The 2012 World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Trakai, Lithuania saw the remaining 13 finals being raced on beautiful, natural Lake Galvas on a day that made history for Cyprus and Azerbaijan. It also saw a medal spread that was shared across a large number of nations. Germany is the nation that stands at the top of the medal table after this regatta, having won four gold, six silver and five bronze medals.
Cross-head wind conditions did not deter Cyprus from winning its first ever World Championship level medal when Anna Ioannou finished third in the lightweight women's single sculls. It also did not deter Azerbaijan from getting its first ever Under-23 Champion title when Aleksandar Aleksandrov won the men's single sculls.
Lightweight Women's Single Sculls
The first final of the day at the 2012 World Rowing Under 23 Championships was a tightly fought battle, all six competitors weighing in at a maximum of 61kg. The favourite coming into this race was 2010's Under-23 World Champion Alena Kryvasheyenka of Belarus. Out to reclaim her title, Kryvasheyenka stormed out to an early lead. She was followed by Annick Taselaar of the Netherlands while the rest of the field fought to define an order. A strong push from Emma Fred of Sweden promoted her into medal position from the half-way point but she was unable to catch the Belarussian sculler, who reached the line first to claim gold. Sweden took silver and a fast final sprint by Anna Ioannou won her the bronze.
Lightweight Men's Single Sculls
The 2011 Under-23 World Champion in this event, Jeremie Azou, has moved to his nation's senior lightweight men's double scull to challenge for gold at the 2012 Olympic Games, leaving the boat class open for a new champion in 2012. It was the Swiss sculler Luca Fabian who took the early lead, but found that the competition was ready for him. By the half-way point Spyridon Giannaros of Greece took over as the new race leader. Giannaros held his pace and remained at the front of the field for the remainder of the race. The challenge for silver and bronze was strongly contested. Crossing the line a final sprint was Germany's Konstantin Steinhuebel which gave him second place, with the Swiss sculler having to settle with bronze.
Men's Pair
The two semi-final winners in the men's pair were South Africa and Great Britain. They met today, side-by-side in the final. The British pair of Kieren Emery, who is the lightweight pair Under-23 Champion from 2011, and Matthew Tarrant were first to the 500m mark but only by the slightest margin. South Africa, silver medallists in 2011, made a number of attacks on the race leaders but were unable to find the speed necessary to over-take the British. Crossing the line, Emery and Tarrant took gold and South Africa's David Hunt and Vincent Breet claimed silver. The fight for bronze was won by Germany.
Women's Double Sculls
Austria and Greece came into this final as the crews to watch. These crews had shown significant speed throughout the regatta and each won their semifinal. Austria's Magdalena Lobnig and Lisa Farthofer are the bronze medallists in this event from 2011 and Greece's Eleni Diamanti and Aikaterini Nikolaidou come to this regatta after trying to qualify for the Olympic Games earlier this season. It was the Russian duo that moved away from the start at the fastet pace. However, their fast pace was not sustainable, and the predicted favourites moved into the the top two medal positions, with Greece having the initial advantage over the Austrians. Belarus then moved into bronze medal position. In the last 500m the race order at the front of the field changed, with the Austrians pushing ahead into first place to claim gold. It was silver for Greece and bronze for Belarus.
Men's Double Sculls
Germany were silver medalists in this event in 2011 and this year they qualified for the final with the fastest time. Last year Hagen Rothe was in the boat and he is now partnered with Stephan Riemekasten. At the start it was Germany and the Netherlands who were the fastest with these two crews matching each other stroke for stroke. New Zealand followed in third. By the half-way point New Zealand, from lane one, changed the order of the race entirely, moving to the front of the field. Nathan Flannery and Hayden Cohen, the younger brother of doubles World Champion and Olympian Nathan Cohen, dominated the remainder of the race to reach the line first and claim gold. Germany held on to take silver and it was Italy who claimed bronze.
Lightweight Men's Four
In yesterday's first round of finals Italy's crews impressed with some very high rating throughout the entire race. Today they came into the lightweight four as favourites for gold having the fastest qualifying time from the semifinal stage of racing. Their nation also claimed gold in this event in 2011 and hold the World Best Time, so gold was the only colour medal on the minds of these four athletes. At the first timing marker they were in the lead, with Spain (the second fastest qualifiers) and Poland also on pace. However, the Italians had speed the other crews could not match and they moved strongly away from the field throughout the race, to claim gold and become 2012 Under-23 Wourld Champions. Spain held onto second to take silver while a storming final sprint from France earned them bronze.
