U23 Daily Digest: Heats concluded & first finalists confirmed

Italy’s Lago di Varese provided wonderful conditions again with temperatures rising throughout the morning. With the U23 heats having started yesterday afternoon, they concluded this morning. In some boat classes, the first finalists were confirmed and in others we are looking forward to exciting semifinals.

First final places confirmed

The racing really started to heat up in the fours. In the women’s fours, while Poland and France took the two qualifying places from Heat 1, the second heat was particularly stacked and with USA and Great Britain crossing the line first and second respectively, the strong crew from Australia will need to go through the repechage. In the men’s four, a final sprint from Great Britain put them ahead of Ireland and taking the single qualifying place. There were huge cheers from the many Kiwi supporters as New Zealand dominated Heat 2.

Poland beat home favourites in BLW2x

With Great Britain’s Lauren Maddison and Avery Louis having comfortably taken the single qualifying place in the first heat, Poland’s Jessika Sobocinska and Wiktoria Kalinowska got the better of the home nation’s Elena Sali and Greta Parravicini in heat two. The remaining crews will race the repechage tomorrow.

Tight racing for men’s quads

The home nation, Italy led heat one from the start, finishing 1.42 seconds ahead of Germany. In the second heat Great Britain dominated with Argentina taking the second qualifying place. The third and final heat was won by New Zealand, beating defending Champions Czech Republic by just 0.56 seconds. New Zealand’s time of 5:52.61 and Great Britain’s time of 5:52.96 indicate we should be in for exciting semifinals on Thursday.

World Championship Best Time in women’s coxed four

Australia led the preliminary race from the start and their time of 6:52.19 smashed the previous World Championship Best Time. The previous time was 7:02.22 which had been set by Italy in 2019. The final will take place on Friday.

Stankunas twins dominate men’s pair

Lithuania’s Domantas and Dovydas Stankunas led the field comfortably in heat 1 of the men’s pair. They won silver at the 2021 World Rowing U23 Championships and are clearly hoping to go one better this year. Uruguay took the second qualifying place in that heat having come through in the closing stages. In the second heat, Canada’s Julian Black and Joel Cullen led from the start to finish with a comfortable win ahead of Croatia. The third and final heat saw a fantastic contest between South Africa and Greece all the way until Romania’s Andrei Mandrila and Claudiu Neamtu came through and took the second qualifying place for the semifinals, with Greece having to go into the repechage.

Netherlands and Italy qualify women’s quads

In the third quarter of heat one, the Netherlands came through from fourth place into second, and then overtook Romania in the closing stages to finish first in a time of 6:21.28. It is particularly impressive from the Dutch as three of the crew won silver in the U23 women’s eight last year and have now switched to sculling. In the second heat, home nation, Italy, delighted the crowds as they worked their way through the pack to win with a time of 6:24.92. The young Italian scullers won medals in this boat class at both the World and European Junior Championships last season so are a crew to keep an eye on.

USA and Great Britain qualify women’s eights with strong performances

There was huge anticipation through the morning and the heats of the eights didn’t disappoint. Defending champions, the USA absolutely dominated their heat with lengths of clear water ahead of the rest of the field. They took the single qualifying place from their heat. In heat two, Great Britain was very impressive, leading strong crews from Germany and Romania which contain multiple World Rowing U23 medallists from last year.

Men’s eights round off morning racing

The yellow unisuits of Australia dominated heat one, leading throughout the race. They confirmed their place in the final with a time of 5:34.77. In heat two, defending champions, Great Britain also dominated and posted an impressive time of 5:25.06. The final on Saturday will surely be one to watch!

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