace with only South Africa dropping back. The ratings started to rise. Germany pushed hard and managed to inch away. New Zealand looked to be only just holding onto the silver under pressure from Italy, China and the sprinting United States.

Germany took gold, New Zealand hung on to silver and in a photo finish for bronze, China had done it by just 0.20 of a second.
Results: GER, NZL, CHN, ITA, RSA, USA
YOG Qualifier: GER

B-final
From yesterday’s semifinals it looked as though this would be a very tight B-final. And it was. Great Britain had the lead at the start with Slovenia then getting their bow ball ahead through the middle of the race. Coming into the final sprint just four seconds separated the top five crews and all crews sprinted to the line. Pulling away on the last couple of strokes, Ostanek, Crnac, Pugelj and Zaric had finished first.
Results: SLO, CZE, CRO, GBR, AUS, POL

 

Junior Women’s Eight (JW8+) – Final
The heats three days ago indicated that Romania were the stand-out boat. Romania won this event last year and already this year had finished first at the European Rowing Championships. But the United States, who took silver in 2012, were in the other heat and the two countries had yet to race each other. Today was the day. Romania and the United States sat ready in the two centre lanes.

All six boats got away quickly with Germany just a little faster as the wind moved from being a slight tail wind to a bit of a head wind. Romania then started to move and at about 700m Romania had taken a seat off the Germans. As soon as Romania felt the lead, they took off. Germany tried desperately to hold on. But where were the Americans?

Last year Italy made history by winning their first even women’s eight medal and they were sitting in third with the United States way back in fourth. The US would have to do a huge sprint to get into the medals with Belarus now moving.

As Romania rowed their boat to gold, Germany held on to silver and Italy, now coached by Claudio Romagnoli, got the bronze. All three of these crews were very happy with hugs and high fives the scene on the podium. Georgiana Danciu, Romania’s coxswain stood up waving a flag.
Results: ROU, GER, ITA, BLR, USA, CHN
YOG Qualifier: ROU

B-final
Australia and Hungary went head to head in this two-horse race. Australia had easily outclassed Hungary in their repechage two days ago and today Australia got out ahead. Rating a rather sedate 33 strokes per minute, Australia remained in the lead right through to the finish. Neither of these countries raced in the eight at last year’s World Rowing Junior Championships and seeing a women’s eights from Hungary has been an unusual sight in recent years.
Results: AUS, HUN

Junior Men’s Single Sculls (JM1x) – Final
This week has seen the rise and rise of Natan Wegrzycki-Szymczyk of Poland throughout the week. But today Wegrzycki-Szymczyk faced Azerbaijan’s Boris Yotov in the next door lane. The 2m tall Wegrzycki-Szymczyk had finished fifth in this event last year while Yotov comes to Trakai having won the European Junior Championships ahead of Wegrzycki-Szymczyk.

All boats got away together with Poland just inching into a very slight lead as Jan Helvig of Norway dropped back ever so slightly. As Wegrzycki-Szymczyk took a half boat advantage a virtual line formed behind him with Cuba’s Orlando Sotolongo having a bit of an edge. Yotov looked to be holding back, but everyone knew that Yotov knows how to pounce.

Wegrzycki-Szymczyk got to the half-way point first with Andrija Sljukic of Serbia moving into second and looking to close on the Pole. Yotov still hadn’t really moved. The final sprint was now coming into view with the field looking rather spread out. Wegrzycki-Szymczyk’s strategy of going out hard at the start looked to be working. Unless Sljukic could catch him.

In a league of their own Poland and Serbia led the field into the line. Wegrzycki-Szymczyk was a World Champion, Sljukic took second and Yotov had to settle for bronze.  
Results: POL, SRB, AZE, NOR, CUB, CZE
YOG Qualifiers: POL, SRB, AZE, NOR, CUB, CZE

B-final
It has been a hard week in the junior men’s single sculls. This event started off with a huge field that had to work through heats, quarterfinals and semifinals to get to today’s race. Pierre de Loof of Belgium must be the one to feel the most disappointed as he missed out on making the A-final by just 0.03 of a second in an awesome sprint at the finish. What would de Loof do today? At the start Germany’s Nicolas Schlueter had the lead. It is not often that you see a German in the B-final of the men’s single, but being here must be a reflection of the stiff competition. Schlueter continued to lead through the middle of the race while de Loof remained at the back of the field.

