Daily Digest: Under 19 rowers begin their racing and Under 23 finalists confirmed

Day four in St Catharines, Canada, at the 2024 World Rowing Senior, Under 23 & Under 19 Championships began with repechages for the senior lightweight women’s single sculls and some Under 23 boat classes before we saw the first of the U19 competitors begin their racing. The day concluded with some epic semifinals for the U23s as the last of the finalists were confirmed.

Epic sprint secures qualification for Greece 

With just one direct qualification place available from the heats through to the final, the competition was intense in the U19 men’s pair. In the first heat, Serbia led for the majority of the race before an incredible final sprint from Greece’s Dimosthenis Koutsogiannis and Andreas Bourkas which secured them the top place. The second heat saw Germany’s Lars Trampert and Maximilian Brill leading from the start and comfortably securing qualification, over five seconds ahead of the USA.

Germany looking to defend title

Germany are reigining World U19 Champions in the men’s quadruple sculls and despite only having one returner from last year’s crew, they are looking to defend that title in St Catharines this year. The German crew raced in heat two and although they were the comfortable winners, their time wasn’t the fastest across the three heats. The fastest time was posted by Italy in the first heat, nearly two seconds faster than Germany. We’ll see them go again in the semifinals.

Huge support for U19s

A large number of Irish fans were very excited to see their U19 women’s double of Anna Brennan and Moya Knowles cross the line first in heat one, with South Africa taking the second qualifying place. Heat two saw the current European U19 Champions in this boat class, Gavriela Lioliou and Varvara Lykomitrou from Greece secure the win with Hana Indihar and Lara Cas of Slovenia taking the second direct progression to the semifinals. The third and final heat saw domination from Great Britain. Olivia Cheesmur and Violet Holbrow-Brooksbank crossed the line over five seconds ahead of Norway. The Brits are both medallists from last year’s World Rowing U19 Championships, albeit in different boats.

Europeans result reversed in heats

The second hat saw a win for France, but an epic final sprint from Australia allowed them to force China out of the all-important top two. Perhaps Luca Free has inherited the strong genes from his father Duncan, who is a four-time Olympian. Meanwhile, the fourth heat saw a reversal of the result from the final at the 2024 European Rowing U19 Championships. On that occasion, Greece got the better of Bulgaria, but today it was Vladimir Botev and Mario Neykov that took top position. Both boats will progress direct to the semifinals to be held on Saturday 24 August.

Scullers bring the morning to a close

The last races of the morning session were the heats for the U19 single scullers; three races in each. In the men’s event, it was no surprise to see Greece’s Panagiotis Makrygiannis clocking by far the fastest time when he won the second heat. In the women’s event, the reigning World U19 Champion Bianca-Camelia Ifteni of Romania made clear her intentions to defend her title as she set the fastest time across the three heats. South Africa’s Daniela Price-Hughes also impressed winning the first heat by over eleven seconds!

Australia first semifinal winners

The first semifinal of the Championships was for the U23 men’s double sculls and it was Australian’s Dominic Frederico and Nicholas Blackman that took the first win. Ireland also secured a place in the medal final – they are defending champions in this boat class. Meanwhile, it was Poland that took the win in the second semifinal – the crew is unchanged from the line-up that came sixth at World Rowing Cup II earlier this year and Jakub Wozniak and Konrad Domanski posted the fastest time across the two semifinals today.

Kiwis just hold off Great Britain

In the first of the semifinals in the U23 women’s four, it was New Zealand and Great Britain up against each other – both winners of their respective heats. They were head-to-head all of the way and the Kiwis crossed the line just 0.77 seconds ahead of Great Britain – we can’t wait to seem them go against each other again in the final. The second semifinal saw a win for Australia – the boat contains one returning member from last year’s bronze medal-winning crew.

Intense racing for men’s fours

The U23 mens’s fours were some of the most fiercely contested races yet. Great Britain, who are defending U23 Champions in this boat claimed the win, but only 0.21 seconds ahead of France with Romania taking the second qualifying spot. In the second seminal, the field all closed up in the final stages with appearing to feel the pressure and catching a minor crab – they managed to just hold on to the third qualifying place with Australia and New Zealand in front of them.

0.02 seconds between third and fourth

The photo finish camera came into action in the second semifinal of the U23 men’s quadruple sculls in order to separate Great Britain and Ireland for the all-important third qualifying place. It was the British that came out on top, 0.02 seconds ahead of Ireland – who will go into the Final B

Two fastest scullers from Germany

Germany’s Timo Strache is here in Canada competing at his third World Rowing U23 Championships and he has won a medal every time. He indicated today that he is on form to make a hat trick as he posted the fastest time cross the two semifinals. Shortly later, the fastest time across the U23 women’s single sculls semifinals was also claimed by Germany.

The winners of the two semifinals in the women’s single sculls were perhaps as expected; both Paris Olympians. Both Germany’s Alexandra Foester and Swiss sculler Aurelia-Maxima Janzen looked untroubled as they cruised to victories in their respective semifinals. They’ll go head-to-head on Friday for the first time since the B Final in Paris

First medals tomorrow!

Focus now moves to day five of racing where the first medals will be awarded! Eight of the U23 boat classes will race their finals tomorrow, starting from 15:30 EST.