Jumping up to World Champ status at the Junior Championships

At the end of this race four new World Champions would be crowned with the added status of being the first at this 2010 World Rowing Junior Championships. Coming through directly from the heats two days ago, Germany and New Zealand looked like the crews to beat. All other crews in this race had to compete in the repechage yesterday with the United States and reigning World Champions, Australia looking to be the biggest medal challengers. It was pretty clear from the opening strokes who wanted gold the most.

New Zealand shot out of the starting blocks taking half a boat length out of the field in the early strokes. Going into the middle of the race Australia turned out to be the biggest threat to New Zealand’s lead. This remained the case as New Zealand showed the strain going into the third 500. Then the United States began to move. Australia’s silver medal position was under threat. In a full-on sprint to the line New Zealand managed to hold on to first with the United States getting the better of Australia with just 150m left to row. Eve MacFarlane, Grace Prendergast, Jennifer Storey and Beatrix Heaphy-Hall of New Zealand become the first World Champions of this regatta.

Results: NZL, USA, AUS, GER, ESP, UKR

Heaphy-Hall Beatrix (NZL) – Gold
“Really good, amazing race! I came here just to be part of it all and now made the best by winning it! We’re used to the rain, the weather conditions are like in New Zealand. We came here on the 21 July and have trained together since May.”

Emma Basher (AUS) – Bronze
"Did the Germans come fourth? We knew they had a good sprint to the finish line as we had them in the heat, so it's great to beat them in the fina. We really had a great row and this is a good start for the Youth Olympics coming up next."
 

Junior Women’s Pair (JW2-) – Final A
Romania came into this event as favourites. They were the best in the heats and their country won this event in 2009. But at the start the Greek sisters, Kassiani and Andreanna Spyridou had the lead. It did not last long as Alexandra Bizom and Elena-Oltita Hrisca of Romania moved into the body of the race and moved into their smooth, dominating rhythm. The Spyridou’s did not have an answer and Romania was able to find a comfortable groove to look back at any potential attacks.

As Hrisca and Bizom moved further away from the rest of the field Greece found themselves under threat from a huge finishing push by the Davids twins from Germany. The Spyridou’s had just enough left to hold off the German push to the line.

Results: ROU, GRE, GER, BUL, HUN, BLR

Bizom Alexandra (ROU) – Gold
“It was a perfect race and we are very happy. We didn’t have any problems with the rain. We have been here since Monday and had a good preparation.”

Kassiani Spyridou (GRE) – Silver
“We are very happy. We very much wanted a medal and we got it now. It was very cold out there, but it was a great race. We’ll celebrate with the whole team and family.”

Miriam Davids (GER) – Bronze
“We really wanted a medal. And as always our strength is at the back end of the race. We did everything we wanted to do and it all worked out.”
 

Junior Men’s Four (JM4-) – Final A
The win in the women’s pair by Romania must have been known as Romania lined up again in the men’s four. The crew of Aicoboae, Gontaru, Cozmiuc and Bogus from Romania got cleanly off the line and never looked back. By the middle of the race they had a good clear water lead with Great Britain sitting in second. The British are the reigning World Champions of this event but are racing with a completely new crew this year.

Coming into the final sprint the first and second spots looked to be all but sorted. Then Spain moved. Upping the stroke rate the Spanish did their second big move of the race. The first had come at the 1400m mark, which got them into third position, now they were charging for the line. The gap, however, was too much to make up. Romania and Great Britain held their spots.

Results: ROU, GBR, ESP, GER, CRO, AUS

Cosmin-Razvan Bogus (ROU) – Gold
“This was a difficult race, but really good. Racing in the rain was a new sensation. Everything worked out exactly as we wanted. Maybe you will see two of us back with the Seniors next year.”

Javier Garcia Ordonez (ESP) – Bronze
“This was a tight race. The Rumanians went out very hard at the start, but it was all very close. At 500m we were able to move a bit, but Australia, Germany, Great Britain and Rumania were all strong. ”
 

Junior Women’s Quadruple Sculls (JW4x) – Final A
With last year’s World Champions, China, not competing at this regatta the doors had opened up this year and after Thursday’s heats all eyes were on Germany. The Germans are strong in this event at the senior level with their juniors taking bronze in 2009. At the start there was barely anything separating the top four crews with Germany having just a smidgen of a lead. Going through the middle of the race the Germans turned this into an open water domination. This left Russia, Belarus and Ukraine to duke it out for the lesser medals.

The very solid Ukraine crew proved to be the best with both Belarus and Russia slipping right back off the pace.

Results: GER, UKR, BLR, RUS, ROU, USA

Caroline Hackler (GER) – Gold
“It was an amazing race for us. We kind of expected to do a good one because of the heat, but rowing a final is still something different. We were really happy about leading the whole time! The weather was a bit of a problem, but the water was nice and flat. Rowing is just an outdoor sport. Stephanie will be back next year and us other three will see how it goes at Senior level.”

Daryna Verkhogliad (UKR) – Silver
"We are very happy. This is our first World Championships and our first medal. Fantastic. Two of us will be back next year at the Juniors and you will hopefully see us other two back at Senior level next year as well."

Hanna Kolyshkina (BLR) – Bronze
“I’m very happy. It’s the best thing that happened to me.”
 

Junior Women’s Eight (JW8+) – Final A
At the end of this race the United States had earned two rowing sweep medals for the first time at the junior championships. This year the US prioritised the women’s four with the women’s eight being the number two boat. The four had tak

en silver earlier today. What would the eight do?

The final race of the day, number 108 of this regatta, opened with Great Britain in the lead but with very little between the top four boats of Germany, Romania and the United States. But through the middle of the race the British had managed to pull away and into a position where they could keep an eye on the rest of the field. Behind the British, last year’s World Champions, the United States were powering away, trying to shake of Germany. The Germans, who were struggling with the lack of sound from coxswain Amelie Reichwald’s speaker system, were trying to shake off Romania.

All crews sprinted to the line. Great Britain takes first in a well timed and well executed race. The United States take their second silver of the day and Germany earn a credible bronze.

Results: GBR, USA, GER, ROU, CZE, RUS

Fiona Gammond (GBR) – Gold
“This is amazing. It was just a perfect race for us. I’m really looking forward to rowing at the Youth Olympic Games next. ”

Madison Lips (USA) – Silver
"This was a great race for everyone. We were all just incredibly close. Amazing! And it’s the first time the US has ever won a medal in two women’s sweep events at the Junior World’s."

Eileen Wallenhauer (GER) – Bronze
“We had hoped for a good race, but when our cox box stopped working every 200m, we doubted that we would be able to win a medal. So bronze is just fantastic. We struggled a bit with the weather, but you just have to deal with it. We will all continue rowing.”