2018 World Rowing U23 Championships - Day Five
The Championships, which took place on Poznan’s Malta Lake, saw five days of racing with finals raced on the last two days. Five U23 World Best Times were set during the championships, with the fast tail-wind conditions on the final day contributing to three of them.
Newcomer to the single at an international level, Samantha Voss of New Zealand outraced last year’s bronze medallist, Emily Kallfelz of the United States to claim the under-23 title.
Women’s Single Sculls (BW1x) – A Final
The fastest time from the semi-finals went to Samantha Voss of New Zealand. She’s come back from a broken ankle in 2017 after racing in 2015 at the under-23s. But all eyes were on Emily Kallfelz of the United States who took bronze in this boat class last year. At the start Voss had the best speed, but then Kallfelz stook over in the lead with Ruth Siddorn of Great Britain following in third. These were the three leading countries through the first quarter of the race.
Kallfelz then got a bit of a margin over Voss with Voss now keeping an eye on Desislava Georgieva of Bulgaria who had overtaken Siddorn. The all-important third 500 had begun and Kallfelz had picked up the pace. Voss would have to do a huge sprint to get into the gold medal spot as these two crews moved away from the rest of the field. Georgieva was giving it her all in the outside line. The encouragement for Voss was deafening as Voss went to 37 and gained on Kallfelz and then overtook her. Kallfelz had no reply. Does New Zealand have a new top women’s single sculler? Voss’s time of 7:28 was just one second outside of the under-23 World Best Time. Kallfelz took silver and Georgieva was the bronze medallist.
“That was really hard but really amazing. 18 months ago I broke my ankle and was told I would never row again so to recover and to win here is amazing.”– Sam Voss of New Zealand.
Men’s Four (BM4-) – A Final
The tail wind conditions meant rather bumpy water and the British had some steering corrections at the start, also for New Zealand. But then crews got into their rhythm with Romania setting the pace. Romania took silver behind Australia at the Lucerne World Cup earlier this month. Great Britain followed in second. Romania recorded the fastest time in yesterday’s semi-finals with New Zealand right behind them on the second fastest time.
Great Britain, who won the second semi-final yesterday had slotted into second with the United States their nearest challenger. Romania was now started to dominating. They rated 39 down the course and really looked stylish and in control. Now the final sprint was in view and the New Zealanders were coming. New Zealand were moving on the US and trying for a medal spot. Romania was at 39, the British at 39 and New Zealand at 41. It was oh so close for silver and bronze. Great Britain had held off New Zealand.
“It’s a really fast field out there, so we’re happy with this medal. We really just stuck to our plan so huge credit to the boys! We’re all just so happy with the result.” – Thomas Mackintosh of New Zealand.
Men’s Coxed Four (BM4+) – A 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.
Men’s Quadruple Sculls (BM4x) – B Final
Moldova shot out in the lead and held it until the middle of the race with last year’s under-23 champions, New Zealand then taking over in the lead. Then disaster for Spain. It the third 500 a bad stroke by bow’s Rifi Carbo brought them to a stop. They fought back. At the front of the field New Zealand crossed the line in first. Belarus didn’t race for medical reasons.
Lightweight Women’s Single Sculls (BLW1x) – A Final
New Zealand’s Courtney Rennie placed sixth.
Women’s Double Sculls (BW2x) – A Final
New Zealand’s Nicola Baker and Luka Ellery placed sixth.
Lightweight Men's Double Sculls (BLM2x) – A Final
New Zealand’s Isaac Everitt and Chris Stockley placed sixth.
Women's Four (BW4-) – A Final
New Zealand placed fifth.