Now that we've dried off ourselves and all our gear, here's your look back at the the Junior Worlds that Was...and the Paris Olympic Venue to be:

Footwear, For the Win

It wasn't just those sweet Ameri-crocs putting footwear over the top in Paris, but the sock game was super strong on the Junior Worlds podium.

Then again, maybe it is the strict uniform rules that apply above the knee which inspired all this nonconforming hosiery.

Parlez-vous...?

The Canadian women's pair stroke gave a good try to communicate in French with the stakeboaters:

but then had to admit she only had 'a leetle' French despite the mandatory French classes in Canada--but we won't tell your French teachers!

Sand Bags Held Up this Year

Ella Casano, coxswain of the US Women's Eight had much better luck, sand-bag wise, than other US coxswains we've seen at Jr Worlds lately:

Which is way better than the sand-bag fail we saw in 2021 which, luckily, worked out just fine: it was 'just in the race for lanes' and that crew went on to win gold.

Whew, The Lanyards Arrived

Two mornings before racing, getting lanyards is actually pretty important.

Plenty of Room

One crucial part of the "testing" of any Olympic rowing venue? How roomy--or cramped--the boatyard feels when it is actually full of shells and athletes and, we have to say, 600 entries actually fit fairly comfortably.

You can read up on the rest of our take on how the venue is stacking up here, a year out from Paris 2024.

And, When in France, We Guess

As we also reported in our venue review, there was a lot of talk about the wooden, nearly makeshift outhouses at the venue--and how to use them--but this seems to be a thing in France; these photos are from Aiguebelette in 2015.

So, if folks planning to race in Paris next year better get comfortable with wood chips.

Yep, he sure can...

In case you were wondering, back when we threw this pic up on the Insta, this dude can actually play the bugle he brought along:

Must've Been a Good One

We hope it was a row2k photo that inspired this laugh:

How row2k Rolls

As ever, we found a way to do a bit of row2k photo processing at the start:

Why buy a fancy laptop hood when you already have your rain jacket handy?

Raining and Pouring

That is how the week started, and putting on boat stickers in the pouring rain ain't easy:

And then? Ugh, More Rain

After soaking the crews all week, the faucets went full blast for the CD Finals on Friday afternoon:

And you can see more in the whole sequence, which starts here, and read up on what it was like to race in the torrential downpour from US sculler Henry Davison in our Friday report.

But the Sun Came out on Saturday

...Until It Didn't

Good thing medals are waterproof!

And It All Looked a Bit Too Much Like This

Little did we know that by week's end, the rowing course would not look that different from the whitewater course next door.

Never to Late to Improve

This double launched with their biometric doohickys all week:

Buoys Not Birds...

Though they sure do look bird-like out of the corner of your lens, whew.

US Refs in the House

Spotted a lot of familiar faces in the Junior Worlds ref corps:

Blade Design of the Decade?

This is what the Saudi blades look like: hard to beat crossed scimitars in the cool design department, eh?

Do These Guys Have Mullets Beat?

Plenty of mullets at U23s, but these two U19s may have that trend beat.

And, Lastly: Caption Contest!

Anybody got a good one for this pic?

We've got some thoughts, but we are happy to report that this guy did not fall in and float away, a la Andy Bernard: