Juniors become World Champions and Eton is tested

09/08/2011 - 13:37:00

It was a test for the rowing regatta at the London 2012 Olympic Games. It was also a chance for the best juniors in the world to become World Champions.

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The Eton Dorney regatta course was fully trialled with the athletes at the 2011 World Rowing Junior Championships experiencing a whole range of weather conditions from sun to rain to tail winds to cross winds to head winds. This also gave organisers a great opportunity to test a variety of scenarios that may occur a year from now at the Olympics. And it gave the juniors bragging rights to say they have raced on the Olympic course.
For the German national team it must have felt like a good omen for next year as their junior squad romped away with 10 medals out of the 13 events. Of those 10 medals, six of them were gold. One of the proudest golds for Germany was won in the women’s eight. It has been six years since Germany has won this event and president of the German Rowing Federation, Siegfried Kaidel gave particular credit to the team for this medal.


 The Germans also accomplished a double header by securing gold in the men’s and the women’s single sculls. Stephan Riemekasten won the men’s single over Greece and Ukraine. This gave Riemekasten his second junior title after winning the double last year. In the women’s single 16-year-old Anne Beenken won at her first appearance at the junior championships. Just behind Beenken, Ireland’s Holly Nixon picked up the silver medal. This silver medal was historic in giving Ireland its first medal ever at the junior championships.

The remainder of Germany’s golds came in the men’s double sculls, men’s four and women’s quadruple sculls._O4N5744

 Finishing second overall on the medals table was Romania. They ended with five medals, two of them gold. Vlad-Dragos Aicoboae and Toader-Andrei Gontaru won the men’s pair ahead of Spain and Greece. For Aicoboae and Gontaru it is their second junior title (men’s four 2010) and they did not hide their emotions when they collected their gold medals. Romania picked up their other gold in the men’s quadruple sculls.
 

Large crowds came to watch this test regatta and they got special enjoyment out of watching the men’s eight when the Great Britain crew finished second behind Italy. These two top crews pushed last year’s gold and silver medallists, the United States and Germany, back in the field. Germany ended with bronze with the United States taking fifth.

Next year the World Rowing Junior Championships will combine with the non-Olympic Senior Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. It will be held at the later time of 14 – 19 August, 2012.

The focus now switches to the World Rowing Championships to be held in Bled, Slovenia starting 28 August, 2011.
22 years on Bled is ready High point of the year for rowing’s juniors

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