A 23-nation medal spread at 2014 World Rowing Under 23 Championships

For immediate release
Varese, 27 July 2014

The 2014 World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Varese, Italy began with a large and enthusiastic field of 800 athletes and ended with the new 2014 under-23 World Champions being crowned. The performances showed why these are the best under-23 athletes in the world.

At the end of two days of finals gold medals were spread among 23 nations, with both New Zealand and the United States earning three golds each. For New Zealand they came in the lightweight women’s double sculls, men’s eight and women’s pair. The women’s pair of Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler completely dominated their final and set a new under-23 World Best Time – the only one set at this regatta.

The United States had gold medal success with Andrew Campbell in the lightweight men’s single sculls, the women’s eight and the women’s four. Campbell’s win saw him defend his 2013 title with the women’s eight also successfully defending their title.

The women’s single sculls had senior World Champion from the women’s double sculls, Milda Valciukaite of Lithuania, dominating her race and finishing just a fraction of a second outside of the under-23 World Best Time. Former junior, Sara Magnaghi of Italy, was the popular silver medallist with Germany’s Anne Beenken earning bronze.

Spain and Turkey both had medal success. Spain earned a gold medal in the lightweight men’s four, beating Great Britain and the 2013 under-23 World Champions, Italy, to the line while Turkey’s Enes Kusku earned silver in the lightweight men’s single sculls.

A number of these athletes will now join their nation’s senior team in preparation for the 2014 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam (NED) at the end of August. These include Ilse Paulis of the Netherlands who won the lightweight women’s single sculls.

Overall New Zealand topped the medals table with a total count of six from the 21 boat classes. The United States was second with five total medals and Italy came through in third with seven medals, two of them gold.

The next World Rowing event will be the World Rowing Junior Championships to be held in Hamburg (GER) starting 6 August 2014.

To relive the World Rowing Under 23 Championships action visit www.worldrowing.com for full results, race reports and photos.