2018 World Rowing Junior Championships - Day Five
The 2018 World Rowing Junior Championships in Racice, Czech Republic was a picture of expectancy with the grandstand full of supporters from around the world and competitors trying to keep their nerves in tact as they prepared for their race.
There was a very small cross-head wind that came and went with a little bit of a bobble out on the water. Temperatures were mild under semi-cloudy skies.
New Zealand took home three medals across the Men’s Four, Women’s Four and the Women’s Double Sculls.
Junior Men’s Four (JM4-) – A Final
New Zealand placed second in the A final.
The semifinals yesterday saw Great Britain record the fastest time by a handy nine seconds. They are the reigning junior champions and have two returning members to the boat. Douwe de Graaf and Calvin Tarczy have been joined by Theodore Darlow and Michael Dalton. New Zealand had won the other semi, but in a slower time. The first to show for today’s final was Italy with a very small edge over Great Britain and the Czech Republic. The British boat then picked up the speed going through the second 500 and they got their boat into the lead. New Zealand’s crew of Gilbert, Crouch, Jenkins and Watson had come through into second with Italy holding the pace.
The British crew now showed why they are the reigning champions. They have moved to a full boat length lead and continued to move away. New Zealand tried to keep up but had to keep an eye on Italy. Great Britain sat on 37 with both New Zealand and Italy on 40. The eyes of the crowd remained on the Czech Republic. Great Britain had retained the World Champion title.
“At the start we expected to be behind, I think the other crews had half a length. We knew Italy were very fast off the start. In the 2nd and 3rd 500 we slowly gained on other crews and made our way through those boats. In the last 500 we really just went for it.” Campbell Crouch
Junior Women’s Four (JW4-) – A Final
New Zealand placed third in the A final.
Italy and the United States won their respective semi-finals yesterday and they sat in the centre lanes with the United States moving away at a very fast pace. The US finished third in this boat class last year and they have Kelsey McGinley returning from that crew. They got to the first 500m mark in the lead with Australia and Italy neck-and-neck for second. The US remained in the lead at the half way point, but there was little in it with Italy now pushing through into second. Just three seconds separated the top five boats with only the Netherlands a little off the pace. Then McGinley, Braz, Hedeman and Garrett of the United States were able to get a small margin.
New Zealand had now moved into second as the final sprint began. Italy had started to sprint and they were going from 39 to 41 to try and get back into second. The US went to 39 then 42 to hold off the charge behind them. New Zealand was hanging in there at 37. Gold for the US, silver for Italy and bronze for New Zealand with the gold medal time just five seconds outside of the junior World Best Time.
“It was a tough race from the start but we managed to hold on. It was then all or nothing in the last 500 meters. We’ve been together for 10 weeks and it feels very special. We’re like sisters now.” Brooke Kilmister
Junior Women’s Double Sculls (JW2x) – A Final
New Zealand placed third in the A final.
Just three seconds separated the times of all of these crews from yesterday’s semi-finals and there was no doubt that the race would be close. Germany’s Annika Steinau and Emma Appel had the fastest time, but only just. Steinau and Appel had the better speed over a fast-starting Greece. Bu the lead kept on changing at they moved through to the first 500m marker with China’s Ying Liu and Peibing Zhang getting there first. But just two seconds separated all six crews. This was going to be one full-on 2000m fight.
Liu and Zhang then got a slight edge over the rest of the field with Greece and New Zealand going neck-and-neck for second. It was an amazing performance from the Chinese crew as they continued to lead with Greece getting a slight edge over New Zealand as Belarus began to move up. They went to 36, then 37. New Zealand reacted with 40 and Greece with 38. Belarus then ran out of steam. China had won gold, Greece silver and New Zealand bronze.
“Off the start we didn’t want to go out too hard, we wanted to keep some energy for the 2nd 1k. We had a strong move at the 1000meters. We were not expecting to make the A final even so to make the podium is so great.” Kathryn Glen
Junior Women’s Single Sculls (JW1x) – A Final
Veronica Wall placed fourth in the A final.
Junior Men’s Quadruple Sculls (JM4x) – B Final
New Zealand placed first in the B final.
Denmark and Switzerland both were the next best after yesterday’s semi-finals and they sat next to each other in this B final. At the start Switzerland moved the quickest, but then New Zealand took over in the lead and started to push away from the field. Switzerland held on to second with the United States and Denmark moving up to join the leaders. New Zealand got to the line first to finish seventh overall at this regatta.
Junior Women’s Quadruple Sculls (JW4x) – B Final
New Zealand placed third in the B final.
Italy had the fastest time from yesterday’s semi-finals, but it was Denmark in the lead at the start. Then Italy really found their rhythm and not only got ahead of Denmark, but pushed out to an open water lead. Behind them Denmark held on to second with New Zealand and the United States challenging each other for third. Italy finished beautifully in first.
Video footage of all A and B finals can be viewed here.
In 2019 the World Rowing Junior Championships will go to Tokyo, Japan where it will double as a test event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The 2018 World Rowing season now moves on to the World Rowing Championships from 9-16 September in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.