Lightweight Women's Double Sculls
The rowers of the lightweight women's double had the crowd on the edge of their seats from the very first stroke of this race. Germany's Wiebke Hein and Nora Wessel had the fastest qualifying time coming through from yesterday's semifinal race and so they were the crew to watch. Although the Spanish duo were the first crew to the 500m mark, Germany asserted the dominance and, by the half-way point, had squeezed ahead of the field. With them went New Zealand's Georgia Hammond and Sophie Mackenzie. Racing was intense as Germany, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Spain raced stroke-for-stroke. Germany's push in the final stages of the race established them in gold medal position as they crossed the line. An attack from the Netherlands resulted in their claiming silver, pushing New Zealand into bronze medal position.
Lightweight Men's Double Sculls
Germany were the defending 2011 Under-23 World Champions in this event. Here in Trakai, Mattias Arnold of this crew was back to defend his title with new crew mate, Julius Peschel. Spain's Jaime De Haz and Ander Zabala Artetxe had good speed at the start, but by the first 500m marker it was brothers, Paul and Bernhard Sieber of Austria in the lead with the Germans in second. Sieber and Sieber attempted to qualify for the London Olympics at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in May but missed out. Today they set their minds on dominating this race and that was what they did. Although the Polish duo of Artur Mikolajczewski and Milosz Jankowski challenged hard they could not take victory from the Austrian brothers. Poland took silver and Germany failed to defend their 2011 title, taking bronze.
Men's Quadruple Sculls
The Ukraine lined up in this race with the intention of defending their status as Under-23 World Champions in this event. Within the initial stages this very tight six-laned race began to spread out a bit with Ukraine moving ahead with France, the Czech Republic, Italy and Australia close together and matching each other stroke for stroke. As the race came into view the Ukraine still held the lead but the rest of the field still had more fight left in them. Italy charged down the outside rating 41. The Italians had the fastest qualifying time leading into this final and they had finally decided to prove their worth.At the line, Ukraine had defended their title, Italy took second and Australia had come through to third.
Women's Eight
In the race for lanes on Friday, the United States had a comfortable victory over the rest of the field. They were third at this event in 2011 but have seen gold a number of times in this boat class that they are so successful in at the senior level. Today it was Great Britain that jumped out quickly, but the United States soon pushed into the lead with just a bow ball of an edge over Great Britain. They reached the 500m mark in the lead and it was from here that the US eight, coxed by Kendall Schmidt, began to extend their lead on the rest of the field. Coming past the grandstand, the US race leaders had a clear water lead over their challengers and crossed the line to take gold and the Under-23 World Championship title. The pace proved too much for the British as Germany and the Netherlands had pushed ahead to take silver and bronze medals respectively.
Men's Single Sculls
This final saw two particularly interesting scullers line up at the start. Hubert Trzybinski of Germany is both the 2011 Under-23 World Champion and World Best Time holder. Aleksadar Aleksandrov, who finished finished 11th in 2011 and took silver in 2010, will represent Azerbajan at the 2012 Olympic Games and was looking to prove the sort of speed he hopes to bring to the Games. From the initial strokes of the race Aleksandrov and Trzybinski were fighting it out at the front of the field. In doing so they pulled away from the rest of the field. At the 1,500m mark Aleksandrov began to push away from Trzybinski with Dionysios Angelopoulos of Greece now gaining on Trzybinski. Angelopoulos is currently Greece's top single sculler and earlier this season Angelopoulos tried to qualify for the London Olympics. At 36 strokes per minute Aleksandrov then moved clean away from Trzybinski to become the Under-23 Champion. Tzrybinski held on to second and Angelopoulos claimed bronze.
Women's Single Sculls
The field in this event featured a great mix of experience, most interestingly Canada's Carling Zeeman. This Championship was her first international regatta and she has impressed throughout. Today Zeeman faced Germany's Julia Lier who won gold in the quad for the last two years and she also has two Junior Champion titles. At the start Lier jumped out to take an early lead and by the 500m mark Lier had a two second lead. Behind Lier, Latvia and Denmark went head-to-head while Canada, Great Britain and Norway were all equal. Lier and Quist remained in first and second position, respectively, for the remainder of the race. The battle for bronze was tight but Carling Zeeman got to the line before her challengers to claim bronze.
Men's Eight
In this Blue Riband event, the United States are the defending Under-23 Champions. They raced in the heats three days ago and won. But it was the winner of the other heat, Germany, that recorded a faster time. Today the United States and Germany met for the first time and raced side-by-side. Germany took the early lead, attempting to row in the dominating fashion in which their senior eight approaches their races. They could not drop the United States. Coming into the final quarter of the race, the United States had taken the lead. The German sprint was no match for the speed at which the United States were moving towards the line. The United States took gold, Germany captured silver and Australia took bronze.
The friendly and welcoming Lithuanian organiser put on a great event which is perfect preparation for next year's World Rowing Junior Championships hosted again by Trakai in early August. After the final race, the FISA flag was passed to next year's Under 23 Championship organisers from Ottensheim/Linz, Austria. And all eyes are on Eton Dorney in Great Britian where the 2012 London Olympic Games regatta begins on 28 July, just two weeks away.
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