Junior Men’s Single Sculls (JM1x) – Finals

A-Final

The fastest scullers from the semifinals were Ivan Brynza of Belarus and Italy’s Gennaro di Mauro. Brynza won silver at last year’s Youth Olympic Games and also finished fourth in this boat class at the 2018 junior championships. Poland was the first to lead but soon ran out of steam with the high-rating di Mauro then taking the lead. Then Brynza started to come into his own and he was gaining on di Mauro.

Di Mauro’s high rating must have been starting to take its toll as Brynza moved into first with Tim Roth of Switzerland now closing on di Mauro. So was Tristan Vandenbussche of Belgium who overtook the fading Italian. Then Vandenbussche went after Roth. At the front Brynza was all class. Brynza had won. Vandenbussche had grabbed silver with Roth getting bronze.

Results: BLR, BEL, SUI, ITA, BUL, POL

Ivan Brynza, Belarus, Gold
“It was hard, but I’m first so… I’m really happy!”

Tristan Vandenbussche, Belgium, Silver
“I expected to be one of the last as these past 2 weeks of training have not been so good. But I think I was able to put out this performance because of how bad I wanted it.”

Tim Roth, Switzerland, Bronze
“I went in expecting a medal. I was able to hold the pace until the middle thousand. I was fighting it out with Tristan when I saw Gennaro (ITA) start to fade.”

Re-watch the race here!

B-final

On paper, from races earlier in the week, Cyprus was the favourite. But this race was all about Paul Leerkamp of Germany. Leerkamp capsized in his semifinal but has been allowed to return for this race. By the half way point Leerkamp had a huge open water lead over the rest of the field. The Netherlands followed in second with Cyprus challenging the Netherlands (Joost Schwarz). The field closed on Leerkamp in the final sprint with Leerkamp running out of steam. Rares-Andrei Nechita of Cyprus was flying! Nechita took the win in 7:31.

Results: CYP, NED, POR, GER, USA, TPE

Re-watch the race here!