Fast Times on Day 1 of the 2024 World Rowing Championships

It was a very fast start to the eight days of competition at the 2024 World Rowing Senior, U23 and U19 Championships as three World Best Times were broken with several others came close in the first of the heats for the senior and U23 boat classes on Sunday August 18.

Conditions were favorable, although not exceptional but it was clear that an exciting day of racing was in store from the offset. A double Olympian, aged just 21, Caetano Horta Pombo was the first to come close to breaking a World Best Time in the heat of the U23 lightweight men’s single sculls. His time was 6:48.30, less than two seconds behind the current World Best Time.

As the afternoon session got started, the wind had picked up slightly, allowing faster racing conditions. In the second race of the afternoon, the first World Best Time of the day was broken when Italy’s Niels Torre, in the senior lightweight men’s single sculls, with the Italian sculler clocking 6:39.56 – beating the previous time which was 6:41.03. Double Olympic Champion Paul O’Donovan raced in the final heat and clocked 6:41.98, so an exciting race is likely when the two of them meet in the final.

Both members of Greece’s U23 lightweight women’s double sculls raced at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games just a couple of weeks ago, but in different boats. Dimitra Kontou and Evangelia Anastasiadou have been reunited in St Catharines to defend their title as World Rowing U23 Champions – and it certainly looks likely. Today, they knocked a staggering 8.65 seconds of their own World Best Time which they set last year.

Also straight off the back of the Olympic Games is Germany’s Alexandra Foester who is here racing in the U23 women’s single sculls, and also broke the World U23 Best Time. Beating fellow Olympian Aurelia-Maxima Janzen of Switzerland, who she last raced in the B Final in Paris, Foester’s time of 7:19.52 smashed the previous World U23 Best Time set in 2022 by more than five seconds.

There was huge excitement for the packed grandstands in the penultimate boat class of the day when the U23 women’s eights took to the water. Heat one was intense and the USA and Australia crossed the line simultaneously and clocked exactly the same time – 6:01.73, which was just outside the current World U23 Best Time of 6:00.13. The photo finish review went in the favour of the USA which secured them direct progression to the final. Great Britain won the second heat in 6:05.06.

The last race of the day was a preliminary race for lanes for the U23 men’s eight. It was all change in the second half of the race as the USA overhauled Australia to take the win while Great Britain came through from fifth at 1,000m to finish second.

Due to the forecast adverse weather conditions, the World Rowing Executive Committee has decided to change the racing programme which means there will be no racing Monday 19 August. Racing for the 2024 World Rowing Championships is scheduled to resume on Tuesday 20 August and an updated schedule has been published on the World Rowing website.