Coupe de la Jeunesse a coup for Italy

Italy was the top overall nation following the three day event which included rowers from European nations aged 18  years or under. The Italian junior rowers collected a total of 228 points ahead of Great Britain’s 212 and Hungary’s 137 at the 31^st edition of this international regatta.

All member countries sent crews to the regatta with 305 athletes participating and each nation wining at least one medal. 

Of the ten gold, five silver and one bronze medals scored, Italy notably succeeded in the men’s eight. They also struck gold in the women’s pair with Lavinia Martini and Eugenia Masotta. The gold in the junior men’s double sculls, the boat class with the highest number of entries (11), was claimed by Italian athletes Marcello Caldonazzo and Emanuele Giarri.

Great Britain impressed with a strong contingent of female athletes who claimed each of the four gold medals obtained by the British team. Alice Bowyer took first in the women’s single sculls twice, while the women’s quadruple sculls of Lola Anderson, Robyn Armstrong, Lucy Glover and Izzy Lingard also won two gold medals. Overall, Great Britain won four gold, seven silver and five bronze medals.

Host nation Hungary took gold in the men’s four with Szabo Bence, Vancsura Bodo, Sonfeld Almos and Ocsenasz Gergo as well as two bronze medals.

The Coupe de la Jeunesse is open to rowers from 12 European nations and is seen as a stepping stone for youth aiming to row at a higher level. The programme features seven boat classes for men and six for women with a day of heats followed by two days of finals with the competitors having a chance to go after medals twice.Heats are raced on the Saturday morning with finals on Saturday afternoon. Heats are then again held on Sunday morning, based on seedings from the day before and then there is another round of finals on Sunday afternoon. 

Next year, the Coupe de la Jeunesse will be held in Poznan, Poland. The 2017 regatta has been awarded to the Belgian Rowing Federation and the 2018 edition to the Irish Rowing Federation.