All 51 of the rowers taking part came home with at least one medal as Great Britain dominated the European team competition, recording the biggest winning margin ever – 82 points clear of second-placed Italy – and topping both the men’s and women’s standings as well.

Robin Dowell, Lead Coach for the GBRT Junior Team, said: “What an amazing weekend, I am very happy with how it all went and congratulations to all who contributed to the success.

“The rowers’ professionalism and commitment to each step of the process meant that we had the right people at the event and they were able to deliver their best performances thanks to the support of the coaches and support staff.

“It was very much a team effort. Everyone played to their strengths and focused on the positives, which was particularly impressive.

“There is a lot of potential in this team and quite a few of the rowers will still be in the Junior ranks next year, so there is plenty more to come from them.”

Mark Wilkinson, Team Manager in Poznan, added: “It was quite phenomenal really and exceeded all of our expectations but it was well deserved because of how the rowers and coaches approached the event.

“There was such a strong team spirit and that support raised the level because they were all racing for each other. It is the best team I have ever been involved with, in terms of both athletes and support staff.”

The women’s eight of Celia Matthews, Kirstin Giddy, Beth Willford-Dutton, Flo Donald, Lauren Kay, Isabel Rundle, Lydia Currie, Danielle Semple and Autumn MacKay set the tone by winning Friday’s traditional opening race in impressive style.

All of the other crews raced for medals on both Saturday and Sunday, with Matthews and Giddy going on to collect two more gold medals in the women’s pair.

That achievement was matched by Lottie Orr and Semple in the women’s double scull, while Emma Andrews secured gold in the single on Sunday having won silver 24 hours earlier.

The women’s four of Donald, Kay, Rundle and Currie won bronze and silver, while the women’s quadruple scull of Hattie Orr, Meg Saunders, Lucy Edmunds and Katie King-Smith improved from fourth on Saturday to silver on Sunday.

GB’s men were in magnificent form throughout the regatta, finishing on the podium in every final.

Double gold went to the men’s four of Marcus Jonas, Henry Jones, Callum Urquhart and Alexander Wythe; the coxed four of Luke Robinson, Will Carey, Dent Goodman, Tobias Schroder and cox Rory Cruickshank; and the quad of Harry Oliver, Ben Simon, Callum Sullivan and Tom Smith.

Also topping the podium twice was the men’s eight of Henry Blois-Brooke, Tom Long, Barney Fox, Paddy George, Tom Wiblin, Thomas Phelps, Alfred Jacquemot, Victor Olsen and cox Charlie Marcus.

The men’s pair of Will Allen and Alex Williams won gold on Saturday and silver on Sunday, there was a brace of silver medals for Sam Champion and Matt Haywood in the double, and Oliver Costley improved from bronze on Saturday to silver on Sunday in the single.

Those results meant Britain won both the men’s and women’s competitions, as well as the overall trophy for the 13th time in the Coupe’s 31-year history. The 2017 edition will take place in Hazewinkel, Belgium.

Next up for the GB Rowing Team Juniors is the Junior World Rowing Championships. They are taking place in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, from 21-28 August alongside the Senior and U23 World Championships.

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The 36 rowers will form part of a 113-strong GB contingent competing on the Willem-Alexander Baan rowing course that week, with the World Senior and World U23 Championships taking place at the same time. The Finals for the World Juniors will be held on Sunday, 28 August, with the Senior and U23s completing their programmes over the previous two days.

Performance Director Sir David Tanner, who will be Overall Team Manager in Rotterdam, said: “Early signs are that we have a promising team this year and I am looking forward to seeing our Juniors in action in Rotterdam under their new Lead Coach, Robin Dowell, who coached the gold medal Junior men’s quad in Rio last year.”

Britain will be looking to build on last year’s successful World Juniors in Rio de Janeiro, which doubled as the Test Event for this summer’s Olympic Games and saw GB win three medals.

The standout success was a first gold of all-time for a GB men’s quadruple scull at a World Championship.  Glasgow Schools RC’s Josh Armstrong was part of that victorious crew and will be looking to defend the title after being named in the quad once again.

He is joined this time by James Mawby (Nottingham RC), Nick Plaut (Westminster School BC) and Tom Digby (Abingdon School BC), the latter having been selected for a third successive World Juniors.  Tom has won two World Junior silver medals, in the coxed four in 2014 and the coxless four last year.

Rory Harris (Pangbourne College BC) and George Lawton (Northwich RC) will contest the double scull, having rowed in the same boat at the Coupe de la Jeunesse last year.

All of the men’s four – Freddie Davidson (St Paul’s School BC), Oswald Stocker (Westminster School BC), Oscar Lindsay (Eton College BC) and James Plaut, Nick’s twin brother – are returning for a second successive World Juniors.

Cox Vlad Saigau (St Paul’s School) also competed in Rio and this year coxes a men’s eight featuring Eton College BC quartet Charlie Pearson, Patrick Adams, Benedict Aldous and Felix Drinkall plus four rowers stepping up from the 2015 Coupe squad – Oskar Arzt-Jones (Westminster School BC), Dom Jackson (Hampton School BC), Oliver Ayres (Molesey BC) and Seb Benzecry (St Paul’s School BC).

