Have a look at the lest Versa Challenge race at day 2 of the 2024 World Rowing Indoor Championships presented by Concept2.
Joel Naukkarinen went out hard, instantly extending his lead over the field, and was able to sit back and watch the field battle for the rest of the placings. The big Finn wins his second Versa Challenge in style, after leading from the first event.
Cameron Buchan is second, also opening the gap a little on those behind him. Maciej Zawojski was involved in a great battle for bronze with Anders Meskestad Jacobsen, with the Norwegian hanging in there just a few metres ahead of the Pole for the first half of the race. Zawojski drew level with about 800m to go and then stretched ahead, but could not catch Buchan.
It's gold to Naukkarinen, silver to Buchan for Great Britain, and bronze for Poland's Zawojski.
Joel Naukkarinen went out hard, instantly extending his lead over the field, and was able to sit back and watch the field battle for the rest of the placings. The big Finn wins his second Versa Challenge in style, after leading from the first event.
Cameron Buchan is second, also opening the gap a little on those behind him. Maciej Zawojski was involved in a great battle for bronze with Anders Meskestad Jacobsen, with the Norwegian hanging in there just a few metres ahead of the Pole for the first half of the race. Zawojski drew level with about 800m to go and then stretched ahead, but could not catch Buchan.
It's gold to Naukkarinen, silver to Buchan for Great Britain, and bronze for Poland's Zawojski.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 There is, this is it, this is the podium places.
00:03 The top three finishers in this race will be our top three finishers in the Versa overall.
00:08 And in the blink of an eye, we are off and we are out of the blocks.
00:12 Joel Naccarinen with that huge advantage there, 10 meters over Cam Buchan.
00:16 And Cam Buchan will know that he has to go at least one better.
00:20 11 meters ahead of Joel Naccarinen will secure him the Versa title on his debut year.
00:27 But as we look here at the faces, it all seems quite relaxed in comparison to the previous event,
00:34 which was all about sprinting, Natasha.
00:36 This almost looks in slow motion here as they try and set themselves up to not blow,
00:41 because blowing will throw away the championships for them.
00:45 Absolutely. I think the key here will be looking at those 10 meter differences between them.
00:51 If they are tied, being that they are in the same, you know, 10 meter deficit with Matthew Seavey and Angie Tomlinson,
00:59 both in the 70s there back, it'll be really key not to lose that 10 meters you have on the next person in line.
01:08 Yeah, we can see that. Look, as we go down the board, so Joel Naccarinen has opened up almost 20 meters
01:15 over that initial 10 meters he had, but look at the gap closing between Matchaj Zawalski and Anders Meskerad Jakobsen.
01:22 That's closed from 10 meters down to something more like four or five meters here, Natasha.
01:27 So I think we could see these positions starting to chop and change within the leaderboard.
01:32 I think so as well. Looking at Zach Fowle, he expelled a lot of energy earlier in the challenges earlier today.
01:40 So he is only about seven or eight meters in front of Matthew Seavey, and we'll see if Matthew takes advantage of that.
01:46 But he is currently very close to Angie Tomlinson, so that'll be a bit of a matchup to watch when it comes to figuring out
01:53 who comes in those fifth, sixth and seventh positions.
01:57 Magic Zawalski looking very strong here. He's actually only four meters back from Jakobsen,
02:03 so we'll see if he increases his lead there or not. He's holding a 1.34 at a 33 stroke rate.
02:13 But Joel Naccarinen looking really in control here.
02:17 Yeah, he is looking really in control here. So I think all he needs to do is keep his arm nice and straight and hold off Kambukin,
02:25 which he's managed to open up that gap, but has he done it too soon and too early?
02:30 We've seen our first place change there. Angie Tomlinson has managed to get ahead of Matthew Seavey from the initial rankings
02:38 and doing it at a lower stroke rating as well. 28 strokes a minute. Very impressive here.
02:43 As we come towards a thousand meters, a halfway point here, a check-in point for them to assess, see how they're feeling
02:51 and see how close they are to that podium for the Versa Challenge 2024.
02:57 Naccarinen holding 36 meters of deficit in silver medal position. His speed still much lower.
03:03 You can see there 0.1, 0.2 of a kilometer per hour slower. And actually, it's almost like he heard me there,
03:09 Natasha, because he's pushed up now to trying to push on ahead of Joel in this second half of the race, perhaps his race plan.
03:17 And we've talked so much about these athletes and how they're different in terms of sprint versus power versus speed.
03:23 And I think you really see that in that last graphic about stroke rate. There's a huge diversification across this field.
03:30 So it's interesting to see how each of these athletes have chosen to row this race.
03:35 Remember, even though Joel Naccarinen is 40 meters ahead now, there are still places to be won.
03:43 There are still podiums to be a part of. So Jakobsen, I expect him to really bring it up as we approach the 500 meter marker,
03:51 because it's within his grasp to move up into that third place position.
03:57 And definitely he should stay strong through that. Magic Zywowski is looking really good.
04:03 A 1.33 split, very impressive for this point in the race.
04:09 And there's Matthew Seebe staying long and strong in these strokes here. He's about 34 strokes a minute.
04:15 1.34, he'll have to get that down to around 1.33 to try to overtake Zach Fowle as they're toe to toe right now going into the last 500 meters.
04:27 Yeah, this is so interesting seeing all these places shuffle out.
04:30 And this will be the record in your history.
04:34 It will be this result which will determine where you were in the Bursa Challenge 2024.
04:39 So all of them jostling for position all the way down the rankings. Seebe overtaking Fowle for sixth.
04:45 We've then got Zywowski still ahead of Jakobsen, who's allowed that to slip away, that podium place,
04:52 to allow the Polish athlete to creep through and get himself onto the podium.
04:57 36 meters still for Cam Bucan in second position. He's so static, he just can't change that deficit, no matter how hard he tries.
05:06 And with only 240 meters to go for Joel Naccarinen, time is running out for anyone to swoop in and take that title away from him.
05:16 And I think with every stroke that he takes, he's now even pushing out the meters on Cam Bucan and almost writing his name on that trophy.
05:24 As we speak, Natasha, I'd be pretty confident if I was world rowing starting to carve in the name Joel Naccarinen.
05:31 It's incredible just how strong these athletes are. It's impossible not to be cheering them on right now.
05:38 Doing so well. Less than 10 strokes left in his race.
05:43 Joel Naccarinen knows he's accomplished something great. He will be our two-time champion.
05:48 You see the fist bump there. But Cam Bucan is doing really well as well.
05:54 He's got his last three strokes. They know there's 10 strokes left and they are completed the Versa Challenge.
06:02 So there's huge cheering, I'm sure, in the O2 Universum. Right now, huge rounds of applause.
06:08 What a finish from these athletes. A couple close finishes as well. And let's take a look at those times.
06:15 5.46. Isn't that incredible? After doing all of the different Versa Challenges,
06:21 we had our top five under six minutes for this.
06:25 [BLANK_AUDIO]