Thursday Race Preview: Let the Finals Begin

August 31, 2011

BLED, Slovenia – After four days of heats, quarterfinals and semifinals, it’s time to race for medals on Thursday at the 2011 World Rowing Championships on Lake Bled.

Rowing in the only final tomorrow for the United States at 12:56 p.m. local time is the women’s quadruple sculls crew of Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.), Adrienne Martelli (University Place, Wash.), Natalie Dell (Somerville, Mass.) and Stesha Carle (Long Beach, Calif.). The crew overcame a British lead by and held off charges from China in its semifinal to qualify for the final.

Germany is the top seed in this race and won last month in Lucerne at the third stop of the 2011 Samsung World Rowing Cup. But the U.S. should contend for the podium along every crew on the line including New Zealand, Ukraine, Australia and China.

Before the women’s quad medal race, U.S. crews are scheduled to compete in three B finals and two semifinals. The afternoon will conclude with two races for lane assignments in the women’s four and lightweight men’s eight.

The morning will start with semifinals in the arms and shoulders men’s single sculls. Ron Harvey (Downingtown, Pa.) will go to the line for a shot at the final against China, Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Brazil. Harvey won his repechage to qualify. Great Britain’s Tom Aggar is both the defending world and Paralympic champion in the event.

Following Harvey is Tricia Downing (Denver, Colo.). Competing this week in her first world rowing championships, Downing is rowing in the B final of the arm and shoulders women’s single sculls and faces China, Russia, Poland, Portugal and Hungary for places 7-12.

Rowing in the B final of the women’s pair is the U.S. crew of Kady Glessner (Seattle, Wash.) and Caryn Davies (Ithaca, N.Y.). The duo failed to qualify for the A final Wednesday and now must place in the top two positions to qualify the boat for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. They will row against Germany, Canada, Italy, Belarus and France. The U.S. defeated both Belarus and Canada in its heat.

Following them is a race just as important to the U.S. effort to qualify boats for the Olympics. After failing to make the A final, the men’s eight team of coxswain Ned DelGuercio (Media, Pa.), Nareg Guregian (North Hills, Calif.), Josh Inman (Hillsboro, Ore.), Steven Coppola (Buffalo, N.Y.), Dan Walsh (Norwalk, Conn.), Henrik Rummel (Pittsford, N.Y.), Alex Osborne (Sherman Oaks, Calif.), Grant James (DeKalb, Ill.) and Ross James (DeKalb, Ill.) will have to win the B final to secure the seventh and final qualifying spot for the men’s eights. The U.S. will race against crews from Czech Republic, France, China, Ukraine and New Zealand.

Rowing in the semifinal of the lightweight women’s single sculls is Ursula Grobler (Pretoria, South Africa). She will face Hungary, The Netherlands, Brazil, Canada and Hong Kong. Grobler finished second in her heat behind Great Britain, but should be considered among the favorites in this race, as she was faster than all the other crews. Three boats will advance to the Friday final.

Following her is lightweight men’s single sculler, Andrew Campbell (New Canaan, Conn.). Campbell won his heat, nipping Italy in the last strokes of the race. He faces Turkey, Germany, Denmark, France and Slovenia. Denmark was faster in his heat with a time of 6:52.25. Campbell finished in 7:04.01. Three boats advance to the Friday final.

Racing for lane assignments will be the women’s four crew of Sara Hendershot (West Simsbury, Conn.), Emily Regan (Buffalo, N.Y.), Kara Kohler (Clayton, Calif.) and Sarah Zelenka (Itasca, Ill.). The U.S. faces Italy, The Netherlands, China and Australia. The final for the event is scheduled for Saturday.

Racing for lanes in the lightweight men’s eight is the U.S. crew of coxswain Jack Carlson, (Belmont, Mass.), William Newell (Weston, Mass.), Jimmy Sopko (Mathews, VA.), Nick LaCava (Weston, Conn.), Edward King (Ironton, Mo.), Matt Kochem (Burnt Hills, N.Y.), Christian Klein (Herndon, Va.), Kenny McMahon (Ladysmith, Va.) and Austin Meyer (Cohoes, N.Y.). The crew faces Italy, France, Australia and Denmark, with the final scheduled for Sunday.

Complete heat sheets, entries and results are available at www.worldrowing.com.

For complete coverage of U.S. crews, press releases and features, visit www.usrowing.org.

USRowing is a nonprofit organization recognized by the United States Olympic Committee as the governing body for the sport of rowing in the United States. USRowing’s official suppliers include Boathouse Sports, Vespoli, Win Tech, Filippi, Croker Oars, Rudy Project, Concept2, Nielsen Kellerman, PowerHTV and Ludus Tours. USRowing also receives generous support from the National Rowing Foundation and its corporate sponsors, ANXeBusiness Corp and Voxer. For more information, visit www.usrowing.org. USRowing has joined forces with Team Arnstein to help ensure the U.S. Team's success leading up to the 2012 Olympic Games under a new corporate sponsorship campaign, The Row to London. For more information, please visit www.teamarnstein.com.

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Ed Moran

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