Two more Coupe team members from 2015, Bertie Woodward-Fisher (St Paul’s School BC) and cox George Cozens (Eton College BC), have been selected in the coxed four along with Seb Newman (Shiplake College) and Westminster School BC’s Alex Green and Reginald Mitchell.

Newcomers Adam Teece (Abingdon School BC) and Matthew Rowe (Royal Shrewsbury School BC) will compete in the men’s pair.

In the women’s team, Alex Rankin (Glasgow Schools RC) has been named in the four for a second successive year, having reached the final in Rio. She is joined this time by club colleague India Somerside and Gloucester RC duo Bryony Lawrence and Frances Russell.

Hope Cessford (Durham ARC) and Lauren Irwin (Chester-le-Street ARC) will make up the pair.

Reading RC’s Annabel Stevens and Sheyi Blackett are joined in the quad by Lola Anderson (Surbiton High School BC) and Lucy Glover (Warrington RC), who both represented GB at the Coupe in 2015.

Click on the expander box below to see the full crew list.

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Great Britain – who will field 51 rowers in 13 boats – has won the European team competition, with an emphasis on U17s, on 12 previous occasions, the last time being in 2013.

A number of GB’s current Olympians, including London 2012 silver medallist Chris Bartley, cut their teeth at the Coupe as their first international rowing experience.

Last year’s edition in Szeged, Hungary, saw GB win the women’s competition and finish runners-up to Italy in both the men’s and overall standings after claiming an impressive 16 medals in total.

Robin Dowell, Lead Coach for the GBRT Junior Team, said: “I’m looking forward to seeing how this team performs, as for many it is an important stepping stone to an international rowing career beyond the junior level.

“There is plenty of potential within the team and that, combined with the experience of those who have been to the Coupe previously, should lead to some exciting racing.”

Lydia Currie won two silvers and a bronze with the women’s four and eight at the 2015 Coupe, and will once again double up in those boats in Poznan.

She will be joined in the four by fellow Headington School Oxford BC rower Isabel Rundle, Flo Donald (Lea RC) and Lauren Kay (Henley RC).

That quartet will team up with Celia Matthews and Kirstin Giddy (both Lady Eleanor Holles BC), Beth Willford-Dutton (Northwich BC), Danielle Semple (Headington School Oxford BC) and cox Autumn MacKay (Bedford Modern School BC) for the women’s eight final, which will once again provide the traditional Friday evening opening to the regatta.

Giddy and Matthews will also race in the women’s pair, while Semple goes in the women’s double scull with Henley RC’s Lottie Orr.

Hattie Orr (Shiplake Vikings RC), Lottie’s older sister, is named in the women’s quadruple scull along with Meg Saunders (Tideway Scullers School), Lucy Edmunds (York City RC) and Katie King-Smith (Headington School Oxford BC).

Putney High School’s Emma Andrews, who was part of the eight last year, will compete in the women’s single scull this time round.

Two of the 2015 men’s quad will return for this year’s Coupe, with The Windsor Boys’ School BC’s Harry Oliver named in the boat alongside club colleague Tom Smith, Ben Simon (Marlow RC) and Callum Sullivan (Globe RC).

Isle of Ely RC’s Sam Champion moves into the men’s double this year, joining Nottingham RC’s Matt Haywood, while Oliver Costley of Claires Court School BC goes in the single.

In the sweep squad, Westminster School BC’s Will Allen and Alex Williams make up the pair, while fellow rower Henry Jones is named alongside Marcus Jonas (Tideway Scullers School), Callum Urquhart (Glasgow Schools RC) and Alexander Wythe (Winchester College BC) in the four.

Winchester College BC is well represented in the men’s coxed four through Luke Robinson, Dent Goodman and Tobias Schroder. They are joined by Will Carey (Shiplake College BC) and cox Rory Cruickshank (Norwich School BC).

Completing the GB squad is the men’s eight of Henry Blois-Brooke (Shiplake College BC), Tom Long (Hampton School BC), Barney Fox, Paddy George (both Royal Shrewsbury School BC), Tom Wilbin (Abingdon School BC), Thomas Phelps (Latymer Upper School BC), Alfred Jacquemot (St Paul’s School BC), Victor Olsen (King’s College School BC) and cox Charlie Marcus (Hampton School BC).

The competition format sees all boat classes, apart from the women’s eight, race on both Saturday and Sunday.

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Frances Russell, Bryony Lawrence, Alex Rankin and India Somerside were impressive as they won the junior women’s four final in 7:25.41 on Saturday. They were also first home in the Division 1 race on Sunday after leading from start to finish.

The junior men’s eight of James Plaut, Bertie Woodward-Fisher, Marcus Jonas, Benedict Aldous, Oliver Ayres, Dom Jackson, Oskar Arzt-Jones, Seb Benzecry and cox Vlad Saigau won silver on Saturday afternoon.

