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Six U.S. Crews Set for Final Olympic Qualification Regatta
May 11, 2012
PRINCETON, N.J. – Rowers will have one last chance to qualify for the 2012 London Olympic Games at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta May 20-23 in Lucerne, Switzerland. A total of 377 athletes from 50 countries are scheduled to compete in 14 Olympic events.
A total of 28 boats will qualify for the Olympic Games by the end of the four-day event. Boats have already qualified for London at the 2011 World Rowing Championships (129 boats), the African Olympic Qualification Regatta (nine boats), the Latin American Olympic Qualification Regatta (17 boats) and the Asian Olympic Qualification Regatta (17 boats).
In the women’s single sculls, Gevvie Stone (Newton, Mass.) will take on 16 crews including France’s 2008 Olympic single sculler Sophie Balmary and World Rowing Cup I finalists Iva Obradovic of Serbia and Sanita Puspure of Ireland.
Stone finished 11th at the world championships on Lake Bled last summer and will be looking to finish in the top three in order to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
The lightweight men’s double sculls duo of Andrew Campbell (New Canaan, Conn.) and Will Daly (Vail, Colo.) is set to race in a field of 16 crews. Campbell, who was awarded the 2011 USRowing Man of the Year Award, finished fourth in the lightweight single at the 2011 World Rowing Championships and took bronze in the event in the 2011 World Rowing Under 23 Championships. Daly, a seven-time national team member and Beijing Olympian, was in the lightweight four that finished 13th on Lake Bled last summer.
Campbell and Daly will need to place in the top two in order to qualify for London. They will be up against Zsolt Hirling and Tamas Varga of Hungary, who raced at the last two Olympic Games and have a 2005 World Championship title.
Sam Stitt (McLean Va.) and Warren Anderson (Paso Robles, Calif.) will take on 13 crews in the men’s double sculls. If the boat finishes in the top two, the athletes will represent the U.S. in London. Stitt finished fifth at the 2008 Olympic Games in the men’s quadruple sculls. Anderson, a Beijing alternate, finished second in the single at NSR I and won the double with Stitt at NSR II.
In the women’s double sculls, Margot Shumway (Westlake, Ohio) and Sarah Trowbridge (Guilford, Conn.) will also need to finish in the top two among the 11 crews. Shumway finished fifth in the women’s quad at the 2008 Olympic Games and won the women’s single at the 2011 Pan American Games. Trowbridge finished ninth in the event at the 2011 World Rowing Championships.
Rounding out the U.S. squad are the men’s eight and lightweight men’s four crews that were announced May 1.
The men’s eight lineup consists of coxswain Zach Vlahos (Piedmont, Calif.), Grant James (DeKalb, Ill.), David Banks (Potomac, Md.), Steve Kasprzyk (Cinnaminson, N.J.), Jake Cornelius (Brooktondale, N.Y.), Brett Newlin (Riverton, Wyo.), Ross James (DeKalb, Ill.), Will Miller (Duxbury, Mass.) and Giuseppe Lanzone (Annandale, Va.).
It’s winner take all in the men’s eight event, with the U.S. up against New Zealand and France for the final slot at the 2012 Olympic Games.
The James brothers return to the boat from last year’s world championship lineup, while Kasprzyk joins the lineup from the men’s eight that won gold at the 2011 Pan American Games. Banks, Newlin and Lanzone were members of the men’s four that finished ninth at the 2008 Olympic Games.
Representing the U.S. in the lightweight men’s four is Robin Prendes (Miami, Fla.), Nick LaCava (Weston, Conn.), Will Newell (Weston, Mass.) and Anthony Fahden (Lafayette, Calif.). Prendes and Fahden return from the boat that finished 13th at the 2011 World Rowing Championships. LaCava and Newell won the lightweight men’s pair event at the first National Selection Regatta and were members of the lightweight eight that finished fifth in Bled. The crew will need to place in the top two to qualify for London.
Results will be available at www.worldrowing.com.
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Schedule Entry list by nation Entry list by event Selection 101 for U.S. crews U.S. athlete bios About USRowing
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Allison Frederick
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