Following a second change to the programme, racing in Paris today saw all of the repechages and quarter finals take place. With conditions significantly better than yesterday, racing was tight as crews looked to try and secure places in tomorrow’s semifinals or finals.

Women’s four finalists confirmed

The women’s four is one of the boat classes that will not need to race twice tomorrow as the finalists are now already confirmed. While Italy and Great Britain had secured their places direct from yesterday’s heats, Romania, Switzerland, Germany and France booked their places during today’s repechages. Italy will be looking to defend their title as World U19 Champions, but it will be all to play for tomorrow.

Daniel Burnand (b), Conor Mcelwee, Cristiano De Freitas, Zain Newman (s), Ntsika Mqolomba (c), Men’s Coxed Four, South Africa, 2023 World Rowing Under 19 Championships, Paris, France © Maren Derlien / MyRowingPhoto.com

Races not to be last

There were tough progressions in some of today’s boat classes which saw some crews be eliminated. This created some very exciting racing particularly in the JM4+ where home nation France were sat in fifth place for the majority of the race but with a final sprint moved safely into third place. It was South Africa that sadly missed out in that boat class, finishing just 0.21 seconds behind the USA.

Women’s eight line-up confirmed

With Romania and Germany already safely in the final after the heats, five crews raced for the four remaining places. For the majority of the repechage, it looked like it might be Italy that missed out, but then the familiar sprint kicked in and their boat speed went up. They overhauled Czechia in the closing stages and very nearly caught New Zealand too, but the Kiwis crossed the line 0.07 seconds ahead of them. Sadly for Czechia, it was elimination. However, for the remaining crews, the stage is set for an exciting final tomorrow!

Makrygiannis continues to impress

Greece 16-year-old Panagiotis Makrygiannis was once again the fastest men’s single sculler in today’s quarterfinals. Coached by the infamous Giovanni Postiglione, the young Greek sculler clocked 6:59.93 in the fourth and final quarterfinal, comfortably securing his place in the semifinals tomorrow morning, ahead of the finals later the same day.

Cloe Callorda, Women’s Single Sculls, Uruguay, 2023 World Rowing Under 19 Championships, Paris, France © Detlev Seyb / MyRowingPhoto.com

Tight times across JW1x quaterfinals

The times in today’s four quaterfinals of the women’s single sculls suggest we could be in for exciting semifinals and finals tomorrow. Ireland’s Holly Davis was the quickest across the four races, posting a time of 7:39.10 in quarterfinal two. However, in the fourth quaterfinal, Romania’s Bianca Camelia Ifteni clocked 7:39.48. The first quarterfinal had been won by Cloe Callorda of Uruguay. It was perhaps a surprise to see 2022 U19 silver medallist Aurora Spirito finishing third in that race, but it was enough to secure here a place in tomorrow’s A/B semifinals which are bound to be competitive.

USA miss out on men’s eight final

With the same progression system as the women’s eight, there was a race between five boats for the final four places in tomorrow’s medal race. Defending champions in this boat class Germany got off the start quickest and led the race from the front while the remaining crews traded places throughout the race. It was Czechia in the danger zone for the early stages of the race before the field started to close up. On the line, it was the USA who missed on the final, and their Championships came to an end.

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Daily Digest: Repechages and Quarterfinals completed in Paris

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