The US U19s picked up two golds, a bronze, and a pair of 4th place finishes to end the Varese 'Festa' of rowing that was this 6 days (and a Monday nights!) worth of U19/U23 racing.
The U19 Women's Eight and Coxed Four topped the podium for the USA--for the second year in a row for both, no less--while the U19 Men's grabbed bronze. The Women's Quad moved up 2 spots this year, into 4th in their A Final, while the Women's Four matched its 2021 4th place.
Sunday's seventh day of racing did seem, to folks in the press box at least, maybe just one day too long, but the tight racing today was worth it--and even in the few races that were controlled from the front, the chasing behind for podium spots was gripping, race after race.
Sunday also became the one day where conditions during racing seemed a factor, as the same brisk tailwind and choppy water that produced five new World's Best Times put a massive premium on clean, tidy bladework--and made each champion crew earn it for sure.
The tale of the conditions can be seen in the fact that big boats turned in all but one of the new WBT's: USA's JW4+, Italy's JW4-, USA's JW8+, and Germany's JM8+. The only small boat to set a new World's Best was already a "WBT-holder"--the super speedy Greek JW2x we mentioned in yesterday's notes, who lowered their own 6:57.95 mark 6:57.40. NBD.
JW8+ - Keeping Gold with a WBT to Boot
Not to take anything away from the U19 Women's Eight, but their race sure did look a lot like the U23 Women's Eight final, right down to the USA being too far ahead to be on camera in the "full field shot" from the first 500 meter's camera launch.
One big difference, of course, was that the U19 women did their winning again with a World's Best Time--6:12.16--and there was seemingly nothing GB, Germany, Romania or New Zealand could do about it, despite being locked in a fierce battle for the remaining medals. Only a second separated each of those next four crews, with GB taking silver from Germany, and Romania falling just short of bronze.
"It was an amazing end to the summer for our crew, said the Eight's coach, Mike Wallin.
"Besting the deepest women’s 8’s field in the history of the regatta and breaking the world record in the process is one of the most remarkable performances I've ever heard of. I’m so proud of them and the way they represented the USA."
"I believe there is no more dominant force in rowing than an American Women’s 8+. They proved that yet again on a very big stage as did our U23 women the day before."
Just two of the Americans had returned from last summer's golden eight--the stern pair of stroke Nora Goodwillie and Sofia Simone--and only one other athlete had also been to Worlds before: 4-seat Quincy Stone, who won with the Coxed Four in 2021. For the rest, this first time was a charm, as was perhaps coming out of the powerful U19 American system that identified coxswain Frances Mckenzie and the five other rowers: Phoebe Wise (6), Eleanor Bijeau (5), Sarah Bradford (3), Lily Pember (2), and Eugenia Rodriguez-Vazquez (bow).
One thing all 9 have in common? None of them have ever lost a race at a Junior or U19 Worlds.
Also of note, coxswain Frances Mckenzie showed some total pro chops when it came time to give out those gold medals: she scooped all nine onto one arm and saved herself the back-and-forthing coxswains and stroke oars have been doing all week as part of the very cool "serve-yourself" medal ceremony format. Mckenzie was only one tangled ribbon away from being maybe the first person all week to get the medals on folks before the presenters finished calling all the names, but definitely was the closest to pulling it off.
W4+ - Golden, Again, in the For-Real Race
With just five entries, the Women's Coxed Four did not row a heat per se to "get into" the Final, but just a Preliminary Race, in which they just set a World's Best Time, by just 3+ seconds, even though they did not have to win.
Today, racing the course again "for reals," the USA went pillar-to-post again to win and shaved another coupe of seconds off their World's Best Time for good measure. It now stands at 6:54.5.
The crew also became the first official "U19 Champs" in World Rowing History, theirs being the first A Final of the rebranded Championships.
Stroke Sophia Greco was the experienced oar in the crew, having raced the pair in 2021, but this was the first World's A Final, and first gold, for her and the whole rest of the crew--coxswain Ella Casano, Lindsey Brail at 3, Annika Jeffery at 2, and bowseat Ella Wheeler--even as it was, of course, their second time setting a new standard in the JW4+ event.