Plaut, Aldous, Ayres, Benzecry and Saigau also won bronze on Sunday when they were joined in the eight by Felix Drinkall, Oswald Stocker, Casper Woods and Freddie Davidson.

That was GB’s second bronze medal of the day, adding to the one won by Lola Anderson, Georgie Grant, Sheyi Blackett and Lucy Glover in the junior women’s quadruple sculls.

Further gold medals were secured in Sunday’s divisional races by Hattie Orr and Meg Saunders in the junior women’s pair; Jonas and Arzt-Jones in the junior men’s pair; and Adam Teece, Woodward-Fisher, Jackson and Matthew Rowe in the junior men’s four.

The junior men’s quad of Nick Plaut, Josh Armstrong, Tom Digby and George Lawton narrowly missed out on a medal in their final on Sunday, while there were also fourth-placed finishes on Saturday for Drinkall, Jackson, Stocker and Davidson in the junior men’s four plus Teece and Rowe in the junior men’s pair.

Nick Plaut and George Lawton also reached the final of the junior men’s double, placing fifth.

Robin Dowell, Lead Coach for the GBRT Junior Team, said: “I am happy to have seen some of our potential World Championship athletes racing against some of the other nations. This puts us in a very good position moving forwards.”

GB Junior Team Manager John Layng added: “Overall we were pleased with the standard of our crews, there was lots of promise.

“It was the biggest junior regatta that the Munich organisers have ever run, featuring 850 competitors from 15 nations, so it was a really good test for us.

“It was important for us to see how they fared against the best in Europe and also for the rowers to gain more international racing experience as we look ahead to the summer.”

Layng thanked the rowers’ clubs and schools for their support. The youngsters are now back in training domestically for the National Schools Regatta and the Henley Royal Regatta before the final GB Junior Trials take place at Nottingham’s National Water Sport Centre from July 7-11.

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Among those competing will be nine rowers – including two medallists in Josh Armstrong and Tom Digby – who represented Britain at the 2015 World Junior Championships in Rio de Janeiro, which doubled as a test event for this summer’s Olympic Games.

Glasgow Schools RC’s Armstrong helped the men’s quad to a historic World Junior gold last summer, while Tom Digby of Abingdon School won silver with the men’s four in Rio and Westminster School’s Nick Plaut raced in the eight.

Among the 14 male sweep rowers are James Plaut (Westminster School) – Nick’s twin brother – and Freddie Davidson (St Paul’s School), who were both in the World Junior eight that reached the A final last year.

Further World Junior experience is provided by Oswald Stocker (Westminster School) and cox Vlad Saigau (St Paul’s School), who were in the men’s coxed four in Rio.

In the women’s squad are two members of the 2015 World Junior four, finalists in Rio, Georgina Grant (Molesey BC) and Alex Rankin (Glasgow Schools RC). They have been selected for sculling and sweep respectively in Munich.

The Munich regatta, which annually attracts nearly 2,000 young rowers from across the world, is the first major junior competition of 2016 and provides the GB team with the chance to gain more racing experience as they start building towards this summer’s World Juniors in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

The team was selected after a series of Junior Trials that featured hundreds of teenage rowers from across Britain.

Robin Dowell, Lead Coach for the GBRT Junior Team, said: “[Team manager] John Layng and I were pleased with the Trials.

“It was great to look at new and exciting combinations of athletes within the system and challenge them to step up to a world-class level of performance.”

Joining world-finalist Rankin in the women’s sweep team in Munich are Gloucester RC duo Frances Russell and Bryony Lawrence, plus India Somerside (Glasgow Schools RC) who is one of several team members to have competed in the annual J16 match against France last summer.

Lucy Glover (Warrington RC) and Lola Anderson (Surbiton High School BC), double gold-medallists in the women’s quad at the 2015 Coupe de la Jeunesse, are in the sculling squad along with Sheyi Blackett (Reading RC), Hattie Orr (Shiplake Vikings RC) and Meg Saunders (Tideway Scullers School).

All eight rowers in the men’s sculling squad have previous international experience.

Sam Champion (Isle of Ely), Harry Oliver (The Windsor Boys’ School), Rory Harris (Pangbourne College) and George Lawton (Northwich RC) were all in the Coupe team last year, the latter two winning silver medals in the men’s double, and James Mawby (Nottingham RC) represented GB in the annual J16 match against France in 2014.

In the men’s sweep squad Dom Jackson (Hampton School), Oskar Arzt-Jones (Westminster School), Bertie Woodward-Fisher (St Paul’s School), Ollie Ayres (Molesey BC) and Seb Benzecry (St Paul’s School) all won medals at the Coupe in 2015, while Casper Woods (St Paul’s School), Felix Drinkall (Eton College) and Benedict Aldous (Eton College) have J16 experience.

Completing the men’s sweep squad are GB debutants Marcus Jonas (Tideway Scullers’ School), Adam Teece (Abingdon School) and Matthew Rowe (Shrewsbury).

GB won four medals at last year’s International Junior Regatta in Munich – silver for both the men’s and women’s quads, plus bronze for the women’s double and men’s eight.

Click on the ‘crew list’ expander box below to see the team in full.

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