In the final sprint de Loof unleashed his trademark sprint. He was, however, too far back to catch Schlueter. De Loof managed to get into the third place spot with France finishing second.
Results: GER, FRA, BEL, USA, CAN, SVK
 

Junior Women’s Single Sculls (JW1x) – Final
There was no doubt that, coming through from the quarterfinals and semifinals, all eyes were on Jessica Leydon of Great Britain. Could she pull off the first win for her country? But Leydon was up against reigning European Junior Champion, Tatsiana Klimovich of Belarus who seemed to race with relative calm.

At the start Tina Christmann of Germany got off to a flyer but Klimovich, keeping her stroke rate high, was right with the German. Klimovich, who is at her fourth Junior World Championship, then got into the lead. Christmann, however, was not letting Klimovich get away with France’s Elodie Ravera-Scaramozzino also challenging for the lead.

Leyden then began to move and by the 1000m mark Leyden had overtaken Brazil and was up challenging Christmann. With 800m to go the status quo was completely turned upside down. First Ravera-Scaramozzino overtook Klimovich, then Leyden overtook both of them and continued to move. What an awesome piece!

As the final sprint came into view Leyden had the lead and was continuing to power away from the field. If Leyden was to win it would be the first ever gold medal in this event for Great Britain. Klimovich pulled herself together and overtook France to get back into second.

Leyden had made history after four years of Germany winning this event. Klimovich took silver and a gutsy race by Ravera-Scaramozzino earned her the bronze.
Results: GBR, BLR, FRA, GER, BRA, SWE
YOG Qualifiers: GBR, BLR, FRA, GER, BRA, SWE

B-final
Italy’s Bianca Pelloni had a very fast time in the semifinals yesterday putting her as the favourite today. But it was Bulgaria’s Desislava Georgieva went through the middle of the race in the lead. Then Pelloni stepped up pushing Georgieva into second. Georgieva was overrating Pelloni as these two scullers held their own battle at the head of the field.

Pelloni got to the line first, Georgieva was second with Romania just sneaking ahead of Norway at the end.
Results: ITA, BUL, ROU, NOR, DEN, CZE
 

Junior Men’s Eight (JM8+) – Final
Wrapping up the 2013 World Rowing Junior Championships, the men’s eight was shaping up to be a humdinger. In yesterday’s semifinals the times separating the six qualifying boats was just three seconds with the 2012 silver medallists, Germany having a very slight edge.

Germany pushed away just a fraction quicker than their competition and reached the first 500m mark in the lead. But there was very little in it. Then a huge move by Serbia gave them the lead at the 900m mark and this move was having a big impact. Serbia was first at the European Junior Championships and this crew looked to be on fire.

Germany still hung on to second with Romania now moving up on the outside. This event was won by Italy last year, but the Italians were back in fifth with half the race gone. Then, as Romania began to fade, Italy pushed through and closed on Germany in second. The crowd was on their feet and the German contingent was the loudest, encouraging their favourite boat.

In the final sprint Serbia still in the lead with Germany and Italy charging. All boats sat there. A photo finish was needed. Italy started to celebrate, standing up. Germany had won, Italy celebrated their second by just 0.01 of a second and Serbia had taken bronze. What a finish!
Results: GER, ITA, SRB, GBR, AUS, ROU
YOG Qualifier: GER

B-final
The United States, who finished fifth in 2012, just missed out on the A-final when they finished less than a second down in yesterday’s semifinal. Today the United States went out swiftly at the start clocking an impressive 1:23 for the first 500m. This gave the United States a handy lead with the Netherlands the closest challenger. The Dutch also just missed out in the A-final through their semifinal and they were giving it their all to catch the United States.

The US looked classy out in front as they responded to every challenge put to them by the rest of the field. Rating 40 strokes per minute the US raced it to the end crossing the line in a speedy time of 5:48. The Dutch came through in second.
Results: USA, NED, CRO, BLR, RSA, LTU