Today marked the first day of racing at this year’s Munich International Regatta for the GB junior team, who came up against tough international competition, ranging from the likes of hosts Germany and their European neighbours Switzerland, Poland, Austria and Croatia to name just a few, as well as athletes from further afield, such as Japan. The 31-strong squad for Great Britain got off to a more than encouraging start.
Following a convincing win in their heat, the first final of the day saw Lottie Orr and Georgie Robinson Ranger- both of Henley RC- take fourth place in the A final of JW2x, with their younger and less experienced teammates, Emily Keen and Izzy Lack, finishing a promising third in the B final. On the boys’ side, James Cartwright and Jake Offiler finished second in the B final of JM2x in a time that would have put them fourth in the A final.
The junior women’s coxless four of Olivia Caesar, Issy Jonsson, Celia Matthews and Mary Wright were second in their heat to earn a spot in the A final, where they finished fifth. The junior men’s coxless fours faced a huge category, with six heats racing this morning to determine spots in the finals. Dom Brown, Paddy Criag, Archie McChesney and Matthew Heywood found themselves in a tough heat this morning to finish fourth. The other British crew of Jake Swann, Robert Powell, Connor Sheridan and Dominic Sullivan took a convincing win in their heat and then went on to take a fantastic win in the A final.
The junior men’s scullers also came up against a large field this morning, with four GB scullers amongst thirty other entries this morning in the JM1x. Bryn Ellery and Joseph Adamson finished second and third respectively in their heats. Joseph went on to finish fourth in the afternoon’s C final, whilst Bryn performed well in the B final where he finished second; a rapid B final at that, with the top placers putting in times quick enough to put them safely into the top half of the A final. Today’s standout performances in the sculling, however, were from Maidenhead’s Victor Kleshnev and Tideway Scullers School’s Laurence Joss, whose wins in the heats put them both through to the A final. Laurence finished a very respectable fourth in the final, with Victor putting in an excellent scull to take the silver medal behind Germany’s Mortiz Wolff-the reigning silver medallist in the JM1x from last year’s Junior World Championships in Trakai. This is undoubtedly a very encouraging result.
Molesey boys Theo Marlow and Mikey Dalton won their heat in the JM2- before finishing in the silver medal position behind Croatian brothers Anton and Patrik Loncaric. Could this be the next generation of Sinkovic brothers? Only time will tell. But an excellent performance for the British pair nonetheless.
Both the junior men’s and women’s quads found themselves in the top spots also. The JW 4x of Izzy Lack, Rhiannon Morgan, Emily Keen and Natasha Strudwick finished second in their race, whilst Joseph Adamson, Edoardo Marshall, Elliot Kemp, Jake Offiler won their JM4x race.
The JM 8+ of Jake Swann, Patrick Criag, Max Shakespeare, Robert Powell, Archie McChesney, Max Ridgwell, Dominic Brown, Matthew Heywood and cox Scott Cockle rounded up a successful day of racing, winning the last race of the day five seconds clear of the next crew.
Tomorrow, Lottie Orr and Georgie Robinson Ranger hop into the quad alongside Rhiannon Morgan and Natasha Strudwick, so it will be interesting to see how the henley girls’ experience can help this crew. The coaches have made a similar decision on the junior men’s side, putting Junior Worlds silver medalists in the quad Victor Kleshnev and Bryn Ellery into a crew with James Cartwright and Jake Offiler. The JM8+ tomorrow will still be guided by Coupe cox Scott Cockle who will now be joined by another four Coupe athletes from last year in Theo Darlow, Mikey Dalton, Robert Powell and Connor Sheridan as well as the only Worlds athlete in the sweep squad at Munich, Archie McChesney. Their experience will surely benefit the rest of their crew tomorrow. The majority of remaining athletes will then race the small boats, with the JW four splitting into two pairs and the scullers testing some new doubles combinations.
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