Thursday's racing marked the midpoint of a busy week, and (finally) every athlete on the venue has now gotten their first race in...with some U23s even finishing their regatta altogether. The BM1x ran its E Final and the C Finals wrapped up the racing for the open doubles, open pairs and men's quad events--though none of those finals featured any Americans.
Weather is a touchpoint as ever, but we did manage to get all the way to this second paragraph before we mentioned it. Today's weather news was good and a bit of maybe not so good.
The good was that it has gotten all the way to "colder" today, per social media:
It's a little colder today than on the previous days of racing. Have a look at today's conditions ?? #WRUCHVarese pic.twitter.com/kYVsCyutTa
- World Rowing (@WorldRowing) July 28, 2022
But that is still a high in the 80s so it is still summer-time racing and, on that front, the maybe not so good news is that the schedule tomorrow has been moved up to avoid the potential for storms in the afternoon. Proactive planning ahead is great for the athletes, but for anyone who'd been planning to watch the first U23 A Finals from their desk at work will have to set an early alarm after all: 4:50 to 6:15 am EDT is now the A Final's block, those medal now being run in the mid-morning Varese time, along with the remaining A/B semis, and ahead of the B, C, and D finals on tap.
Basically, keep an eye on the revised start lists, or the Schedule tab--which updates in real time--both on the central World Rowing webpage for the event. Since the video end of the broadcast kicks in tomorrow, that early alarm might be worth it for sure.
It is also worth taking a second to appreciate just how big this version of the Mega-Worlds actually is:
No wonder we are blasting along on 5 minute centers, whew!
Sweep for Selected USA U19 Women
Most of the US U19s to race before Thursday were athletes who won open trials in the smaller boats--apart from the JM4x we spoke with yesterday (and who won their rep today)--so this morning's big boat racing was the first chance to see the camp selected boats from the USA. These are the crews selected from the massive talent pool gathered in Chula Vista pretty much as soon as Youth Nationals ended and, with very few exceptions, featured the best juniors in the US.
While the U19 Men ran into some tough draws, just as the camp quad did on their first day, and are all headed to the Reps, the Women's Selection Camp boats came out firing on all cylinders: the Eight, Four, and Coxed Four all won today to book A Final spots, and the Quad earned a spot in their semi by taking 3rd behind Germany and Britain.
It was a good morning for US Lead U19 Women's Coach Caitlin McClain, as well as the coaches working with each boat:
"It is awesome to have all the women's selection camp boats progress directly to the next round of racing with the 4+, 4-, and 8+ all winning their heats and going to A finals and the 4x making A/B semis," McClain told row2k. "Our coaching staff is proud of the athletes' effort and execution of their race plans. It is a great start for these crews who have only been together a month, so we are looking forward to the next round of racing and how fast we can go!"
The good execution started right in the first race of the day, with the Coxed Four. To be fair, it was "just" a race for lanes amongst the five crews entered, but the USA Four still went out and won it by nearly six seconds.
With the US having won this event last year, going out to put a marker down might well have been on the minds of coxswain Ella Casano and the crew--Sophia Greco, Lindsey Brail, Annika Jeffery, and bow seat Ella Wheeler--who led the prelim wire to wire.
The other gold medal to defend for the U19 squad is, of course, the Women's Eight, and the flagship crew won their rep with aplomb and control.
"I think it was a great start to the event for us," said the Eight's coach, Mike Wallin. "It's the biggest field of U19 women's 8's in the history of the regatta so we were keeping our eyes set on making the grand final."
"We had an opportunity today to advance and we made the most of it. So now we will prepare to race for the world championship on Sunday against what looks to be an extremely talented field of the strongest young women from around the world. It's an amazing opportunity and we are looking forward to the challenge."
The Women's Four completed the trio of "Camp" wins on the day for the US Women, and 3 seat Imogen Cabot--who won gold last year in the coxed four--told us the crew was able to win by following their plan:
"We had a set plan for how we wanted our race to go today so it was super exciting when we were able to complete this goal," Cabot said. "We wanted to make it to the A-Final and gauge the speeds of other teams as well as our own. I think that the racing today proved even more so that Sunday's racing will be super competitive and we are so excited to put forth our best effort!"
Those three crews are on to the A Finals, while the Quad's row put them into the semis, and will let crew rest tomorrow without having to face racing a rep.
