Fighting for lesser places at the Under 23 Rowing Championships

Racing opened with C/D semifinals in the lightweight and open weight men’s single. In all cases the final results were decided early in the piece as the better athletes got out in front, then did just enough to hold off the rest of the field to earn a spot in the C Final.

This was definitely the case in the second semifinal when rating in the high 30s opened the race but at the other end of the course leaders James Dietz of the United States and Valentinos Sofokleous of Cyprus were content to cross the finish line at a comfortable 27 strokes per minute. Dietz follows in the large rowing footsteps of his three-time Olympian father Jimmy Dietz, and has moved from track running to rowing in the last couple of years.

The C Finals followed with the men’s pair turning on a stunning race despite being just a two-horse race. Raimo Pull and Elar Jaakson of Estonia played cat and mouse with Olympic single sculler Oscar Ochoa and partner Jorge Gomez of Chile. Stroke rates were high and the bearing intense as all four athletes gave it their all. The lead changed several times throughout the race and ended in a sprint crescendo complete with a lightening bolt strike and a roll of thunder as both boats crossed the finish line. Pull and Jaakson finish thirteenth in the world, Ochoa and Gomez fourteenth.

The men’s double C Final also turned on a cracker with a four-boat charge at the line that saw Lucas Rivas and Alfredo Arganaraz of Argentina pull through ahead of Latvia and into thirteenth in the world. This was just a fraction ahead of Latvia, a fast-sprinting Turkey and Belgium.

C Final racing finished up the morning as rain fell for the men’s quad. A close race between last year’s under 23 winners Belarus and the United States who are still learning to adapt from their normal sweep rowing ways. Belarus retain two members of the 2005 champion boat including stroke Dzianis Suravets.

Racing continues in the afternoon with A/B semifinals that will decide the six boats to move on to Sunday’s final.