Daily Digest: Last final places confirmed in Plovdiv

Straight on the back of the first set of medal races, a series of nine Semifinals were races with crews looking to secure places for the remainder of the Finals, scheduled for tomorrow. The intensity of the Semifinals has set the scene for some some battles to be held for the medals during the last 13 Finals.

Stage set for epic final in LW1x

Turkiye’s Elis Ozbay won silver in this boat class last year and is certainly keen to improve on that this year. While she led the majority of the first Semifinal, Ilaria Corazza of Italy had the familiar final sprint and crossed the line first. Spain’s Amanda Gil Camacho took the third qualifying place. Corazza’s winning time was 7:47.75. However, in the second semifinal, Australia’s Grace Sypher went even faster. Although Canada’s Karissa Riley led for more than half of the race, Sypher came through in the second half to win in a time of 7:46.60. The third qualifying place went to Switzerland’s Marion Heiniger to complete the line-up for tomorrow’s Final.

Can Struzina claim gold this year?

In 2022, Gian Struzina won silver for Switzerland in the lightweight men’s single sculls and he’s hoping to at least match that this year. He raced in the second Semifinal where his finish time was 6:59.88. However, Italy’s Giovanni Borgonovo took the lead position in the first semifinal in 6:59.40, suggesting we could be in for a close Final tomorrow! The times suggest there could also be an epic battle for the bronze medal too, it will be all to play for!

Final sprint from Uruguay to overhaul Poland

Ireland’s Konan Pazzaia and Brian Colsh looked comfortable in the first semifinal of the men’s double scull, clocking 6:16.42. They are the only returning medalists from last year and will be hoping they can improve on their bronze medal from last year in tomorrow’s final. France and Lithuania also booked their places in the final. In the second semifinal, Poland’s Jakub Wozniak and Konrad Domanski led all of the way until there was an incredible final sprint from Newton Seawright and Martin Zocalo of Uruguay to win the race in 6:20.96. Germany secured the third qualifying place.

Familiar line-up for men’s four

Australia Vs. Great Britain in the men’s four – doesn’t that sound familiar? Australia led the first Semifinal all of the way and set a time of 5:58.03 with Romania and France claiming the other two qualifying places in that race. Shortly later, Great Britain, who are defending World U23 Champions in this boat class, clocked 6:01.31 when they won the second Semifinal. Germany, who had led for the first quarter of the race, took second place, and Italy third.

Greece dominate lightweight women’s double

Greek scullers Evangelia Anastasiadou and Dimitra Eleni Kontou got an early lead and looked very comfortable crossing the line over eight seconds ahead of Germany in the first Semifinal of the lightweight women’s double sculls with China taking third place and securing a slot in tomorrow’s Final. In the second Semifinal, it was Poland’s Wiktoria Kalinowska and Jessika Sobocinska that led from the start and crossed the line a few seconds ahead of Italy. Meanwhile, an impressive final sprint from Great Britain wasn’t quite enough to overhaul France, and the British will have to settle for the Final B tomorrow. 

Ireland’s lightweight match their openweights

It’s a familiar sight to see an Irish lightweight men’s double sculls at the front of a race and Ciaran Purdy and Rory O’Neill did not disappoint. They won their Semifinal in 6:28.57, ahead of France and Spain. The second Semifinal was a much closer affair and although it was an impressive scull from Germany’s Nikita Mohr and Finn Wolter, they were pushed hard to the line, setting a faster time than Ireland, 6:25.13. The Netherlands took the second qualifying place and despite a valiant effort from China, the final place for tomorrow’s medal race went to Italy. 

Neykov delights home supporters

The first Semifinal of the men’s single sculls was an absolutely epic battle. Poland’s Piotr Plominski was fastest off the start and held the lead position most of the way, but as the noise from the crowds increased, Bulgaria’s Emil Neykov continued to work his way through the field. He had more to give than anyone else and in one of closest finishes of the Championships so far, the front four scullers crossed the line within 0.37 seconds of each other with Turkey’s Cevdet Ege Mutlu missing out on qualification for the A-Final by the narrowest of margins. The second Semifinal was equally as exciting and really started to close up in the final stages but it was huge disappointment for Leonardo Tedoldi, who had led for the majority of the race and then appeared to run out of steam and crossed the line in fourth place, missing out on the medal race. It was a win for Ireland’s Andrew Sheehan, his time marginally slower than the time that had been set by Neykov in the first semifinal. Tomorrow’s Final could be incredible!

Men’s quad final line-up confirmed

We’re expecting a close race in the Final of the men’s quad today after the semifinals today. In the first Semifinal, four boats crossed the line within less than two seconds with the Polish boat, which had been leading at both the 500m and 1500m timing points, narrowly missing out on a place in the Final. Meanwhile, Australia, who had been in fourth at 1500m, crossed the finish line first, their time was 5:46.57. The second Semifinal was not quite so close, and was won by Germany in 5:48.27 with strong crews from the Netherlands and Great Britain taking the remaining two slots for the Final.

Janzen unchallenged in semifinals

The lead places were traded throughout the first Semifinal of the women’s single sculls with Alison Bergin of Ireland eventually establishing herself at the front of the field, and clocking a time of 7:40.05. The other two qualifying places for the final went to Anna Santruckova of the Czechia and South Africa’s Courtney Westley. The second Semifinal saw Switzerland’s Aurelia-Maxima Janzen able to wind down towards the line as she had a comfortable lead. As she wasn’t really pushed, her time of 7:43.83 isn’t really comparable. Belgium’s Mazarine Guilbert and Greece’s Evangelia Fragkou also booked their places in the medal Final scheduled for 12:20 local time tomorrow.