The competition was incredibly fierce in Plovdiv as the best junior rowers in the world raced to secure places in tomorrow’s medal races.

Junior Men’s pair (JM2-) – Semifinals A/B

Positions remained relatively unchanged for the first half of Semifinal 1, but it was so close! Greece led, but Spain was hot on their tails. Romania had a really nice third quarter and moved into the lead with Norway in second and Greece had slipped into third. As the crews moved into the final quarter of the race, the pressure was really on to get the three spots for the medal race. The places remained unchanged at the finish line with huge celebrations from those who had qualified.

In Semifinal 2, Poland had an impressive start and took the early lead, but moving into the second quarter of the race, Germany had moved to the front of the pack. The USA was sitting in third but Canada were also trying to get into the important top three places. Things really started to heat up in the final quarter of the race, and it was all to play for. Germany had an impressive lead, Canada moved into second and, home nation Bulgaria managed to hold off a final charge from the USA to take third place. There was huge cheers from the Bulgarian supporters as they crossed the line.

Qualifiers: ROU, NOR, GRE, GER, CAN, BUL

Junior Men’s Quadruple Sculls (JM4x) – Semifinals A/B

Russia took the early lead in Semifinal 1, which they still held at 1,000m, but Belarus was hot on their heels. By the 1,000m, it was Germany that had moved into the lead with Belarus in second, and it was really tight for third place. Germany continued to extend their lead and looked really impressive in the closing stages of the race. Belarus took second place and, after a huge final push, Ireland came across the line third to book a place in the A final.

It was a flying start in Semifinal 2, with an early showing from the Czech Republic. The Swiss looked very calm and collected, with Italy also staying in touch. By halfway, Italy were really pushing the Czech crew hard. The Czech Republic, at 37 strokes per minute, continued to look really strong. Moving into the final quarter of the race, the Czech Republic were starting to move away from Italy. Italy went for a final sprint in the closing stages, but the positions remained unchanged and the line-up for the A final was confirmed.

Qualifiers: GER, BLR, IRL, CZE, ITA, SUI

Men’s Quadruple Sculls, 2021 World Rowing Junior Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria / World Rowing/Benedict Tufnell

Junior Men’s Double Sculls (JM2x) – Semifinals A/B

In Semifinal 1, after an absolutely flying first 500m, Germany had a length advantage over the rest of the field. Poland held second place and Italy third, but there was very little between the two of them. At halfway, Germany was continuing to look strong, and dropped their rating slightly. Italy had moved into second place but Poland was pushing them hard. The Czech Republic made a charge, but it didn’t seem to be enough to move into the all-important top three spots. In the closing stages, things continued to look really good for Germany. Italy went up to 42 strokes per minute to hold off Poland.

France had an incredible start in Semifinal 2, flying out of the blocks. Greece also had a strong start and were in second place through the first timing point at 500m. In the third quarter of the race, Greece made a move and started to close the gap on France. France had to respond. A length back from that battle, it was Ireland who, in turn, could just see the crew from Norway behind them. The battle continued at the front of the race between France and Greece but Ireland was also starting to put the pressure on, and had overlap with Greece. In the final quarter of the race, Ireland overhauled Greece to take second place, behind France.

Qualifiers: GER, ITA, POL, FRA, IRL, GRE

Junior Women’s Double Sculls (JW2x) – Semifinals A/B

Belarus had the fastest start in Semifinal 1 with France the second fastest. Coming through 1,000m, Belarus were continuing to lead and France desperately trying to close the gap. The battle for third place between the junior rowers was developing with Slovenia narrowly ahead of the Netherlands. By 1,500m, France had taken the lead and had a quarter of a length advantage over Belarus. Slovenia were continuing to hold off the Dutch for the all-important third qualification spot. It all started to heat up towards the line as Slovenia worked through the pack to cross the line first. France took second place and the Netherlands had moved into third place, pushing Belarus out of the qualification places.

Ireland was the fastest crew off the blocks in Semifinal 2, and continued to lead the way at 1,000m with Greece in second and Italy in third. With 500m to go, Greece had overlap on Ireland. There was a fight at the division line between qualifying for the medal race or going into the B Final. To the delight of their supporters, Ireland were still leading as the race approached the line, and Italy had moved through into second place. Greece held off Lithuania to take the third qualifying place.

Qualifiers: SLO, FRA, NED, IRL, ITA, GRE

Junior Men’s single sculls (JM1x) – Semifinals A/B

Eyes had been on the USA’s Isaiah Harrison in Semifinal 1, but it was actually Lithuania’s Povilas Juskevicius who took the early lead, which he was still holding at 1,000m. Harrison made a push shortly after the 1,000m marker to see if he could close the gap. Meanwhile, Marco Prati of Italy was sitting in third place, marginally ahead of Lucas Keijzer of the Netherlands. As perhaps expected, Harrison moved into the lead in the closing stages of the race, and there was four scullers fighting for three qualification places.

In Semifinal 2, Oliver Holtz of Germany was the sculler to make the early impression and the rest of the race was tightly packed behind him with Aaron Andries of Belgium and August Wisholm of Denmark fighting for second place. Holtz continued to hold the lead with Andries pushing him all of the way to the line. In the last few strokes of the race, there was an incredible sprint from Poland’s Jakub Wozniak, but it wasn’t quite enough to overhaul the Danish sculler.

Qualifiers: USA, LTU, ITA, GER, BEL, DEN

Junior Women’s single sculls (JW1x) – Semifinals A/B

Laine Rumpe of Latvia had a great first 500m in Semifinal 1 with Russia’s Marina Matveeva sitting in second place and the French sculler, Mya Bosquet in third. The Latvian sculler had extended quite a strong lead by the halfway marker with great acceleration in her stroke. Meanwhile, Bosquet had moved into second place, ahead of Matveeva. Marg Van Der Wal of the Netherlands was sitting in fourth place, and it looked as though she might run out of water to move into the top three qualification places. In the final quarter, Bosquet put her bow into the lead for the first time and looked in a strong position as she crossed the line first, half a length over Rumpe and amazingly, Van Der Wal had come through and took the third place.

Switzerland’s Aurelia-Maxima Janzen took the early lead in Semifinal 2 and settled to a cool 26 strokes per minute. Her closest competitor was the Italian sculler, Giulia Clerici with Germany’s Rianne Lagerpusch holding third place. With Janzen extending her lead, the following places remained unchanged, but there was a fight for the third qualifying position in the final quarter of the race as Evangelia Fragkou worked her way through the pack to move into the top 3, pushing Lagerpusch out of the qualification places.

Qualifiers: FRA, LAT, NED, SUI, ITA, GRE

Re-watch today’s racing here.

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Junior rowers race for World Championship finals' places

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