Junior Men's Single Sculls (JM1x) - Final

Junior Men’s Single Sculls (JM1x) – Final

Germany’s Henrik Runge won one semifinal and Giacomo Gentili of Italy won the other. They met today with Germany perhaps having a slight starting advantage after recording the fastest qualifying time. Runge and Gentili took up the two centre lanes. Runge had the fastest start but only had a fraction of a lead over Gentili, Alexis Lopez Garcia of Mexico and Australia’s Adam Bakker. The spectators were getting a taste of the names that will likely lead the world of sculling in the future.

At the half way point Runge still had a small lead but no way was it enough to feel any level of comfort. The Italian supporters were outdoing the German fans, coming into the final stage of the race and Gentili must have heard it. Gentili upped his stroke rate and began to pull away from Runge. With 50m left to row Bakker decided to give it his all. Runge was now under threat of losing the silver medal. Bakker now was in silver. Runge pushed back. At the line Gentili earned gold. Runge took silver with Bakker just 0.02 of a second back, taking bronze.

Results: ITA, GER, AUS, MEX, LTU, HUN

Giacomo Gentili – ITA – gold
“I am very happy to be world champion. I had a very difficult first 500metres, but then the race was great. The last training camp was in Piediluco for 30 days. Thanks to my coach Agostino Abbagnale.”

Henrik Runge – GER – silver
“It is really great as of 500metre to go, the Australian was in front. I did everything I could to pass him, it was close, but I managed to get silver.”

Adam Bakker – AUS – bronze
“To race an A-final at the World Championships, there is just no words to describe it. I loved every second of it. The conditions are good, better than the other days, just a little bit of crosswind.”

B-final

Andrew Morley of the United States shot out into the lead at the start but was then overtaken by a very steady Miroslav Jech of the Czech Republic. Morley and Jech worked through the middle of the race together with Ruben Claeys of Belgium trying to catch up. A very well paced final sprint by Morley brought him back into the lead to win this B-final.

Results: USA, CZE, NZL, BEL, PER, UKR