U23 Lightweight Women's Single Sculls (BLW1x) - Final

Greece and Russia came into this A-Final as the winners of their respective semifinals. Amalia Tsiavou of Greece is already racing internationally as part of her nation’s senior team in the lightweight women’s double sculls. This is Russia’s Anastasiia Ianina’s first year racing internationally and she qualified for the A-Final with the fastest time.

But it was Lithuania’s Sonata Petrikaite in lane five taking an early lead with Greece following in second. With one quarter of the race gone, Russia was at the back of the field in sixth and Japan’s Chiaki Tomita was in third.

At the half-way mark, Lithuania was still leading ahead of Greece. In the semifinal, it was Greece leading Lithuania all of the way. Had Petrikaite saved her strength for the big day? In the third quarter Lithuania increased her lead over Greece even further to three seconds. Japan, in third, was gradually closing in on the silver medal position.

But Greece’s Tsiavou had a surprise in store and in the final stretch put on the power, not only closing in on Lithuania but crossing the line in gold, one boat length ahead of silver medallist Japan who had overtaken Lithuania in the final strokes.

Results: GRE, JPN, LTU, NED, RUS, SWE

Amalia Tsiavou – GRE – Gold
“I could only make this final sprint through very hard training. It is my first medal at the world championships, so it is fantastic.”

Chiaki Tomita – JPN – Silver
“I wanted gold, so I am a bit disappointed. I won the gold in the double at the Universiade in Chungju.”

Sonata Petrikaite – LTU – bronze  
“It was a very hard race. I tried to go faster, but in the last metres I was just powerless. I am very happy to get any medal.”

B-Final

Dorottya Bene of Hungary initially led the way in the B-Final of the lightweight women’s single sculls, but Anna Zabova of the Czech Republic gradually took over at the head of the field, increasing her lead over Bene as the race unfolded. In lane one, it was Austria’s Anna Berger steadily moving into third and holding on to that position. Zabova crossed the line first, to earn seventh place overall in this event by a convincing margin of more than four seconds.

Results: CZE, HUN, AUT, GER, ITA, ROU