The JW4x is coached by Casey Galvanek, the overall Head Coach of the U19 National Team System in the US, and he was excited to see the quad get directly into the next round today:
"The race was terrific. It was great to race such incredible competition," Galvanek said afterwards, but also noted that the job is not done: "We will have to keep making the good changes and wean ourselves off our bad habits. We will keep working hard to progress through the stages."
U19 Men in the Hunt
The Men's camp boats that joined the action today--the Eight and both Fours--did run into crews that sent them to the Reps scheduled for tomorrow: the Eight was 3rd behind Germany and Britain, with France and China advancing from the other heat; the Coxed Four was 4th, behind Australia, South Africa, and Germany (the latter two will be in the crew's rep tomorrow); and the Four, like the 8, was third, with the Czechs and Romanians advancing just ahead of them.
All three remain in the hunt however and--perhaps like the U23 Men's Eight--can use what may well be just their second full-bore 2k as a crew in the Rep to find the gear they need for their respective finals.
That certainly seemed to work for U19 Men's Quad, who just missed advancing in their heat Wednesday, then roared back today to win their rep in an equally tight race ahead of the Swiss--and a time under 6 minutes to boot.
A good row in the Reps worked for JW1x Olivia Petri, too: she is back on track and on her way to her Semi after pushing Czech sculler Veronika Zamostna all the way to the line. She even got a day off for her efforts--and thanks to the schedule--and will not race that Semi until Saturday.
The only U19 crews that are not still in the medal hunt would be the Men's Pair and Women's Double. Both came up a bit short in their reps, and the JM2- heads to the C Final in their event, while the JW2x has a C/D Semi on Saturday.
How To Win the Rest Day
Winning your heat and earning a rest day with no Rep can be key to a successful week at a Worlds, but it does mean you have a whole day to while away without going stir-crazy.
Charles Boldt, the US Jr sculler, had one of these days between his heat win over Egypt and his Friday Quarterfinal. How did he rest up to be ready for what will likely be three full pulls to end the week in his Quarter, Semi, and Final?
"I spend a lot of my day reading my book for school this upcoming year," he told row2k. "I also listened to a lot of music and played cards with my teammates. Getting on the water and getting on the erg really helped to feel powerful for tomorrow. I had a great steady state piece next to my teammates."
"Looking forward to the race tomorrow. I've got it on my mind to get up in the morning and really start getting jacked for the race."
We can't wait either!
Semis Get Real for U23s
After a successful afternoon of reps on Wednesday, the semis for the U23 crews that had to face them did not go as well. With the exception of Isaiah Harrison, whose BM1x Semi is on Friday, every US crew with a semi today would up on the wrong side of the transfer line and heads, now, to the B Final.
That included Nick Aronow in the Light Men's Single, who rowed the B Final in that event last year as well, and the Light Men's Double, the twin brothers Clay Rebus and Sean Rebus. Aronow can still match his 7th overall from last year, while the Rebus brothers--who went 14th in the Double at Junior Worlds last year--are guaranteed to finish higher in the lists this year, even after stepping up to the U23 level.
The crews that got closest to making the all important top-three in their semis included the Women's Double of Susan Cook and Simone Vorperian. They ran in fourth all of the way and mounted a few charges, but could not break through the Swiss--though they did beat both the Dutch and the Danes they will see again in the B Final.
The Men's Quad could not repeat the magic finish they mustered in their rep yesterday, though those watching could see they were in nearly the same position through the middle thousand, but the pace at the front stayed just out of reach. For the Men's Pair, the pace at the front was all about South Africa, whose storming start put them ahead by open water and left the field to fight over just two remaining places. Nick Taylor and Floyd Benedikter were in a four-way tie for those last spots with 1500 meters to go, but Uruguay and Britain seized the day in the end.
The only Semi success on the afternoon was Ella Barry's row in her C/D Semi, which Barry won over two older scullers to earn a spot on the C Final tomorrow.
Up Next
No more heats as we hit the Friday: U19 Reps and that Quarterfinal for Charles Boldt in the JM1x as well as the US JM2x, then the first set U23 A Finals listed below, and some B, C, and D U23 action to end the day, weather-permitting.
The USA boats racing for U23 medals will be--in this order--the BW4+, BM4+, BLW2-, BLM2-, BLW4x, BLM4x, and the BW4x (aka @usa_u23_quad)
All the morning racing and those A Finals will be in the books by 6 am or so Eastern, so you can head right to results--listed by event under the Results tab--here on the World Rowing site...or you can look for the Daily Results Summary when we get it and put it up on the row2k results page later in the day.
Notes From The Course
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