2024 World Rowing U19 Championships – Review

Image Credit: World Rowing

Rounding out an exciting week of racing in Canada was the Junior racing. With unpredictable action and 14 world champions crowned, it was a fitting end to a brilliant week-long festival of rowing on the historic Royal Canadian Henley Course.

Under 19 Women’s Coxed Four

Actual Result: Italy, France, USA

With the win in the race for lanes as well as two returners from their silver medal-winning crew from this event last year, the Italian crew entered this race as heavy favourites but at the first timing point it was a tight battle for gold. Hanging with them was the crew from France with the two comfortably leading over the Australians and the crew from the United States. At that marker though, it was like a switch flicked in the Italian boat as they walked away from the French without noticeably increasing their rate. The latter fell back into an exciting race for the medals with the Americans and the Australians. That race would be the most exciting one through the body of the contest as in the final sprint there was only a second each between the French in second, the United States in third and Australia in fourth as they crossed the line.

Under 19 Men’s Coxed Four

Actual Result: Australia, Italy, USA

This one was the story of a well-drilled Australian crew; they jumped out to an early lead in this event, with significant open water at the halfway mark. Behind them, Italy – who had initially hung with the green and gold – were in a close battle against the South African crew with the United States half a length behind. The momentum of the South Africans initially pulled them ahead of the Italians after a push at the midpoint of the course, but the Italians responded well, overhauling the South African crew and putting the pressure on the leaders from Australia, while the South Africans were undone by the Americans after their early sprint to miss out on the first medal for their nation this week.

Under 19 Women’s Pair

Actual Result: Romania, Greece, AIN

Off the start, the Romanian pair jumped into a quick and emphatic lead as Gabriela Tivodariu looked to defend this title she won last year with a new partner. They were followed most closely by the neutral-designated boat from Belarus, the Greeks and the Germans. As the race developed, the Romanians again moved away from the field and the AIN and Greek crews moved closer together as the superior base-pace from the Greeks transitioned them into a comfortable silver medal position. Behind the Romanian dominance this was a phenomenally exciting race with the AIN crew giving their all to catch the Greeks again but ultimately running out of gas, dropping back and winning just bronze. In sixth place was the British crew who performed well to earn their spot in the A-Final in a brilliant performance in their heat.

Under 19 Men’s Pair

Actual Result: Romania, Germany, Spain

Off the start, the Germans established an early lead with a length of open water within just the first quarter of the race with a close race behind them from the Romanian, Italian and British pairs. As the race developed, the Germans sat comfortably in front while the British and Romanians dropped the Italians, swapping the silver medal position all the way through the middle kilometre of the race, with the Spanish pair beginning to put pressure on their sterns. The nature of this race dramatically shifted as they entered the final quarter though. The Romanian crew, which contained half of their world champion four from 12 months ago, unleashed a dramatic sprint, as they hunted down the German crew who had previously seemed untouchable, taking the gold in a photo finish. The British, however, paid for their efforts through the body of the race, lacking the final push to hold off the crew from Spain for the bronze medal.

Under 19 Women’s Coxless Four

Actual Result: Romania, Great Britain, Czechia

After a tight start, it was the British crew who took the first lead as they strode onto their race pace, being chased most closely by New Zealand, Czechia and Romania, with the latter coming through to the second place by the halfway mark, closing the British lead to a couple of seats as the Kiwis dropped back. The Romanians would seize the lead after around 1200 metres, placing them in a strong position entering the final sprint. While the British gave everything they had in the final push, the Romanians were just too strong, taking their third gold medal in succession and claiming the overall lead in the medal table across the whole week, with the Czech crew taking their nation’s first medal of the week in bronze.

Under 19 Men’s Coxless Four

Actual Result: Italy, Great Britain, China

Off the start, it was the Italian crew who took an early lead alongside the British and Romanian crews, but as the Italians strode out into their pace the other two dropped back into a battle for the minor medals alongside the Chinese. The Romanians could not hold this pace, so the medal winners became more obvious as the British and Chinese engaged in a tight battle down the course for silver and bronze. In the final quarter, the British were the fastest boat in the field, easily moving away from the Chinese, but they didn’t quite have enough in the tank to catch the Italians who would take home gold in this event for the first time since 2012.

Under 19 Women’s Quadruple Scull

Actual Result: Italy, Great Britain, Germany

In what was possibly the race of the week, this one remained close for all the medals all the way down the course. At the first timing mark, Germany, Italy and Czechia were all within a second with the British crew just over a second off the back of them, projecting a remarkably close race as it was. It remained close, but the Italians began to move away through the middle of the race, with the British crew emerging into the mix alongside the Germans and the Czech with the Polish within a length of them. The British charge was not satisfied though, as they rowed through the medal contenders and were hunting down the Italians who had built up a bit of a margin. The GB crew went first, ramping up their sprint with 400 metres to go but the Italians were able to respond and hold off the British for the win. Behind this race was an even tussle for bronze as the Polish caught up with the Germans on the line, but it was just too late as the photo finish awarded the gold to the Germans by an almost imperceptible margin.

