Junior Men’s Pair (JM2-) – Semifinal

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The USA’s Michael Evans (S) and Austen Bolves (B) racing in the semifinals of the Junior Men’s Pairs at the 2011 Junior World Rowing Championships in Eton, Great Britain

The Greeks are the reigning World Champions in this event and Germany hold the 2010 silver medal spot. These two countries met in semifinal one and really set the standard for the afternoon of racing in these tailwind conditions. After an early lead by Spain, Greece’s Konstantinos Christomanos and Alexandros Louloudis took over at the head of the field with Germany and Spain both chasing hard. Despite their fraction of a lead Christomanos and Louloudis had no room to move as Germany continued to attack and counterattack. Both boats sprinted hard to the finish with Spain holding on. Spain had come to this semi through the harder route having raced in the repechage yesterday while Greece and Spain recorded the two fastest qualifying times from the heats. At the line these three crews had qualified. Greece’s winning time of 6:44 was up there with the best times recorded in this event over the last five years and also the fastest qualifying time. Conditions are clearly fast.

The strong, tall duo of Vlad-Dragos Aicoboae and Toader-Andrei Gontaru of Romania set the pace in semifinal two with Serbia and South Africa sticking very close. Romania had come out at the start with a 45 stroke rate, but soon settled into a low 30s pace that was a couple of pips lower than their competition. This lower rate was paying dividends, as going through the second half of the race, Aicoboae and Gontaru were able to pull away from their competition and by the finish the Romanians had built up more than a boat length lead. Serbia held on to second with South Africa coming through in third. These are the qualifying crews.

Qualifiers: GRE, GER, ESP, ROU, SRB, RSA

Junior Women’s Double Sculls (JW2x) – Semifinals

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SPain’s Uxia Sabordo Santagio (B) and Ania Cid (S) prepare to race in the semifinals of the Junior Women’s Double Sculls at the 2011 Junior World Rowing Championships in Eton, Great Britain

Who says a race is decided in the first half? Canada disproved this in semifinal one when they left the start at the back of the field a full three seconds behind the leaders, South Africa. Coming through the middle of the race Canada’s Annaliese Ionson and Erin Snelgrove were still down in the pack as France took the lead. France is the reigning World Champions, Daphne Socha remaining in that gold medal crew from 2010. As the final sprint came into view, France still had the lead but only just over South Africa and now Canada, who had been gaining stroke-by-stroke. Soon, Ionson and Snelgrove really let their speed be known. By the finish Canada had not only beaten the World Champions, they had done it solidly and shown that coming to this semifinal by way of a repechage had done them no harm. Canada qualifies with France and South Africa also getting through in practically identical times.

Watch out for Lithuania. In semifinal two Milda Valciukaite and Ieva Adomaviciute of Lithuania showed that racing from behind and winning was no problem for them. Valciukaite and Adomaviciute came to this semifinal after recording the fastest qualifying time from the heats and the rest of the field must have been aware of this. For the majority of the race the Lithuanians sat in third behind Germany and Spain despite their 49 stroke rate start. But Lithuania slowly inched forward and an awesome sprint to the finish gave Valciukaite and Adomaviciute the lead. The Lithuanian’s finishing time of 7:11 was the fastest qualifying time but also put them faster than the average gold medal time from the last five years.

Qualifiers: CAN, FRA, RSA, LTU, GER, ESP

Junior Men’s Double Sculls (JM2x) – Semifinals

The Slovenian juniors in semifinal one row in the knowledge of having great senior role models from their country in the form of Olympic doubles Champions, Iztok Cop and Luka Spik. Jan Janduc and Jernej Markovc of Slovenia went off at the start with the leading bunch that included Estonia and Switzerland. Going through the middle of the race Great Britain had joined the leaders

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Switzerland’s Roman Roeoesli (S) and Barnabe Delarze (B) racing in the Junior Men’s Double Sculls semifinals at the 2011 Junior World Rowing Championships in Eton, Great Britain

with just two seconds separating the first four boats. The margins remained so tight that with just 500m to row only two and a half seconds separated the entire field. All boats had to sprint. Kanduc and Markovc went for it, Switzerland followed suit with Great Britain and Germany crossing the line in a photo finish. Great Britain had just gotten through along with Slovenia and Switzerland in first and second respectively.

The reigning World Champions, Germany made the best of semifinal two. Kai Fuhrmann and Denis Sittel of Germany took the lead at the start and held tightly on to it. France and the Czech Republic sat behind Germany very much remaining within striking distance. Fuhrmann and Sittel however were keeping an extremely close eye on France and the Czechs and reacting to any moves. Coming into the finish the order did not change and these three countries remained in the three qualifying positions.

