Junior Men’s Eight (JM8+) – Final

A-Final

Germany had recorded the fastest time in the heats to go directly to today’s final. Germany met winner of the other heat, Great Britain. The British had a slower time but they are the reigning World Champions. Germany got away the quickest and they began to nose in front of the United States in second. The US and Germany now paced each other at the head of the field. None of the nine in the German boat had rowed at a junior championships before. The US came to this final through the repechage and they won silver in 2018. Two of the 2018 boat were in this 2019 crew.

Great Britain had a very slow start but they were now moving through the field and had found the bronze medal spot. They still had a lot to make up on the two leading boats who had open water lead over the British. Germany then did a piece and got almost a boat length lead over the US. The Americans upped their stroke rate to try and close. The crowd was on their feet for this last race of the regatta. And the sprint was on. Germany went to 37 and had broken clear. The British went after the US. Germany took the gold.

Results: GER, USA, GBR, CHN, HUN, POL

Ryan Smith (s), Germany, Gold,
“We knew we could do well, but we also knew it would be hard. At 1000 we  pushed harder and widened our gap.”

Savas Koutsouras, United States of America, Silver
“That was a lot of fun racing today! It was a really tough competition to race to against. It’s been a really great venue here.”

Henry Pearson, Great Britain, Bronze
“We had a really good start today and some good speed in the middle, so we’re happy with the result.”

Re-watch the race here!