The second batch of Heats at the 2023 World Rowing Under 23 Championships got underway on another warm day in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, starting with the eights. Packed grandstands were once again treated to highly competitive racing as crews looked to secure places in further rounds of racing. The racing has opened up so many questions, all to be answered in the coming days!

2022 replay in women’s eights?

At last year’s World Rowing Under 23 Championships, it was the USA, Great Britain, and Germany on the podium, in that order. It looks like we could be in for a repeat this year, but the order is all to play for. In the first of the Heats this morning, Great Britain looked very comfortable and crossed the line in 6:25.92, hardly pushed. Meanwhile, in the second Heat, there was a battle to the line between Germany and the USA. It was the American crew that took the single direct qualification place for the Final and the sprint to the line had given them a fast time, 6:17.90, which was faster than the time the USA crew won the Final in last year.

GB fastest men’s eight

They have a title to defend, and they set their marker this morning as the Great Britain U23 men’s eight clocked the fastest time across the two Heats. They looked in control of Heat one as they led Australia to the line and posted 5:32.66 – both crews securing direct qualification for Sunday’s Final. Germany took the first spot in the second Heat, in a time of 5:36.38, with the Netherlands taking the second qualifying place.

A point to prove in women’s doubles

In Heat one of the women’s double sculls, the Swiss pairing of Thalia Ahumada Ireland and Olivia Roth sculled to a dominant win, clocking 7:07.62 and securing direct qualification for the Final. Heat Two saw the gold and bronze medallists from last year, Romania and Great Britain go head-to-head and there was a reverse in the order. Great Britain are clearly keen to improve on their bronze from last year and Vwaire Obukohwho and Katherine George led the race from the start to clock an impressive 7:00.86. The Romanian duo of Andrada-Maria Morosanu and Iulia-Liliana Balauca, who are the defending World U23 Champions, will need to go through the repechage tomorrow morning.

Ireland on track to improve on 2022

Ireland’s Konan Pazzaia and Brian Colsh are the only returning medallists from 2022 in the men’s double sculls and, based on times in the Heats, are looking in a good position to improve on their bronze medal from last year. Their time in heat one of 6:14.49 was easily the fastest across the three Heats, and they’ll progress directly to the Semifinals. This will be an exciting boat class to watch unfold.

Poland clock fastest time in Women’s Four

In the first of two Heats in the women’s four, Canada were pushed all of the way by Australia, but it was the Canadians that took the win and secured direct qualification for the Final, in a time of 6:50.57. In the next race, while the USA, as reigning World U23 Champions in this boat class had the fastest start, an impressive crew from Poland came through in the second quarter of the race and continued to lead to the line. Despite a final sprint from last year’s silver medallists, Great Britain, the Polish crew held on to the all-important first place, setting a fast time of 6:44.08. The rest of the crews will contest the Repechage to try and gain one of the four remaining places in the medal Final.

Defending Champions set marker

Great Britain are defending World U23 Champions in the men’s four and although it’s a completely different crew, they indicated they are looking to top the podium again when they dominated the Heats this morning. Their time of 5:56.46 was significantly faster than the winning times of Heats One and Two, which were won by Australia and France respectively. With 14 entries in this boat class, the top three from each heat will now progress to Semifinals scheduled for Saturday morning.

Sypher fastest lightweight sculler

With 19 entries in the lightweight women’s single sculls, there were four Heats. Australia’s Grace Sypher was the fastest across the four, winning the second race in 7:52.90. Sypher made the Final and finished sixth at last year’s U23 Championships, so is clearly aiming for the podium this year. She’ll need to keep an eye on Turkey’s Elis Ozbay, who won silver last year. Although Ozbay’s winning time in the third heat was 8:02.37, she wasn’t really challenged as she finished ahead of Denmark’s Rikke Koechs Nielsen who herself was over ten seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

Greek dominance and Japanese sprint finish

The Greek lightweight women’s double scull has so much pedigree in the boat, and that really showed as they looked very comfortable in the first of three Heats, clocking a time of 7:08.27, easily the fastest across the three races. China were the early leaders in the second Heat, but Spain’s Teresa Diaz Moreno and Carlota Gonzalez Gil soon took control and crossed the line first in 7:29.78. With four boats racing for three qualification spots in the Semifinals, the second and third Heats really were races where you didn’t want to come last. In the third Heat, Japan’s Mao Kamidate and Marin Kawamura were sitting in that danger zone all the way until the final few strokes when they pipped Paraguay to the line by 0.58 seconds, forcing Paraguay to have to contest the repechage.

Familiar faces go head-to-head again in Lightweight Men’s Double

At the 2022 World Rowing U23 Championships, Ireland won silver. Ciaran Purdy is returning this year and teaming up with new partner Rory O Neill, he is hoping to go one better. They were absolutely flying in their heat and crossed the line first in 6:35.55 with Italy taking the second qualifying place for the semifinals. In Heat two, the Dutch crew, unchanged from the line-up that raced in the Final at last year’s U23 Championships led to the 1000m marker before Spain, who also made last year’s Final, came through to win in 6:38.84. It was Germany who took the win in the third and final Heat, clocking the fastest time of all of the boats, 6:34.59, with France taking the second qualifying place, just a few seconds behind.

Can Italy defend their title?

Italy, Germany, and New Zealand were last year’s medallists in the men’s quadruple sculls, and two of those nations won their Heats this morning. Australia got the better of New Zealand in Heat One. Australia’s time of 5:54.64 was the fastest across the three races, and while Czechia took the second qualifying place in that Heat, last year’s bronze medallists, New Zealand crossed the line in fifth place and will need to go through the Repechage. The second Heat saw a comfortable win for Germany in 5:55.41 with Poland taking the second qualifying place. In the third Heat, the defending World U23 Champions, Italy, led from the start and looked relatively unchallenged. Their time of 5:55.80 placed them just under two seconds ahead of an impressive looking boat from the Netherlands.

Is Janzen on for gold?

The women’s single sculls was the last boat class to race heats and, with 21 entries, there were four races with a tough progression seeing just the top sculler from each Heat progress directly to the Semifinals. The Greek entrant, Evangelia Fragkou, won gold in the women’s pair at last year’s U23 Championships and is keen to repeat that success in a sculling boat. She took the single qualifying place from the first Heat, clocking 7:55.10. With Germany’s Johanna Debus and Belgium’s Mazarine Guilbert qualifying from the second and third Heats respectively, the fastest time came in Heat four, from a familiar face. Switzerland’s Aurelia-Maxima Janzen took silver in this boat class at the World U23s last year. She picked up gold at the European Rowing U23 Championships earlier this season and is now keen to repeat that on the world stage. Her fast time of 7:41.31 suggested she is on track to do exactly that.

Securing final places

Before the temperatures really started to increase, today’s racing session concluded with a series of Repechages where crews had a second opportunity to race for places in further rounds of racing.

Next on the schedule

Racing resumes tomorrow, 21 July, at 9:00 EEST (8:00 CET) with the remainder of the Repechages, followed by Semifinals.

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Daily Digest: The 2023 World Rowing Under 23 Championships get Underway!

Daily Digest: Heats completed at World Rowing Under 23 Championships

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