Daily Digest: 2024 Combined World Rowing Championships get off to a fast start

The thunderstorms at the start of the day cleared to enable racing to get underway on schedule for the first of eight days of racing in St Catharines Canada. Racing got off to a flying start with several World Best Times broken, and a taste of what might be to come in the later stages of the competition.

Two time Olympian sets the standard

He may only be 21, but Spain’s Caetano Horta Pombo has already been to two Olympic Games – in Tokyo and, very recently, Paris. He was the fastest across the two heats of the U23 lightweight single sculls today, clocking 6:48.30 and securing direct qualification to the final which will be on Friday 23 August. His time was approximately two seconds off the World U23 Best Time, so it will be exciting to see what he can do in the final, especially if conditions become faster.

GB women chasing U23 World Best Time held by Olympians

Great Britain finished fourth, just missing out on the podium in the women’s four at last year’s World Rowing U23 Championships, but they have already stamped their authority on the boat class this year. The crew comfortably posted the fastest time across the three heats with their winning time in heat two – 6:29.98. The current World U23 Best Time in the women’s four is 6:26.62 and has been held since 2017 when it was set by three rowers who became Olympic Champions a couple of weeks ago in Paris; Ymkje Clevering, Veronique Meester and, the single sculler, Karolien Florijn. We can’t wait to see if the British crew can go even faster in the further rounds of racing. Next up for them will be the semifinal on Wednesday 23 August.

France fastest men’s four

Matching the performance of their women, the Great Britain’s men’s four crossed the line first in heat one of the U23 men’s four posting a winning time of 5:53.81. They are defending World Rowing U23 Champions in this boat class so were keen to stamp their authority. Whilst their time wad good, and was marginally faster than Australia’s winning time in the second heat, the third heat was the fastest. France and Switzerland took the top two places in the third heat, both pasting faster times than the winning times from the first two heats.

 World Best Time in lightweight men’s singles

At the start of what was set to be a fast afternoon of racing, the World Best Time in the lightweight men’s single sculls was broken by Italy’s Niels Torre in the second of four heats in the Senior lightweight men’s single sculls. Torre’s time of 6:39.56 was marginally faster than the previous World Best Time in this boat class, 6:41.03. The double Olympic Champion, Paul O’Donovan of Ireland raced in the final heat and whilst he was fast, he wasn’t quite as fast as Torre. O’Donovan’s time was 6:41.98. There’s no chance of the Italian and the Irishman coming together until the final when we expect there might be fireworks!

The Greek Olympians are fast!

They have both come to St Catharines straight from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games so we knew that they were on form, but wow, Dimitra Kontou and Evangelia Anastasiadou really were fast! They raced in different boats at the Olympics but have come together to defend their World U23 Champion title in the lightweight women’s double sculls here in Canada, and they certainly look on track. In fact, they were so fast that they beat their own World Championship Best Time that they set last year by a staggering 8.65 seconds, setting a new time of 6:41.48.

Foester is flying!

Also here straight on the back of the Paris Olympic Games where she finished seventh overall, winning the B Final of the women’s single sculls, Germany’s Alexandra Foester looked very impressive in the second of three heats in the U23 women’s single scull. Beating fellow Olympian Aurelia-Maxima Janzen to the line, Foester’s time of 07:19.52 broke the previous World U23 Best Time set in 2022.

 Identical times in women’s eight

The penultimate boat class of day one was the U23 women’s eight and it was worth the wait! In heat one, the USA and Australia crossed the line with an identical time – 06:01.73, which was just outside the current World U23 Best Time of 06:00.13. After an analysis of the photo finish, the USA were determined to be the winners and will progress directly to the final whilst Australia will need to race the repechage.  Great Britain comfortably won the second heat in 6:05.06 and also secured direct qualification for the final which will take place on Friday.

USA set standard in men’s eight

With just six entries in the U23 men’s eight, it was a preliminary race for lanes today. The USA stamped their authority in the second half of the race, overhauling Australia to cross the line first in a time of 5:22.65 also narrowly missing out on beating the World U23 Best Time (05:22.48). Great Britain also had a strong second half, coming through from fifth at 1,000m to finish second, just under two seconds behind the USA.