Saturday Race Preview

September 02, 2011

BLED, Slovenia – Racing continues on Lake Bled Saturday as the final weekend of the 2011 World Rowing Championships gets underway.

The U.S. will see 11 crews go to the line with two finals – the lightweight women’s quadruple sculls and the women’s four. Four semifinals are on schedule for the lightweight women’s double sculls, women’s single sculls, men’s four and leg/trunk/arms mixed four with coxswain.

Second finals – with Olympic qualifications at stake – are scheduled for the men’s single sculls, women’s double sculls, men’s quadruple sculls and men’s pair. The trunk and arms mixed double will also row a B final with the hope of earning Paralympic Games qualification.

The program for the U.S. starts at 9:23 a.m local time with the leg/trunk/arms mixed four crew of Alex Stein (Stamford, Conn.), Eric McDaniel (Weeki Wachee, Fla.), Emma Preuschl (Indianapolis, Ind.), Eleni Englert (Oceanside, Calif.) and Andrew Johnson (Greenwich, Conn.) rowing in the semifinal against Russia, China, Germany, Ireland and Italy for a chance at the Sunday final. The U.S. advanced in its heat, but Germany finished first in the race.

The trunk and arms mixed double sculls team of Anthony Davis (La Center, Wash.) and Jacqui Kapinowski (Point Pleasant, N.J.) is next in the B final. The U.S. will race against Japan, Israel, Belarus, Poland and Slovenia. Davis and Kapinowski will need to place in the top two to qualify the boat for the Paralympics.

Next up is the men’s quadruple sculls team of Glenn Ochal (Philadelphia, Pa.), Warren Anderson (Paso Robles, Calif.), Will Miller (Duxbury, Mass.) and Sam Stitt (McLean, Va.), who will race in the B final of the event against Ukraine, Cuba, Great Britain, New Zealand and Switzerland.

An Olympic qualification is on the line in this race and the U.S. needs to beat at least one boat. The U.S. finished fifth in its semifinal Friday, defeating Switzerland.

Also contending for Olympic qualification is the men’s pair team of Tom Peszek (Farmington Hills, Mich.) and Justin Stangel (Madison, Wis.). The crew finished fourth in the semifinal Friday and will need to finish in the top five to qualify the boat for London. The U.S. races Serbia, The Netherlands, Australia, Hungary and France.

In the women’s double sculls, the duo of Kate Bertko (Oakland, Calif.) and Sarah Trowbridge (Guilford, Conn.) will race the B final against Finland, Serbia, Germany, China and Ireland. The double needs to place in the top two to qualify the boat.

In the B final of the men’s single sculls, Ken Jurkowski (Fairfield, Conn.) will also try and qualify his boat for the Olympics by finishing in the top five. He races Belarus, Lithuania, China, Cuba and Azerbaijan.

In the semifinal of the men’s four, the crew of Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.), Scott Gault (Piedmont, Calif.), Brett Newlin (Riverton, Wyo.) and Giuseppe Lanzone (Annandale, Va.) will take on Serbia, The Netherlands, Great Britain, Belarus and Czech Republic. The four took bronze at the Lucerne world cup earlier this summer, while Great Britain won gold.  

The lightweight women’s double sculls crew of Julie Nichols (Livermore, Calif.) and Kristin Hedstrom (Concord, Mass.) will race in the semifinal against Denmark, The Netherlands, Canada, Australia and Germany. The duo was the overall points winner in the event in the world cup series and won its heat on Monday. Canada is the defending world champion.

U.S. women’s single sculler Gevvie Stone (Newton, Mass.) will attempt to advance to the first final on Saturday, racing against Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Sweden and Lithuania. Stone finished third in her repechage to advance. Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus holds the world record in the event, Sweden’s Frida Svensson is the defending world champion and Nataliya Mustafayeva won the repechage Stone raced.

In the lightweight women’s quadruple sculls, the crew of Katherine Robinson (Everett, Wash.), Lindsey Hochman (Seattle, Wash.), Nicole Dinion (Falls Church, Va.) and Hillary Saeger (Dedham, Mass.) will race for medals against world champion Germany, China, Great Britain, Italy and Australia.

The last race of the day for the U.S. is the final of the women’s four. The crew of Sara Hendershot (West Simsbury, Conn.), Emily Regan (Buffalo, N.Y.), Kara Kohler (Clayton, Calif.) and Sarah Zelenka (Itasca, Ill.) will take on The Netherlands, Italy, China and Australia. The U.S. won the race for lanes in the event Friday.

Complete heat sheets, entries and results are available at www.worldrowing.com. Watch all four days of finals, from Sept. 1-4, LIVE and on-demand at www.UniversalSports.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.

Ed Moran

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