Two Kiwi crews will contest gold medals tonight at the U19 World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, after a day of semi-final racing that produced both triumph and heartbreak.
The Men's Four of Charlie Field, Sam Bird, Alex Walters and George Langley were the standout performers, leading from start to finish to clock 6:08.31 and book their place in the A Final at 8.49pm NZT. France (6:10.32) and Spain (6:12.56) joined them. It was only the crew's second race together, and a marked improvement on their heat the previous day when France had overhauled them in the closing 200 metres.
Charlie Manser and Aidan Bennett also made the gold medal final, though the Men's Double Sculls semi was a far tighter affair. The pair had been the fastest crew across the heats by five seconds, but the gaps closed sharply as the racing progressed. They sat fourth at the 500-metre mark before building strongly through the middle kilometre to hold third at 1500m, with just 1.35 seconds covering the top four crews.
They made their move at 250 metres to go, overhauling the Individual Neutral Athletes crew and pressing Turkiye hard, but couldn't close the gap. They crossed in 6:33.71, just over two seconds behind the winners, and go again in the A Final at 8.19pm NZT.
The Women's Double Sculls of Eleri Clare and Zara Blackie will race the B Final after a semi that slipped away in the third 500 metres. They were travelling well in third behind Poland and Greece at halfway when Ireland accelerated into contention and pushed them back to fourth. Despite a determined run to the line they finished in 7:20.76, with Poland winning in 7:14.25. Their B Final is at 6.57pm.
The day's hardest luck story was the Women's Four. Charlotte Mawston, Georgia Kendrick, Charlotte Gorman and Jess Walkinshaw were still sixth at the 1500-metre mark before producing a massive finishing sprint to cross in 6:58.87, good enough for fourth but just 0.09 seconds short of an A Final place. The USA won in 6:56.79. They race the B Final at 7.07pm.
Two crews in contention for medals, two others with B Finals and the chance to finish on a high.
