2018 World Rowing U23 Championships - Day Four
It was definitely summer conditions at Malta Lake for the first day of finals at the 2018 World Rowing U23 Championships in Poznan, Poland. Boats come to these finals having worked their way through heats and sometimes repechages and semi-finals.
Women’s Double Sculls (BW2x) – Semi-final
Luke Ellery and Nicola Baker placed third in semi-final of the women’s double sculls and progress to the A-final.
Lightweight Women's Single Sculls (BLW1x) – Semi-final
New Zealand’s Courtney Rennie took third place and progresses to the A-final.
Women’s Single Sculls (BW1x) – Semi-final
Samantha Voss made an impressive first place in the semi-final ahead of Norway and Bulgaria and moves forward to the A-final.
Women's Pair (BW2-) – B Final
Italy and Romania were in the middle lanes as they just missed out on making the a-final through yesterday’s semi-finals. This very competitive boat class had Italy leading at the start with New Zealand and Romania hot on their heels. Then the Italians managed to push away with Canada now moving up to challenge. As Italy marched off in the lead, Canada, Croatia and Romania fought for the second place. Italy had to sprint with the charge from behind moving up on them. New Zealand’s crew placed fifth.
Men's Four (BM4-) – Semi-final
New Zealand progress to the A-final after making an impressive second in the semi-final.
Lightweight Men's Double Sculls (BLM2x) – Semi-final
Taking third place in the semi-final, New Zealand’s Isaac Everitt and Chris Stockley move forward to the A-final.
Men's Quadruple Sculls (BM4x) – Semi-final
Placing fourth in their semi-final, New Zealand’s crew progresses to the B-final.
Men's Four (BM4-) – Semi-final
Less than a second behind first-place Romania, New Zealand’s crew took second place and move forward to the A-final.
Men’s Coxed Four (BM4+) – Final
The United States had the fastest time from the heats and they sat next to Italy but were in third behind New Zealand who came to this final via the repechage. The Italians are the reigning under-23 champions and they now saw the United States coming. New Zealand now had to watch out for Germany with Australia and Great Britain neck-and-neck at the back of the field.
The United States moved into a piece coming into the third 500 and with every stroke challenged the Italians. Coming into the final sprint the US had found the lead with Italy holding on to second. New Zealand and Germany meanwhile were fighting it out for bronze. The ratings rose. The US went to 39. The Italians were at 41. New Zealand was at 41 and closing on the Italians. Germany held on. Gold for the US, silver for the Kiwis and the Italians got bronze. “The race went a lot better than we thought it would base on how we progressed throughout the week. It was tough and credit to the USA. It was a great race.” - Benjamin Taylor of New Zealand.