PHOTO AND STORY COURTESY WORLD ROWING
There was nothing to separate Great Britain and Italy at the top of the medal table at this year’s World Rowing Under 19 Championships in Paris, France. Both nations claimed six medals in total, picking up three gold, two silver and one bronze each. Thirteen other nations took home medals across the 14 boat classes.
Italy began their medal haul early on in the session when they picked up gold in the men’s coxed four, a step up from their silver in 2022. The women’s coxed four had earlier been won by USA, defending their title from last year.
Romania has a strong pedigree in women’s sweep rowing and their U19 women’s pair rowed to an impressive gold, while Turkiye dominated the men’s pair, repeating their success from the European Rowing U19 Championships earlier this year.
For Great Britain, their women were particularly strong with every single women’s crew picking up a medal. Their first medal was a silver in the women’s four. Although they had led for much of the race, Italy’s final sprint was just too much for them and Italy crossed the line less than half a second ahead. Meanwhile, in the men’s four, Romania took gold, but an incredible final sprint from Germany moved them through from fourth to second in the closing stages of the race.
Further success came for Germany in the quadruple sculls as they took gold in both the women’s and men’s boats, their anthem being heard twice in succession as their scullers were crowned World U19 Champions.
Great Britain’s medal haul continued in the women’s double sculls as they overcame a very strong Greek boat featuring a reigning World U19 Champion. This year’s European Rowing U19 gold medallists in the men’s double, Josef Giorgio Marvucic and Maichol Brambmilla repeated their success on the world stage to win a final gold for Italy.
The women’s eight was perhaps the most exciting race of the Championships and resulted in four boats crossing the line just 0.24 second apart. Germany had led for the first half of the race before Romania went into the lead. However, in the final sprint, it was Great Britain who got their bow ahead to cross the line first, a step up from their silver in 2022, and the first time they have won gold in this boat class since 2010. Great Britain also won gold in the men’s eight after a familiar battle with Germany, who took silver.
The single sculls had had the biggest entries of the Championships and competitors in the finals came through three previous rounds of racing. It was Romania’s Bianca-Camelia Ifteni who took the honours in the women’s event while Turkiye’s Halil Kaan Koroglu worked his way through the field to become World U19 Champion in the men’s single sculls.
The next international rowing events to be hosted at the Stade Nautique Olympique in Vaires-sur-Marne will be the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Regattas. To learn more about the venue, please click here.
For more information on the 2023 World Rowing Under 19 Championships, visit our event page.
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