Daily Digest: Racing Resumes in St Catharines

After one cancelled day and then a delayed start to day three at the 2024 World Rowing Senior, Under 23 & Under 19 Championships, racing finally got underway again in St Catharines, Canada with the remaining heats and preliminary races for lanes and then a series of repechages.

Germany beat Canada, twice

Both the men’s and women’s U23 lightweight quadruple sculls had just two entries; the host nation, Canada, and Germany. Germany managed to overcome any home advantage in both races to take the wins – but it could all change when they race each other again in the final.

Sprints to line in women’s pair

The positions changed in the closing stages of both heats of the U23 women’s pair. In the first heat Great Britain’s Anna Grace and Holly Youd lead for the majority of the race and, perhaps knowing they had done enough to secure one of the two direct qualifying places for the final, allowed France’s Lea Herscovici and Fleur Vaucoret to come past and take the win. Meanwhile, in the second heat, Germany’s Lene Muehrs and Anni Koetitz led throughout while Austria’s Linda Weitmann and Hannah Keplinger overhauled the Dutch pair in an epic sprint to the line to take the second qualifying place.

Tough competition and two races in a day

With 19 entries in the U23 men’s pair, there was four heats with the top two from each progressing to semifinals which are scheduled to be held tomorrow, Wednesday 21 August. The second heat was a close contest; Germany had been in the all-important top two for most of the race and even leading for a large part of it, but it all closed up on the approach to the line and it was Romania and Slovenia that took the two qualifying places – forcing the experienced German pairing of Tobias Strangemann and Johannes Benien into the repechage to be held at the end of the racing session on the very same day. Great Britain, who are the reigning U23 Champions in this boat class, although a different crew, will also need to contest the repechage.

Olympians reign supreme, almost

The field of 22 in the senior lightweight women’s sculls has seven rowers who have raced at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games just a couple of weeks ago and that Olympic experience certainly showed for many of them. Heat one saw a win for Austria’s Lara Tiefenthaler, despite a fast start from the French sculler, Aurelie Morizot. There was never any doubting Greece’s Zoi Fitsiou, who led the second heat from the start – she won bronze in the lightweight double sculls at the Paris Games. Siobhan McCrohan broke the run of the Olympians when she dominate the third heat – while she may not have raced in Paris, she is the reigning World Champion in this boat class. The fourth and final heat saw the recent Olympic silver medallist, Ionela Cozmiuc of Romania lead throughout and secure a comfortable win.

Critical repechages

The afternoon of racing saw repechages for the senior lightweight men’s single sculls and then a series of the U23 boat classes. Racing was intense in many of the U23 events as it meant the difference between a place in the A final, and the opportunity to race for medals, or a place in the B final, where seventh place overall would be the best possible result. In the second repechage of the U23 lightweight women’s single sculls, France’s Justine Dias was so pleased that she had done enough, she punched the water so hard after the finish line that she ended up rolling into it. She was promptly rescued by the safety boat and gave a celebratory wave to the crowds of applauding supporters. Meanwhile, in the second repechage of the U23 lightweight men’s single sculls, there was a sprint to the line between three scullers for just two places. It was the American sculler, Timothy Parsons that missed out after the supporters gave a boost to Canada’s Emerson Crick.

First crew eliminated

Chinese Taipei became the first crew to be eliminated from the competition when they finished fourth in the repechage of the U23 women’s four. They received huge applause from the grandstand as they crossed the line, and waved to the crowds on their return to the boat park.

Five goes down to four

The penultimate boat class of the day was the U23 women’s eight with a repechage that saw five crews racing for just four places in the final. It was a surprise to see Romania in the danger zone in the early stages of the race, a nation renowned for producing top quality women’s eights. However, the Romanians worked their through the field to take second place by the finish, just behind Germany. Meanwhile, much to the disappointment of the home supporters, Canada slipped back from second to fifth and, for them, the Championships came to an end.

U23 men’s pairs go again

The change of schedule meant that the U23 men’s pairs that didn’t secure direct qualification from the heats had to race again at the end of the session. Two repechages were held with the top two from each progressing to tomorrow’s A/B semifinals. Spain and Canada took the two places from repechage one while Germany and Great Britain completed the line-up from the second repechage.

Racing starts for U19s tomorrow

Another full day of racing is scheduled for tomorrow including the first races for the U19 rowers with heats for the first few boat classes.

Racing begins at 9am EST.