US crews captured two more medals on Friday at the World Championships, finishing in silver medal position in both the Men’s and Women’s U23 Eights. Great Britain was first in both events.
In the Men’s race, the US was first to the 500m mark, and the US and GB crews began moving away from the field. At the midway point of the race, the GB crew began to walk away, and the US could not follow, finishing second by about a length.
Final of the Men’s U23 Eight
The result marked their fifth consecutive silver medal, but judging from the reaction when the crew landed on the recovery dock, they were not disappointed with the result.
“The race was good; I think we left it all out there,” said stroke Sam Sullivan. “I think it’s just one of those days. We showed we had the speed last Sunday, but it just didn’t happen today. We did what we could.”
USA U23 Men’s Eight
On the podium, the flag the US crew held was the military flag of bowman Blake Vogel’s grandfather, who served in the US Army in the Korean War.
In the women’s eight, the race unfolded in a similar fashion, with the US and GB starting quick, the GB moving away, and the US holding off a fast closing crew from Germany over the final meters.
USA U23 W8+ coxswain Zoe Tekeian said, “It was quick from moment one; we had to trust that we had that middle thousand. Our camp was really tough, so having that grit in the middle thousand was what did it.”
USA U23 Women’s Eight drives for the line
“To have the trust in the girls in the boat, the women in front of me and behind me were going for the same goal, was everything we could have hoped for. Our execution was just spot on, and we are really excited about it,” added Katherine Kelly, seven seat of the crew. “To be able to do this with the group of women in this boat is something that I have not ever experienced before. This is such a committed group of people and I feel so fortunate and lucky to be a part of it this year. I’m awed and blown away. ”
The US U23 W8+ keeps its otherworldly streak alive; since 2006, the first year the US raced a W8+ at U23s, it has never finished lower than 3rd.
U23 Petite Finals
The US had six crews racing in the Petite Finals today, with three boats winning their finals and earning 7th place overall.
USA U23 W2x, Van Houten and Wheeler
The U23 W2x of Cornell’s Ellie VanHouten and Ohio State’s Paige Wheeler rowed a smart piece to capture the win. “This was Paige and my first Worlds, so the whole regatta was an awesome learning experience,” said Van Houten after the race. “We felt like we evolved as a crew over our entire week here. Going into this last race our goal was to combine the high points of our heats and semi’s races to string together a piece we would be proud to end on, and we both thought we achieved that! We executed a clean start, were able to walk on GB, and hold them off through our sprint.”
USA U23 W4-
The U23 W4-, the University Texas crew of Nadja Yaroschuk, Sue Holderness, Paula Becher and Anna Jensen also won their B-Final. The crew seemed to get faster from race to race, and, as stroke Anna Jensen explained, that improvement was a point of pride for the crew.
“We are very proud of the way we finished the regatta,” she said. “After a disappointing start I am proud of my teammates and me for using every race as an opportunity to learn and get better. Today was our best race and it was exciting to have the opportunity to represent both the USA and Texas.”
USA U23 LM1x, Tim Parsons
Yale’s Tim Parsons, racing in the U23 LM1x, also won his B-Final.
U23 M1x James Fetter finished second in his B-Final, in a race where he was tied with the Tunisian sculler at the 1500m mark — the online timing indicated a dead heat at that point of the race.
USA U23 M1x, James Fetter
“Obviously I would’ve loved to win but I’m super pumped to get 2nd in the B final after only 6 months of sculling,” said Fetter after the racing. “Today my approach to the race was to keep it very simple and trust my base speed. At the 1500 I was stoked to be at the front of the race… my plan was just to maintain speed and not try to do any crazy sprint, because I think at my skill level for sculling anything fancy ends up just wasting energy and potentially catching a crab or a digger.”
The USA U23 M4x took a huge sprint , raising the rate to over 40 to finish 9th, and the crew was very pleased with their race; it was the top result for a USA U23 M4x since 2011.
Also ending the regatta in 9th place overall was Washington’s Cillian Mullen in the U23 W1x; given the amount of Olympians racing in the event, it may have been one of the toughest draws of the regatta.
Senior Events
NYAC’s Sam Melvin rowed a cracker of a race to earn an A-Final spot in the LM1x. Melvin paced Greece’s Antonios Papakonstantinou, a bronze medalist in the LM2x in Paris a few weeks ago, and Italy’s Niels Torre, the new worlds best time holder in the event, all the way down the course to finish third and qualify for tomorrow’s A-Final.
Sam Melvin, USA LM1x, qualified for Saturday’s A-Final
Olympic Gold medalist Paul O’Donovan of Ireland won the other semifinal in the fastest time on the day; this final should be epic.
Audrey Boersen could not quite match the pace of her semi, which featured three Paris Olympians (Mexico, Greece and Austria). Boersen finished sixth, and will race in Saturday’s B-Final.
The “Olympic bonus” is real; in the second semi of the LW1x, Romania’s Ionela Cozmiuc, a Paris silver medalist, absolutely dominated the defending world champ in the event, Siobhan McCrohan of Ireland, beating the defending champ by eight seconds.
Juniors
The lone US Junior crew in action today was the Junior women’s Quad; despite a strong scull, the crew finished a close third in their rep and just missed the A-Final. Their next race is the B-Final on Sunday.
Notes from the Course