Qualifiers: SLO, SUI, GBR, GER, FRA, CZE

Junior Men’s Quadruple Sculls (JM4x) – Semifinals

In semifinal one the Italians may have looked the smoothest and the most in control and they may have been at the head of the field, but it was New Zealand who had the crowd support truly behind them. Many supporters from New Zealand have come to Great Britain to see their family members compete and the call of ‘Kiwi, Kiwi!’ was almost deafening at the Dorney Lake course. Going through the middle of the race Italy was in the lead with New Zealand and Romania right on the Italians tail. Unconcerned by the New Zealand support, Italy pushed on crossing the line in first place with Romania taking second and New Zealand doing just enough to be third. These three crews will meet again in the final tomorrow.

Last year Germany won this event and today they won semifinal two, leading from start to finish over the Netherlands in second. Schaefer, Daberkow, Schroeder and Stueven of Germany are a new crew from the 2010 winning crew, but they appear to be just as good. At the finish line nothing had changed in the order with Germany taking first, the Netherlands holding on to second and Hungary right with the Dutch but just behind in third. The German finishing time of 5:56 is the fastest qualifying time and also right up there with the gold medal times averaged over the last five years.

Qualifiers: ITA, ROU, NZL, GER, NED, HUN

 

Junior Women’s Single Sculls (JW1x) – Semifinals

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Chile’s Natalia Sanchez Rojas racing in the Junior Women’s Single Sculls semifinals at the 2011 Junior World Rowing Championships in Eton, Great Britain

Ireland’s Holly Nixon may not be well-known on the international scene but after scoring the fastest qualifying time by a good margin in the heats, Nixon had brought attention to herself. In semifinal one Nixon showed that her heat time was not a fluke as she took the lead and held on to it for the entire 2000m. Behind Nixon an extremely tight battle went on between Japan, Italy and Latvia. This battle remained nailbitingly tight through to the final sprint, with Italy’s Elena Coletti holding an ever so slight advantage over Latvia’s Elza Gulbe. But the battle did not impact on Nixon who easily crossed the line in first. Latvia and Italy also qualify from second and third respectively. Nixon’s time of 7:44 was the fastest qualifying time and was well under the average gold medal time of the last five years. That time is 7:52.

In semifinal two Germany’s Anne Beenken led the way. Germany is the reigning World Champions in this event and Beenken must have known this as she did what was needed to lead the pack. Denmark’s Emma Kiehn followed closely behind Beenken fully aware that there was nothing much between her and the Czech sculler, Lucie Zabova. Coming into the final sprint Beenken remained easily in the lead while Kiehn was feeling the heat from Zabova and Switzerland’s Juliette Jeannet. It was all go to the line when Jeannet took just one bad stroke metres before the line. The stroke was bad enough that it tipped Jeannet into the water and she was unable to finish the race. Beenken, Kiehn and Zabova qualify for Sunday’s final.

Qualifiers: IRL, LAT, ITA, GER, DEN, CZE

Junior Men’s Single Sculls (JM1x) – Semifinals

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Alexandros Dafnis of Greece quietly celebrates getting through to the final in the Junior Men’s Single Sculls at the 2011 Junior World Rowing Championships in Eton, Great Britain

The Germans love this event and have dominated it over the last couple of years. Today they indicated that this trend was continuing with Stephen Riemekasten of Germany taking the lead at the start and refusing to relinquish it. The Greek sculler, Alexandros Dafnis, however had different ideas and going through the third 500m, Dafnis attacked Riemekasten. The attack was successful with Dafnis taking a slight lead. But Riemekasten was not giving up and the German crossed the line just a fraction ahead of Greece as Gints Zunde of Latvia qualified from third. The German vs. Greek fight had taken Riemekasten to the line in the fastest qualifying time of a flat 7:00, a very quick time for a junior single sculler.

Ireland got another single sculler through to the final when Paul O’Donovan of Ireland raced in semifinal two. The race, however, did not go totally the way O’Donovan may have wanted it to. At the start the Irish sculler was sitting at the back of the tightly packed field. A big push through the second 500 gave O’Donovan a burst of speed and into second. But there was only two seconds separating the entire field with 1000m left to race. All six crews were going to have to give it their all right to the line. O’Donovan then managed to get his nose in front and together with Andrii Mykhailov of Ukraine these two scullers charged for the line. O’Donovan got to the finish first to qualify with Mykhailov in second and Switzerland’s Augustin Maillefer qualifying for the final from third.

Qualifiers: GER, GRE, LAT, IRL, UKR, SUI