With temperatures up to 35°C, racing has begun on Lago di Varese for the 2022 World Rowing Under 23 Championships. The single scullers have been the first ones to race – and two new World Championships best time were set.

First race, first World Championships Best Time

Hot waters and tail wind are usually the recipe for very fast times. The first race of the day, the lightweight women’s single sculls, made no exception to that – Evangelia Anastasiadou of Greece led from start to finish and set up a new World Championship Best Time in the process, with a blazing 7:24.59. As a reference, it is one second slower that Imogen Grant’s overall World Best Time set in Lucerne three weeks ago – and three seconds faster than the BW1x World Championships Best Time! The other three races were easy wins for Giulia Clerici of Italy, Isidora Niemeyer of Chile and Mariana-Laura Dumitru of Romania – all four athletes will progress to the semifinals while the others will have to go through the repechages tomorrow afternoon.

World Rowing Cup medallists dominate

Belgium’s Tibo Vyvey and Uruguay’s Felipe Kluver Ferreira are two names to watch in the lightweight men’s single sculls – the former won gold at the 2022 World Rowing Cup I, while the Uruguayan got a bronze medal in Poznan from World Rowing Cup II. Both went on to win their respective heats, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see both athletes on the podium. Where will the challenge come from? Maybe from Rasmus Lind of Denmark, or Martin Bauer of France, who also progressed directly to the semifinal.

Favourites move on to quarterfinals in the men’s single sculls

Five heats for the men’s single sculls – and all favourites moved on to the quarterfinals. The reigning World and European Under 23 Champion, Emil Neykov of Bulgaria, comfortably won his heat – as did Callum Dixon of Great Britain, who finished fourth at the 2022 World Rowing Cup I. Jonas Gelsen, who finished fourth at last years’ World Under 23 Championships, is looking for revenge and grabbed the top spot in his heat just ahead of Switzerland’s Bojan Reuffurth. In what might have been the toughest race of the afternoon to call, Australia’s Cormac Kennedy-Leverett and Tomas Levy of Brazil finished ahead of USA’s Isaiah Harrison and Italy’s Gennaro di Mauro – four names that we could well see in the A-Final later this week. Romain Harat of France also won his heat – 20 athletes moved straight to quarterfinals while the others will have to go through the repechages tomorrow afternoon.

Who can stop Alexandra Foester?

She is the reigning World Rowing Under 23 Champion, she just won World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne… and she broke the World Championship Best Time in her heat. Who can beat Alexandra Foester of Germany? She looks like the heavy favourite in the women’s single sculls. Dovile Rimkute of Lithuania, who won a bronze medal in Lucerne in the women’s double sculls, is one name to watch – so is Laura Gourley of Australia, who won her heat ahead of the reigning World Rowing Under 19 Champion, Aurelia-Maxima Janzen of Switzerland. Don’t forget Esther Briz Zamorano of Spain – she won the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals and Coastal Championships last year and seems just as comfortable on flat water, dominating her race ahead of Anna Santruckova of Czech Republic.

Racing will start again tomorrow morning at 9:00 CET with the remaining heats of the World Rowing Under 23 Championships.

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How to Follow the 2022 World Rowing Under 19 & Under 23 Championships

U23 Daily Digest : A hot and fast start in Varese

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