Parisian Old Squall
Fourteen gold medals and an Olympic prelude
Words: Tom Ransley
PHOTOGRAPHY BENEDICT TUFNELL
The 2023 World Rowing Under 19 Championships gave us a glimpse of things to come – the event served as a test for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, but hopefully the weather gods might be a little kinder next year.
Weather wreaked havoc at the Under 19s event and the five day racing schedule was soon squeezed into three. The World Rowing wizards (Executive Council) hastily rehashed their plans and a one-day delay to the start was followed by tighter race intervals and the dispatching of some semi-finals to allow Sunday’s A-Finals to be moved forward to Saturday. It meant direct routes to finals were at a premium as many athletes had to deliver repeat, same day 2km efforts. Impressive stuff.