A very full Saturday, with three US medals--all silver--on the day, lots of qualification chances taken and squandered across eight B finals, and the first sets of Olympic class medals.

You can read our interviews with the US medal winners, which included a return to the podium for the Para four, a repeat silver for the LW2x, and the first US men's sweep medal in five years for the M4-, in our full Worlds coverage or via the direct links below.

Drama of Qualifying

From row2k's view, through a 500m lens at the finish, it is intense to watch the down-to-the-final-spots racing that happens in the Olympic B Finals on the final weekend of the pre-Olympic Worlds.

That drama was on full view in the light doubles, with crews racing for the last spot at the last Olympics that will feature their event. The Irish women came through in the LW2x: they had nearly caught the USA which would go on to win silver in the semi for a spot, which gives you an idea of who tight the event is, and how narrow the margin is for error.

In fact, the Irish were battling level for the lead when the French stroke got her port blade stuck and the handle carried right past her body--this was a day when it was the pressure of the racing caused the bobbles we saw rather than any rough water. The headwind did keep the races long and the track slow, but it left the water alone for the most part, just serving to prolong the suspense of who would hit the line in a qualifying spot.

The wind being a consideration rather than a determiner was something New Zealand Tokyo champ Tom Murray mentioned after taking a bronze in the men's four later in the day, just behind GB and the USA:

"We've been trying to gauge that wind throughout the day. It chops and changes a little bit, so there was a minor effect on our game plan: keeping an eye on that and finalizing that before the start."

First Direct Mexican Olympic Qualifier

Mexico's light men's double secure its first Olympic berth directly from a World Championship today. Their previous Olympic appearances in the event came through the Americas Qualifier. It makes for a tremendous regatta for Mexico when you add the light's men's success to the first ever senior medal won by Kenia Lechuga in the LW1x on Friday--and Lachuga herself tried to get down on the blue carpet in the flash quote zone to congratulate them, but was turned back by the folks running the show.

In that same race, the tough regatta continued for the German LM2x which came fifth and failed to qualify: they flipped in the semi on Thursday but climbed back in the boat to complete the course and race the B Final, but could not stick with the pace, and the list of crews now contemplating a trip to the Final Olympic Qualifier, aka the Regatta of Death, continues to grow.

That list now includes two crews that took bronze medals in Tokyo but are--for now--left with out a spot in Paris: the Danish men's pair wound up 6th in the race not to be last in the M2- B Final, and the Irish women's four saw New Zealand grab the one spot on offer in their B Final.

These Folks Look Familiar...

The Italian women's pair faded badly after a strong first thousand and saw the other five boats in their race earn Olympic places, and we did a double-take on that race because that B Final sure had a lot of familiar faces from NCAAs.

A familiar face at stroke for GRE: Yale's Christina Bourmpou

Apart from GB, every other crew had at least one US college athlete aboard, including three current undergrads: two for Spain (Stanford and Ohio State), two for Lithuania (Washington State and Syracuse), one for the Italy that did not make it (Washington), and one--at stroke--for the Greek pair that won (Yale).

The German Women's quad, whose B Final win brought the German squad up to (just!) three Olympic places--though they do have three more chances in Sundays's racing--wound up featuring two NCAA athletes when Lisa Gutfliesch from Texas subbed in, joining the Washington Husky in the stroke seat, Tabea Schendekehl. Just a partial list, to be sure, and doesn't even count the all the guys here with a few IRA races under their belts.

Having had international teammates when you rock up at Worlds can come in handy, though: it was a fellow alum who delivered the beers we spotted the Swiss men's pair chugging after their victory ceremony, even though he is here representing another nation.

Speaking of Victory Ceremonies

Saturday did have plenty of the "usual" drama of medals, of course, when the eight A Finals eventually began, and there were a few new champions crowned as nations dial in ahead of Paris. That included the GB women's quad we featured above, who ended China's run in the event and flipped the podium from last year: here, China was third instead of GB, and the Dutch took second again.

The Dutch women's pair claimed the top spot vacated by the retirement of New Zealand's Olympic champions, Grace Prendergast and Kerri Williams, coming through for a surprise win over Australia. The Aussie duo of Jess Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre, out of the four that won in Tokyo and reunited in the pair they also rowed at the Olympics after a year's break, won both of their World Cup finals this year, and seemed poised to keep the pairs title antipodean, but the Dutch had other ideas.

Australia's Jessica Morrison was quick to put the result in perspective:

"This is an important milestone towards the Olympic Games next year and, obviously, coming away with a win would be amazing, but it doesn't necessarily distract us from what our goals are and where we're going. It just wrapped this season up. We've come a long way, rowing the last eight months together after a break, so we're looking forward to seeing what we can do."

"We fought the whole way down, and that was the goal," added Annabelle McIntyre, "but we just couldn't quite get back [in front]. It just makes it really obvious that we need to do more training.

"We're quite lucky that we're one of those combinations where we move the same way, so it was actually really easy to get back in together [after a break], at least at race pace. The paddling was a bit different, still working on that," McIntyre laughed.

That Dutch win in the W2-, the first Olympic event final of the day, got the Dutch started on the three golds they would win on Saturday. They added gold in the women's four and men's quad.