Under 19 Men’s Quadruple Scull

Actual Result: Germany, Italy, Czechia

Off the start it seemed as if it was going to be a relatively simple race as the Germans, Italians, Czech and Poles each had around a second’s advantage on each other in turn as they passed the 500-metre mark. The Germans would pull away further through the race but the race behind them tightened up, as the Italians and the Czech briefly exchanged positions around the halfway mark. However, the Italians were not settling for this conclusion. A brilliant sprint at the end secured them the silver and put the gold under threat, but the defending champions had enough to hold onto the title of world champions for a further year. Earlier in the day, the British crew finished half a length down in the B-Final to finish eighth overall in the event.

Under 19 Women’s Double Scull

Actual Result: Greece, Great Britain, Spain

Off the start, the British double of Olivia Cheesmur and Violet Holbrow-Brooksbank established themselves as the early leader, dominating the field for the start of the race ahead of a close pack of Greece, Spain, Romania and Germany. From that pack, the Greek double established themselves as the best of the rest, pushing away from the remainder of the field to the 1500-metre mark. At that point the bronze was still very much up for grabs, with Romania just half a second ahead of Germany with the Spanish crew close behind. However, in the last quarter of the race, its complexion dramatically changed as the British double dropped in speed, having spent too much early in the race under the midday sun, allowing the Greeks to row past them for gold, but holding off the mad dash for bronze, the final 100-metres of the Spanish claiming that medal, just behind the British. 

Under 19 Men’s Double Scull

Actual Result: Greece, Germany, Australia

Off the start, the advantage was initially with the neutral athletes from Belarus, who had the lead through much of the first quarter, but as they passed the first timing mark, the Greek crew stormed past them with a superior base speed, plus a rating four splits higher. The AIN crew was drawn back into the pack as they competed with the Australians, French and Germans for the minor medals through the race. In the closing stages, the Greek smash-and-grab strategy had paid off with Germany the best of the rest after passing the Australians in the later stages with the neutral athletes in fourth.

Under 19 Women’s Eight

Actual Result: USA, Great Britain, Italy

The strongest of the starts came from the United States, who jumped out to two-thirds of a length lead over the British crew behind with the Italians most of a length behind. This lead for the Americans would only grow in the second quarter of the race, breaking contact at around 900 metres in, while the Brits needed 1300 metres to achieve the same margin over the Italians. This was a truly imperious victory by the United States, coming through to defeat the defending champions by 5.63 seconds. Behind Great Britain and Italy in silver and bronze respectively, there was an even larger gap back to Austria who got ahead of their neighbours Germany in fourth place.

Under 19 Men’s Single Scull

Actual Result: Greece, AIN, Germany

After the first 500 metres, Maksim Hrybouski – competing as a neutral athlete – had taken a decent lead with a close race between Ole Hohensee of Germany, Panagiotis Makrygiannis of Greece and William Rogers of Australia behind. Through the midpoint of the race, the German pressed his advantage over Makrygiannis but the Greek sculler remained within a length with 500 metres to go. Spotting his opportunity, Makrygiannis made the first move in the finale, rowing through Hohensee with superior pace and managed to overhaul the 20-metre lead of Hrybouski, passing within the last few strokes and upgrading his silver in this event from twelve months ago.

Under 19 Women’s Single Scull

Actual Result: Romania, South Africa, Germany

Naturally, the defending champion of Bianca Camelia Ifteni of Romania entered the race as favourite and was unsurprisingly the first to break the line at 500 metres in. Danelia Price-Hughes of South Africa and Jennifer Almeida of Brazil were within half a length and Julia Stoeber of Germany maintained overlap. By halfway, Ifteni had broken overlap but the race remained very compelling. It was the South African who was second at the 1000-metre mark ahead of the German and the Brazilian as the battle for the medals continued to evolve. Almeida dropped back further but a strong second half from Maria Hauser of Austria brought her into contention for that bronze medal, with Price-Hughes a little further ahead in the silver medal position. It was not enough from the Austrian as the German would take bronze, while Bianca Camelia Ifteni eased across the line to become the first person to defend the junior world title in the single since the American Clark Dean in 2018 and the first woman since Germany’s Anne Beenken in 2012.

Under 19 Men’s Eight

Actual Result: Great Britain, USA Germany

In the first 250 metres, the British jumped out to a half length lead over a tightly grouped field and had open water by the 500-metre mark. Behind them, the United States began to establish a lead in the fight for the silver medal as they clung onto the stern of the British crew with the Germans and New Zealand eights in a tight race for bronze in the first half. The Brits were unable to extend that lead by too much through the middle of the race but held off the opposition with relative ease as two-seat Oliver Richardson of Eton College beamed with happiness as they controlled the race through halfway. At the finish, the Germans were able to push beyond the New Zealanders for bronze and while the Americans pushed them hard, there was no stopping the British crew who won their first gold medal of the day. With this victory, Great Britain swept the global championships in the men’s eight at senior, U23 and U19 levels for the second year in a row while, by contrast, a last-placed result in this event consigned Canada to a barren home championships. They failed to win a single medal across all three of the concurrent age-group events.

About The Author