Junior Men’s Double Sculls (JM2x) – Finals

A-Final

Australia and Germany won their respective semifinals yesterday and today they met to go for the medals. Australia’s Hamish Henriques and Harrison Fox were the first to show with Germany’s Paul Krueger and Aaron Erfanian holding the pace. Krueger is the reigning World Champion. Italy’s Matteo Sartori and Nicolo Carucci were in third but holding the pace of the two leaders. In fifth was Zimbabwe as the only crew from their country to contend a junior championship final.

Italy was at 37 and had overtaken Germany. Australia was at 37 with Germany at 34. Were Krueger and Erfanian saving themselves? These three crews had now left the rest of the field way behind. The question was what colour of medal would each of these crews earn. Germany now went to 36, but Australia had built up a lead and were at 39. Germany had drawn up on Italy as Australia went to 41. The many Australians in the crowd had waited all day for this one. Gold to Australia.

Results: AUS, GER, ITA, FRA, ESP, ZIM

Hamish Henriques (b), Australia, Gold
“We’ve been training two years for this so it’s a really special moment. The dream would now be to represent Australia and the Under 23 level.”

Aaron Erfanian (s), Germany, Silver
“We can’t say we didn’t expect it, but our goal was to be on the podium. We had a good start but AUS got us. We had our strongest sprint to the line, but I guess it was good enough for second today. We didn’t expect the course to be as open to the wind as it is. And the sound with the cars and planes at the start can be a little and planes at the start can be a little confusing sometimes. But the water is warm, so good for breaking records.”

Nicolo Carucci (s), Italy, Bronze
“The race was good! We’re both happy with the result and enjoyed our time at the venue.”

Re-watch the race here!

B-final

From the semifinals Hungary had the next fastest time but at the start they were back in fifth with Russia in the lead. The Russians also had a good semifinal time. But then the high-rating New Zealanders took over in the lead. The margins were close at the half way point with New Zealand just in front. Then the Netherlands put their foot down and moved from the back of the field up to challenge New Zealand. New Zealand only just held the flying Dutch off at the line.

Results: NZL, NED, HUN, RUS, DEN, BRA

Re-watch the race here!