Fast Finishes and World Best Times for U23 Finals at Worlds

With the first eight titles having been awarded on Thursday, the remaining thirteen World U23 Championship titles were awarded on Friday August 23 after a series of incredible finals on Martindale Pond where multiple World Championship Best Times were broken.

At the conclusion of the U23 racing, eighteen nations had won medals with eleven of them claiming a gold. Germany topped the table with four gold, one silver and three bronze while Great Britain matched the number of golds and also secured one bronze.

The lightweight single scullers were the first to race for medals. For Australia’s Grace Sypher, it was a third World U23 Championships; she has finished sixth in 2022, fourth in 2023 and today it was gold. In the lightweight men’s single sculls, Spain’s double Olympian Caetano Hora Pombo prevented Italy’s Giovanni Borgonovo from defending his World U23 champion title.

There were two consecutive gold medals for Great Britain when they won both the women’s and men’s coxless fours. An impressive race for their women allowed them set a new World Championship Best Time. Meanwhile, for the men, despite the challenge from Australia, the British were able to defend their title in this boat class.

The Greek lightweight women’s double sculls was absolutely dominant; both Dimitra Kontou and Evangelia Anastasiadou had raced separately at the recent Paris 2024 Olympic Games with Kontou having claimed bronze in this boat class. They crossed the line nearly eight seconds ahead of Italy. Meanwhile, perhaps taking inspiration from Paul O’Donovan (who will race in the single sculls on saturday) and Fintan McCarthy, who won Olympic gold a couple of weeks ago, Ireland’s Ciaran Purdy and Donnacha Keeley claimed gold in the lightweight men’s double sculls.

Great Britain’s women completed the clean sweep of wins in the Olympic sweep events when their women’s eight led from the start and finished nearly two seconds clear of the defending champions, the USA.

The German anthem was heard twice when they won gold in both of the single sculls. Timo Strache had won bronze in the men’s U23 double sculls last year but today it was gold in the single sculls. His time of 6:42.08 set a new World Championship Best Time by 0.89 seconds.

Shortly later, Alexandra Foester matched her performance from the 2021 and 2022 World U23 Championships by winning gold and preventing Switzerland’s Auerlia-Maxima Janzen from defending her title from last year. It was another World Championship Best Time for Foester, beating the time she set earlier this week by a further 5.83 seconds.

It was a fourth gold of the day for Great Britain in the last of the U23 finals when their men’s eight led from the start. The USA kept them under pressure throughout – sitting just 0.37 seconds behind at both the 500m and 1,000m timing markers, but in the second half, the British were able to move further away and crossed the line first to defend their title.

The U23s may have finished their racing but the finals for the seniors (in the non-Olympic and Paralympic boat classes) and U19s are still to come. Finals across the six senior boat classes will be held tomorrow, Saturday 24 August from 14:30 EST with the U19 finals being held on Sunday 25 August from 11:30 EST.

For start lists, race reports, results and photos go to www.worldrowing.com

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