"It's very special to go to the course and to see the first boat win the gold medal," said Lennart Van Lierop, bow man of the quad and this year's European champ in the single. Van Lierop also mentioned Cornelis De Koning's win on Friday in the PR2 M1x as inspiration.

Lennart Van Lierop, far left

"We have one program with the whole team. We have a lot of confidence in that because it's just proved with results. So we all commit to it, every single one of us and we fire each other up, like in the altitude camp, to do more and more."

Medal Table Look-in

Only GB had more golds than the Dutch on Saturday: along with the women's quad, and another each for the men's four and light women's double, the Brits got up to five, and the top of the (early) medal table thanks to the wins which Para events chipped in to the total.

Two time Paralympic champ Lauren Rowles won gold in the PR2 Mix 2x with new partner and self-described novice rower Gregg Stevenson, a combat wounded veteran who is relatively new to para rowing and on the squad for the first time.

The GB Para four continued its long win streak, but this year marked the return of coxswain Erin Kennedy, the Paralympic gold medalist who missed last year as she battled breast cancer.

"This is the comeback I dreamed of, to be honest," said Kennedy. "A year ago, I had chemo literally the week of the World Championships and I was watching from home, feeling pretty rough, and I was just dreaming of being able to make it back.

"For me, it matters so much more now. I've been trying to find the words to articulate it. My appreciation of being here was so much greater but there's a real interesting complex in my head: I feel guilty for making it back and I've got some friends at the moment who are doing really poorly, but I just think that is amazing that I get to do this and I get to have these opportunities and experiences. It just means I have to make the most of it.

"So it's been a it's been a big week, actually much bigger than I expected. I've tried to give myself opportunities to have that wandering mind. It's a bit like when I got diagnosed, you had allow yourself to step back sometimes, to have those moments, and then go okay, now's the time to focus. So I went on lots of walks this week on my own, a little bit of mental space. Then, back to focusing and back to doing what we need to do."

In three of the GB wins, it was the USA chasing them down to earn the trio of silvers they picked up. You can read row2k's interviews with each of the US medalists in the features we posted separately here:

• the M4-, who picked up the USA's first men's sweep medal since 2017
• the LW2x, who repeated for their second silver of the quadrennial
• the PR3 Mixed 4+, who picked up the US's first Para four medal since Tokyo

M2-: A Missed Opportunity, A Taken Chance, And Some Beer Chugging

One event the British hoped to win would have been the men's pair, but it was won by the Swiss who, as we mentioned above, know how to celebrate. (Check out the full sequence of that show here).

The British pair of Tom George and Ollie Wynne-Griffith remain on their streak of medaling--bronze last year in the pair and bronze again in the eight at Tokyo--without reaching the top step. Neither has won a world championship, despite many World Cup golds and their win at Henley.

"The frustrating part to me is that its safe to say we've got our first 1k down pat in all the other races," said George, "but then conditions [today] quieted down a bit, and we realized right, [the race] is going to go the full length and you must go in the second 500 to then have a really good third and fourth 500. They took the risk in the second 500, and we didn't."

"All season, we've been playing with parts of the race," Wynne-Griffith added, "and it's about trying to level up those bits. Conditions this week, and they've been the same for everyone so you can't complain about them, but it has been difficult to really find the sweet spot where you need to be in which part of the race.

"Today, it flattens out and the Swiss had a good 500, which is gutting. But that's the learning that we have to make to do better next year, if we're in this boat class in Paris which we both want to be, and help us get the result we want to get there."

Up on the podium just behind the British, and ahead of them in the early going, was the Irish crew of Nathan Timoney and Ross Corrigan, who pointedly kept the pressure on in the early part of the race.

"We wanted to to stay up ahead," said Corrigan, "and we were leading for a bit. We knew the Swiss would have a big second half, but when you're in a position like that, you put it all on the line. We knew [the British] were going to come back so it's all about keeping ahead as much ahead as you can."

Notes From the Course

Whither the Lightweights? With the sunset of the light doubles as Olympic events, Saturday was the last time light doubles would race for qualification--which naturally were two of the best B Finals of the day--or for medals as an Olympic boat class. Italy's Stefano Oppo was asked what he would do next: "We can gain some weight and maybe keep on rowing," he laughed, patting his belly, "or maybe [do] coastal."

Oppo, center, with IRL LM2x stroke Paul O'Donovan

Ada Beach is Closed - No Dutch swimmers today, despite the fact that we are, literally, at Belgrade's swimming beach...and the fact that the Dutch had three pretty good reasons to go in the water and mob their winning crews.

Another Medal for GBR's Glover - Helen Glover's come back now includes a bronze medal in the four, and the boat is of course qualified for what would be her fourth Games should she keep her place. "I wanted to come back from a new type of challenge," she told row2k. "I didn't really target the four when I came on, I just thought be the best I can be and that would put me in the best boat I can be in. Turning up in the top boat was a real good result. We're definitely finding our way through it and not having that smoothest of summers, so to come out here and get on the podium I think is good. I have a lot of support out here from my family and we're all supported by the National Lottery at home which makes sure we can train full time so massive thanks to them as well."

Helen Glover on left

And Fastest Ref Launch Is? The finish tower folks had some fun with the flotilla of ref launches coming down the course at the end of racing, sounding the horn as each crossed the line. For the record, the Belgrade champion was the ref in Lane 5.