Host Poland dominates 14th WUC Rowing Medal Podium
POZNAN – Sunday 4 September the 14th World University Rowing Championship on the Malta Regatta course in Poznan came to an end. Host team Poland ended first in the team medal classification with 9 medals, including one gold, six silver and two bronze medals. Italy placed second and Czech Republic third.
Sunday’s session was initiated with mix quadruple sculls – a competition that has been organised for the first time in the history of this WUC. This inaugural race was won by the Czech crew (Kristyna Fleisnnerova, Lenka Antosova, Adam Sterbak and Matyas Klang) who beat the Polish hosts (Marta Wieliczko, Katarzyna Wełna, Maciej Zawojski, Szymon Płośnik). Bronze went to France (Chloe Poumailloux, Flavie Bahuaud, Bastien Quiqueret, and Hugo Quemener).
In the grand final for lightweight women’s sculls Australian Amy James was medalled with gold. After a fantastic finish the silver medal was won by Austrian Anja Manoutschehr, with bronze going to Canadian Patricia Mara.
The title of World University Rowing Champion in lightweight men’s sculls was claimed by Federico Gherzi. The silver medal went to former Summer Universiade Champion (2015) Jerzy Kowalski (POL). Hungarian, Daniel Matyasovszki got the bronze.
In the final of lightweight Men’s double sculls German crew Johannes Ursprung and Cedric Kulbach, rowed to 1st place, followed by Slovaks Peter Zelinka and Richard Vanco, leaving bronze for French crew François Teroin and Luke Epain.
Unfortunately, the challenge of defending their world title has become a failure for Martyna Mikołajczak and Monika Kowalska in lightweight women’s double sculls. The Polish crew were placed 4th. Italians Federica Cesarini and Valentina Rodini secured the championship. Silver medal went to Russians Anastasija Lebedeva and Anastasiia Ianina while Germans Kathrin Morbe and Katrin Thoma finished 3rd.
In the race of the lightweight men’s quadruple, the Polish crew (Remigiusz Biernacki, Dawid Kamiński, Łukasz Stasiewicz and Rafał Nalewalski) was unbeatable and secured the gold. The silver medal went to the Italian crew (Pietro Cappelli, Emanuele Giacosa, Giovanni Ficara, Alberto Seyssel d’Aix), the French team (Etienne Girerd, Benoit Robin, Augustin Mouterde, Alexis Guertinot) finished in the third place.
In the men’s double, the victory was claimed by Rio de Janeiro Olympians Jakub Podrazil and Lukas Helesic (CZE). Silver medals went to New Zealanders Corey McCaffrey and Louis van Velthooven. Bronze went to Australians Angus Moore and Nathan Bowden.
A close battle took place in the women’s double were the Polish and Italian teams raced for the gold. 200m before the finish line, Ludovica Serafini and Carmela Pappalardo (ITA) rowed away from Anna Wierzbowska and Maria Wierzobowska (POL) to pocket the gold. British crew Anastasia Chitty and Samantha Courty settled for the bronze.
In the men’s quadruple, the gold medal went to the British team (Oliver Knight, William Warr, Thomas Ford & Morgan Hellen). They were followed by the Italians (Luca Lovisolo, Jacopo Mancini, Davide Mumolo, Stefano Morganti), while the bronze medal went to the Polish crew (Patryk Przekopski, Michał Szpakowski, Robert Fuchs, Mateusz Wilangowski).
In the women’s quadruple the Germans (Clara Redetzki, Friederike Reissig, Charlotte Reinhardt, Conastanze Duell) took the gold. Silver went to Cecilia Bellati, Benedetta Bellio, Stefania Gobbi and Kimi English Hawke. The third crew to cross the finish line were the British rowers Rebecca Edwards, Annie Withers, Catherine Sheehan and Gillian Cooper.
The women’s singles World University Champion title went to German Julia Leiding, who was ahead of Austrians Lisa Farthofer and Irish Monika Dukarska.
The men’s single final was dominated by this year’s junior World Champion Michal Plocek (CZE). Dominik Czaja won another medal for Poland, Maximilian Fraenkel secured third place.
The medal rivalry in the women’s double sculls was won by Czechs Lenka Antosova and Kristyna Fleissnerova. The silver medal was taken by Olga Michałkiewicz and Katarzyna Zillmann (POL). Bronze went to Rosa Bas and Roos De Jong (NED).
In men’s double sculls the world champion title went to Germans Timo Piontek and Stephan Krueger. The Polish crew (Dawid Grabowski and Adam Wicenciak) ended second. Third place was claimed by Czechs Adam Sterbak and Matyas Klang.
In the men’s eight race, the first place was secured by the British rowers. Second place was taken by the French. The podium was completed with the Polish crew.