Men’s Pairs (BM2-) & Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (BLW2x)

Men’s Pairs (BM2-) - Final A

Greece came into this final as favourites. Georgios Tziallas of Greece has won it for two years in a row. With new partner, Stergios Papachristos, Tziallas looked to be set for another world champion title. But it was Ivan Ostojic and Aleksandar Radovic of Serbia who had the lead at the start.

By the middle of the race Tziallas and Papachristos had pushed into the lead but there was very little in it with Adrian Juhasz and Bela Simon of Hungary as well as the Serbians hot on their heels. Greece tried to break free but Juhasz and Simon hung doggedly on.

Finally Greece had worn the opposition out. Coming through the final 500m of the race, Tziallas and Papachristos looked fresh and strong, rating 38. Hungary kept their stroke rate up but were too far back to catch the Greeks and too far ahead of Serbia to be concerned. Greece crossed the line to set a new World Best Time of 6:25.34. Tziallas became a three-time under 23 champion. Greece retained the title.

Results: GRE, HUN, SRB, BLR, GER, ITA

Stergios Papachristos, Georgios Tziallas (GRE) – Gold
“We are very happy. Especially since we came fourth twice before these championships. And finally we are on the podium and even better on the top.” Stergios Papachristos

Adrian Juhasz, Bela Simon (HUN) – Silver
“Our goal for this regatta was to be on the podium, but after the semifinal where the Greeks looked tired we though that we could win. But today they were stronger than us and we were not able to follow them at 1000m. But we are very happy because it was our best race ever.” Bela Simon.

Ivan Ostojic, Aleksandar Radovic (SRB) – Bronze
“ The start was very good, but on the last 100 meters our opponents were very fast. But we are very happy about third place. Tomorrow we go home and we will celebrate our success in the disco.“ Ivan Ostojic

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (BLW2x) - Final A

Last year Greece’s Triantafyllia Kalampoka and Christina Giazitzidou finished second. This year they stepped up to first with a show of maturity that saw them row a very even-splitted race. Kalampoka and Giazitzidou took a flying start and dared the rest of the field to catch up.

Russia’s Natalia Varfolomeeva and Anna Yasykova tried their best to close the gap and for half of the race they kept their boat overlapping with Greece. Then Germany’s Lena Mueller and Julia Kroeger pushed through to get their nose ahead of Russia. They then tried to go after the Greeks. Last year Kroeger won this event and today she raced with new partner, Mueller.

Coming into the final sprint Germany decided to leave the Russians in the dust. Greece, rating 37, held the Germans off. The first and second results from 2008 reverse themselves.

Results: GRE, GER, RUS, SWE, FRA, AUT

Triantafyllia Kalampoko, Christina Giazitzidou (GRE) – Gold
“It was a difficult race. Our goal was to win and this is great. It is a nice regatta and the weather is fine. Now we will go to Poznan.” Triantafyllia Kalampoko.

Lena Mueller, Julia Kroeger (GER) – Silver
“We managed to get into the race quite well, then we had a bit of a weak part. It was really cool after the 1000m. It was fun and this was what we had in us today. We will be back in Poznan in the lightweight quad.“ Julia Kroeger

Natalia Varfolomeeva, Anna Yasykova (RUS) – Bronze
“We are happy that we have a medal and we liked these championships“ Anna Yaskova

. And here is the rest of it.