Junior Men’s Quadruple Sculls (JM4x) – Finals

A–Final

This was the race the crowd had been waiting for. The Czech Republic set a junior World Best Time earlier in the regatta and they come to the final with the fastest qualifying time from yesterday’s semifinals. And just to prove their worth, the Czech Republic came out with the fastest speed. The Czech Republic crew of Baldrian, Sisma, Hladik and Rehorek got to the 500m mark just ahead of Great Britain and Poland. The British crew had won their semifinal and were sitting in the lane next to the Czechs. The Czech Republic then did a push and got a handy margin over last year’s silver medallists, Great Britain.

Germany was not moving up and had overtaken Poland to get into third and close on Great Britain. They were now neck-and-neck and barrelling down on the Czech Republic as the crowd started to chant. Great Britain went to 40 and then 43. The Czechs were at 39, Germany tried to hang in there. Gold to the Czech Republic.

Results: CZE, GBR, GER, POL, ROU, CHI

Re-watch the race here

B-final

Denmark and Switzerland both were the next best after yesterday’s semifinals and they sat next to each other in this b-final. At the start Switzerland moved the quickest, but then New Zealand took over in the lead and started to push away from the field. Switzerland held on to second with the United States and Denmark moving up to join the leaders. New Zealand got to the line first to finish seventh overall at this regatta.

Results: NZL, DEN, SUI, USA, CRO, GRE

Vaclav Baldrian (b), Czech Republic, gold
“We didn’t expect anything out there. We had a really quick start and got out in the lead. I think we had almost a boat length on other crews at the finish.”

Bryn Ellery (s), Great Britain, silver
“Best race that we’ve done! A little gutted with the result, with our training we thought we could win but really well done to the Czech crew. It was really close to the end.”

Aaron Erfanian, Germany, bronze
“We expected to be in the top 4 in this race, so we’re super happy to be on the podium. Our races kept improving all week, with this one definitely being the best so far.”