"Across the women's camp boats, it was one of the best, if not the best finish in recent history," said Lead Women's Coach Caitlin McClain afterwards.
"The 4+, 4-, and 8+ all finished the same as last year with the 4x jumping two spots to 4th, not to mention the 4+ and 8+ setting new worlds best times!"
"We are really pleased with the overall team performance and support of one another. When the 4+ was coming down their teammates were all huddled around a phone watching them win and break the the worlds best time they set in the heat."
JM8+ Sticks With the Fight Up Front
The U19 Men's Eight final went Germany, GB, USA--so it turned out we had seen that show before: the final was a perfect re-row of the heat that had--randomly--put the three eventual medalists all in the same race.
One difference today was the fact that the US got an extra race--Friday's rep--out of being third in that heat, and the Americans definitely attacked out of the blocks differently today, coming off the blocks the fastest in the estimation of the commentary squad.
Unfortunately, the Germans and British still had the measure of the Americans in the final, and the finish order went just as the heat had foretold, but these three crews were clearly the class of the field...and it took a WBT time by the Germans to win it.
"We are very proud of our effort and execution in the final," said coach Eric Gehrke, "as it was the culmination of the growth we wanted to experience during the regatta."
"We preach to the team that we can always get faster during World Championships but it's another thing to see these young men live that growth during very trying and pressure-packed times."
"These are resilient athletes who fought every stroke to the line. No matter external success, they should be satisfied with their growth and mindset."
US coxswain Adam Casler, who came to Varese as one of the three defending gold medallists in the crew, used that experience as he surveyed the field this week and led his crew through the progression. "As soon as the draw came out, I knew it was going to be a tough week for us but was also very excited to go against the other top teams right off the bat," he told row2k.
"The heat showed us that our initial race plan was complacent. At this level, you don't put yourself in it in the first 750, there's no hope to be in a competitive position in the second half of the race. It definitely felt like an uphill battle going into the rep but the nine of us handled the adversity really well and were adaptable."
"All of us committed to a more aggressive race plan as well as rowing with more length around the pin, and we trusted it. The rep was the best thing that could've happened to us. With how much shorter of a summer we had together as a crew, having that extra race before the final let us go to the line and experiment what we knew we had to do on Sunday."
"We had 2 whole less weeks training as a boat compared to last year," Caseler noted, "and it was unfortunate due to how much things started to click as racing went on."
"Overall, I'm very proud of what the nine of us and our coach, Eric Gehrke, accomplished with the circumstances we were given. It would of been very easy to back away from the adversity that was thrown at us, but we decided to be adaptable and gritty, and executed to the best of our ability."
Fourth for 4x and 4-
The times in the quad semis were indeed predictive, with the three crews just ahead of the USA's effort yesterday out in front today but only just. That was just what the speed the US quad showed yesterday suggested could happen. The Americans--stroke Heather Schmidt, Cillian Mullen (3), Ava Schetlick (2), and Alice Dommer (bow)--hung doggedly to the leaders and did so sculling well enough to handle what was becoming very challenging water.
Fourth, as noted above, is a two spot step-up from last year for the JW4x.
The U19 Women's Four had high hopes for moving up onto the podium this year: they showed that kind of form with the impressive heat they rowed on Thursday and got a prime lane in the middle of the course, but the pace of the final got away from the crew.
"For the 4-, it was a a tough way to end the journey," said McClain, who coaches that crew directly. "We were hoping today would bring out our best performance, but unfortunately we had some mid-race challenges with conditions and couldn't get our rhythm back to win a medal."
"It's disappointing, but these moments are often the catalysts for future success and I know the athletes and I will grow from it."
Rest of the World's Best
Part of the fun of U19s is, of course, seeing athletes who may well be part of futures IRA and NCAA coverage, should they follow the well-trod path to US colleges.
We won't do all the work for the college coaches here, but these were the highights of the races the US was not in today:
In all, nine different nations won gold in the U19 finals, to include Serbia, in the U19 Men's Pair: AUS, CZE, GBR, GER, GRE, ITA, ROU, SRB, and USA.
Notes from the Course
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