Junior Men’s Four (JM4-) – Final

Great Britain has been the stand-out crew through this week of racing. They sat in the middle lane meeting Romania for the first time today. Italy and Great Britain rated 47 at the start with Croatia at 49. This gave Croatia the early lead. Then it was Romania with the best speed before Great Britain went for a surge and got into the lead. All of this and the first 500m mark had not yet been passed. The British crew of De Graaf, Woods, Tarczy and Drinkall hit the 500m mark first with Romania’s second place spot now under threat from New Zealand.

A lot happens in the third 500 and in this case it was about Great Britain trying to get away from the rest of the field. But New Zealand’s crew of Williamson, Russel, MacDonald and Taylor was not letting go. This forced the British to do another piece. And it worked, They had more than a boat length lead as New Zealand went to 39. Great Britain was at 37 so New Zealand went to 40 and left Romania back to try and stay ahead of Croatia. The medals were decided. The British had won.

Results: GBR, NZL, ROU, CRO, GER, ITA

Calvin Tarczy, Great Britain, gold
“First 500m, there was nothing to differentiate all of us. I was a little nervous as anything could happen. Our plan was to push at 1000m and this worked. Romania came back at us with 250m to go. Really enjoyed it here and hoping to go to the Racice next year.”

Matthew MacDonald, New Zealand, silver
“We got dropped a little at the start. But we just said go in the last 500m. They had a length, but we got closer. They (GB) is a class crew, this is a really special environment. Being here is great, there are many world class athletes. It’s my first time here.”

Nicu-Iulian Chelaru, Romania, bronze
“We had no plan, but motivation, we’re happy.”

B-final

Greece had the best time coming from yesterday’s semifinals, but it was South Africa that had the lead at the start with Chile right on their tails. Then Greece took their stroke rate up going through the second half of the race and they overtook South Africa. Denmark was now moving and by the final sprint they had grabbed the lead. Canada went to 38 to move up. Denmark was at 39 and Greece at 42.

Results: DEN, GRE, CAN, CHI, AUT, RSA