It’s not all about medals; B-finals at Junior Championships

Racing for spots seven to 12 crews from the Czech Republic featured prominently on this wet day with a cross-head wind adding to the challenge.
 

Junior Women’s Four (JW4-) – Final B

These crews all raced in Friday’s repechage with France coming through as the fastest time of the bunch. This gave France the cherished centre lane – the spot where it is much easier to keep an eye on the rest of the field. After overtaking the speedy start of the Czech’s, France got into the lead coming into the middle of the race. But the margins were tight with the top five boats all within three seconds of each other.

This tightness remained and at the 1500m mark less than two seconds separated South Africa, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and France. Despite this tightness France remained composed and comfortable, coming to the line as the winners. Behind them South Africa had poured on the pressure in the final sprint with the Dutch hanging in there and then the Czech Republic giving it their all in the final metres before the line.

Results: FRA, NED, CZE, RSA, BLR, HUN

Junior Women’s Pair (JW2-) – Final B

The American duo of Elizabeth Youngling and Hemingway Benton did it the hard way by coming back into the lead following a boat stopping crab that nearly capsized them. In this three boat race the Czech Republic put themselves out of contention early on leaving it up to France and the United States. The French must have thought they had the race sewn up after seeing the US crab, but they were wrong. By the middle of the race the United States were back with the French and proceeded to push on heroically to the line to claim seventh overall at this regatta. Youngling and Benton were both competing for the first time on the US team.

Results: USA, FRA, CZE

Junior Men’s Four (JM4-) – Final B

The Czech Republic made no bones about their intentions right from the word go. They went out aggressively and held the pressure through to the end. This is despite not being favourites coming into this race. They finished fourth in their repechage after racing Russia to the line. In this race Russia started off at the back of the field and moved up to try and challenge the Czech’s through the middle, but then they found themselves under threat from both Lithuania and Belarus, slipping to fourth at the finish. The Czech Republic continued to power to the line and finished first despite a last minute flurry from Belarus.

Results: CZE, BLR, LTU, RUS, FRA, USA
 

Junior Women’s Quadruple Sculls (JW4x) – Final B

There were high hopes from the Czech audience as their local crew came into this event as the boat that had the next fastest time from yesterday’s repechage. But Renata Viktorova, Alexandra Varekova, Lucie Zabova and Kristyna Fleissnerova got off to a slow start and although they demonstrated a strong middle 1000m, moving into a smooth rhythm, the Czech’s did not have enough to sustain them until the end.

Instead it was Italy in the lead and being marked closely by Australia. The Australian’s finished with silver in this event last year, but this new crew had not been able to perform as highly, and today they remained in second in the B-final. Italy’s well-timed race held them in first through to the line.

Results: ITA, AUS, CAN, CZE, NZL, POL