U23 Daily Digest: A-Finalists decided

With places in A-Finals up for grabs, the U23 semifinals were exciting throughout the afternoon. With the top three in each semifinal securing an opportunity to race for medals, all of the races were tight, with crews missing out by fractions of a second.

Anastasiadou stamps authority

Greece’s Evangelia Anastasiadou dominated the first semifinal of the lightweight women’s single sculls. She is clearly hoping to improve on her U23 silver medal from last year. Giulia Clerici of Italy and Phaedra Van Der Molen of the Netherlands took the remaining two places for the final.  In the second semifinal, Turkey’s Elis Ozbay led from the start and won by 3.91 seconds with a race  for the remaining two spaces between three scullers. It was then Germany’s Cosima Clotten in second and Australia’s Grace Sypher secured the third qualifying place by just 0.21 seconds.

Vyvey looking for gold?

Also looking to improve on last year’s result is Belgium’s Tibo Vyvey. The Belgian sculler won bronze in the lightweight double scull at the 2021 World Rowing U23 Championships. He’s in the lightweight single scull this season and posted the fastest time, 6:55.35 in semifinal 1. Canada and Argentina took the other two qualifying places. In the second semifinal, Uruguay’s Felipe Kluver Ferreira worked his way through the pack to finish first, in a time of  6:58.92 with Switzerland and Germany in second and third respectively.

Belgium dominate & Republic of Moldova excite

It was a dominating performance from Aaron Andries and Tristan Vandenbussche racing in Belgium’s Under 23 men’s double scull, winning the first semifinal by 5.75 seconds in a time of 6:13.37. Germany and Ireland also booked places for the medal race in the first semifinal. The second semifinal was equally exciting when the Republic of Moldova’s Alexandr Bulat and Ivan Curunov led from the start to beat France by 0.94 seconds. Switzerland took the third qualifying place.

GB miss out in men’s quad

There was a shock in the men’s quadruple sculls after Great Britain, who had won their heat earlier in the regatta and led the second semifinal for more than half of the race, then failed to finish in the top three. Germany won that semifinal, ahead of defending champions Czech Republic, with the Netherlands in third. This came shortly after Italy had won the first semifinal ahead of New Zealand and Lithuania.

Final sprint from Romania & redemption for Great Britain

Whilst Lithuania’s Stankunas brothers, Dovydas and Domantas, had looked fairly comfortable at halfway in the first semifinal of the men’s pair, Romania’s Claudiu Neamtu and Andrei Mandrila came through in the second half to take the win. Canada finished third. In the second semifinal, South Africa’s Damien Bonhage-Koen and Christopher Baxter led from the start whilst Uruguayans Leandra Joaquin Rodas Correa and Martin Zocalo worked their way through the pack to take second place. Meanwhile, there was redemption for Great Britain’s Ollie Parish and Luca Ferraro who had come through the repechage, who took third place to qualify for the medal race.

Changes to Friday Schedule

Due to forecast adverse weather conditions, the World Rowing Executive Committee has brought forward the racing programme for Friday, 29 July. Full details are here.

Don’t miss a moment of the week’s action! Here’s how you can follow the racing:

Our LIVE TRACKER and LIVE AUDIO will be available for all races on worldrowing.com.

LIVE VIDEO will be available from Friday, 29 July to Sunday, 31 July, and will start 5minutes before the start of the first race.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok for behind the scenes interviews, live updates, racing updates, photos and more.

Join the conversation!

Use the hashtags #WRUCHVarese, #WRU19CH, and #WRU23CH on social media, and tag us in your content!

📱 IG: @worldrowingofficial

📱 Twitter: @WorldRowing

📱 TikTok: @worldrowing

📱 Facebook: World Rowing