Junior Women’s Pair (JW2-) – Final

A faulty start meant the athletes had to come back into the blocks for a second go. This saw Greece get away the quickest. Margarita Georgoudi and Christina Bourmpou finished fourth last year and then took silver earlier this season at the European Rowing Junior Championships. Romania followed in second with Italy and Germany neck-and-neck in third. Then Romania, who won the European Rowing Junior Championships, moved up on Greece. As Adriana Ailincai and Maria Tivodariu of Romania moved into the lead, the higher rating Greeks tried to hold on with Vittoria Tonoli and Laura Meriano of Italy right on their coat tails.

The back of the field was very spread out with China at the very back. Romania, at the front of the field, used 33 strokes per minute to get away from Greece who now had to do their best to stay ahead of Italy. Romania went to 34 coming through to the end as Italy now had to hold off Lithuania and Germany. Italy went to 37 as Germany and Lithuania overtook them. Germany had snatched the bronze.

Results: ROU, GRE, GER, LTU, ITA, CHN

Maria Tivodariu (s), Romania, gold
“I think it was our best race. I still don’t believe it’s real. We tried to go very fast off the start and finish really strong. This is my last year as a junior, so it’s great to end like this.”

Margarita Georgoudi (b), Greece, silver
“At the beginning all the crews were really together. Halfway through we were a little bit ahead, we really just did our best and we’re really happy with our race.”

Marie-Sophie Zeidler (s), Germany, bronze
“We are really happy with the result. It was a really tough race until the 1500m mark we were in fourth. The last 500m, we decided to go. We didn’t want to go home without a medal.”

B-final

This race was delayed due to an equipment issue taking off half an hour after the scheduled time. It was Slovenia that got away the quickest with Belarus and Great Britain battling it out. This brought Belarus into the lead with the British in second. The British had the fastest qualifying time coming from the semifinals and they now led the way. Rachel Heap and Celia Matthews of Great Britain looked powerful and in control as they went to 36, then 37 to stay in front. Belarus held on to second.

Results: GBR, BLR, USA, SLO, NZL, RSA