The World Rowing Junior Championships has just finished. Rowing at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games is due to start on 15 August. And the European junior regatta the Coupe de la Jeunesse has recently been raced.
Raced in Hazewinkel, Belgium, the Coupe was won overall by Italy. Amongst the boys Great Britain was the top country and for the girls Italy came out the best. Twelve countries participated with the biggest squads coming from France, Great Britain and Italy.
World Rowing talked to Coupe secretary general, Christian Stofer, about this year’s event.
World Rowing: How many athletes were competing this year?
Christian Stofer: The entry was slightly less than in previous years, especially in the girls’ events, the entry was smaller than before. It nevertheless had good participation and it shows the strength of the Coupe de la Jeunesse as an important international event for the juniors who did not make it to the junior worlds yet. The smaller entry of some federations is due to financial reasons.
WR: Do you know if any of the competitors are going on to the Youth Olympic Games or went to the World Rowing Junior Championships?
CS: The Coupe is held the weekend before the junior worlds and it is in the rules that Coupe competitors only attend the Junior Worlds as spare rowers. To my knowledge no competitors for the YOG, but it was not discussed.
WR: How were the weather conditions for racing over the regatta?
CS: The weather conditions in Hazewinkel were great. No rain and always a little bit of sunshine with a light tail wind breeze. All the races were held as scheduled and athletes and coaches found fair conditions on the very good water stretch in Hazewinkel. The Coupe is run in a two-day format. The junior girls’ eight is the only race on the Friday. The girls’ eight made up of rowers from other boat types (1x, 2-, 2x, 4x). On the Saturday morning, heats take place and the finals of day 1 are on Saturday afternoon. The regatta starts again with heats on early Sunday morning and finals on day 2 (Sunday) are held from over lunch time.
WR: Were there any surprise results?
CS: Races were extremely close this year. On the Saturday, only 0.6s separated the top three single scullers on the finish line. We saw a very strong Italian team, with an even stronger girls’ squad. This helped the Italian team to win the overall Coupe trophy. Italy hindered Great Britain in completing the triple as GB had won in Cork 2008 and Vichy 2009. The spread of countries winning medals and evening winning races was good and there was a really good atmosphere. The two-day format allows crews to restart on the Sunday if Saturday did not go so well. This is a very good characteristic of the Coupe and athletes have the chance to win medals on both days. There were some impressive improvements in performances from the Saturday sessions to the Sunday sessions.
WR: Did any athletes win more than one event?
CS: Some athletes did win their events on both days, but to my knowledge no athlete could win two events on one day.
WR: Who was the youngest competitor?
CS: The youngest competitor was the coxswain of the Italian boys’ and girls’ eight. Luca Benco (ITA) was only born in 1996 and was the youngest competitor. He won two gold medals with his crews. There were several competitors who were born in 1995. One of them was Valentina Calabrese, the daughter of former Olympic medallist Giovanni Galabrese of Italy. Calabrese rowed in the girls’ quad and won the gold medal on both days. She was coached by her mother Paola Grizzetti.
WR: Was there anything new in the programme this year?
CS: The programme saw for the first time national anthems and flags during the victory ceremonies. After 25 years of the Coupe de la Jeunesse and on its 26th edition this year in Hazewinkel, it was time to introduce this protocol update. It gave the victory ceremonies more dignity and was highly appreciated by the crowd and the athletes.
WR: What was the feedback like on the event?
CS: The event was very well organised by the Belgian Organising Committee. The event ran smoothly and no major problems occurred. Many team managers, coaches and athletes thanked the OC and the Coupe Executive Committee for the event.
WR: Where is the Coupe in 2011?
CS: The next Coupe de la Jeunesse will be held from 29-31 July 2011 in Linz-Ottensheim, Austria. Next year’s Organising Committee was present in Hazewinkel with more than 20 key members of the OC to show people their plans for the event and to liaise with team managers. Horst Anselm, President of the Organising Committee, was handed over the Coupe flag during the closing ceremony from Geoffrey Brook, the President of the Coupe de la Jeunesse.
Coupe countries: Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Great Britain, Switzerland, Hungary and Poland.
Πηγή: World Rowing
http://www.worldrowing.com/display/modules/news/dspNews.php?newid=324916
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