Wednesday Race Preview

August 30, 2011

BLED, Slovenia – The 2011 World Rowing Championships continue tomorrow on Lake Bled with quarterfinal, semifinal and repechage racing for 11 United States crews.

The U.S. will see action in the men’s and women’s single sculls, men’s double sculls, lightweight men’s double sculls, men’s and women’s lightweight quadruple sculls, lightweight men’s four, men’s pair with coxswain, women’s pair, men’s four and men’s eight.

Leading the day will be the men’s pair with coxswain team of Anthony Altimari (Huntington, N.Y.), Blaise Didier (San Francisco, Calif.) and Derek Johnson (Hillsborough, Calif.) who will race a repechage against Croatia, France, Germany, Canada and Ukraine. Four boats will advance to the Friday final and the U.S. defeated both Canada and the Ukraine in its heat.

Following them will be the lightweight women’s quadruple sculls crew of Katherine Robinson (Everett, Wash.), Lindsey Hochman (Seattle, Wash.), Nicole Dinion (Falls Church, Va.) and Hillary Saeger (Dedham, Mass.) who will race France, China, India and Ireland. Two boats will advance to the Saturday final. The U.S. had the fastest time in the heats from this group.

In the men’s lightweight quadruple sculls, the team of Sam Cunningham (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Todd Mickelson (West Simsbury, Conn.), Chris Lambert (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and Shane Madden (Ambler, Pa.) will face Armenia, Hungary, Denmark, Ireland and Poland in the repechage. Four crews advance to the Sunday final. The U.S. defeated Armenia in the heat.

The men’s four of Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.), Scott Gault (Piedmont, Calif.), Brett Newlin (Riverton, Wyo.) and Giuseppe Lanzone (Annandale, Va.) will race Romania, Italy and Poland in the second of four repechages. The top two boats move to the semifinals. The U.S. crew narrowing missed its ticket to the semis Sunday after finishing 0.02 seconds behind Belarus.

Gevvie Stone (Newton, Mass.) is next up Wednesday and will face Spain, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia and Denmark in the first repechage of the women’s single sculls. Three boats advance to the Saturday semifinals. As expected, the field will be a tough one.

In the men’s single sculls, Ken Jurkowski (New Fairfield, Conn.) will row in the second of four quarterfinals against New Zealand’s Mahe Drysdale, Switzerland, Australia, Lithuania and Mexico. Drysdale will be among the toughest competition in this race, with the top three scullers advancing to Saturday’s semifinals.

The lightweight men’s double sculls crew of Brian de Regt (Rowayton, Conn.) and Jon Winter will row in the fourth quarterfinal of their event against Mexico, Portugal, Norway, China and The Netherlands. The top three boats advance to the Saturday semifinals.

Next up, rowing in its semifinal will be the women’s pair of Kady Glessner (Seattle, Wash.) and Caryn Davies (Ithaca, N.Y.), who will face Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Romania and Germany. Three boats from each semi advance to the Thursday final. This is a fast field and New Zealand’s Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown are the defending world champions.

Next up is the men’s eight crew of 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.). Three boats advance to the final. The U.S. drew the defending world champion Germans, along with The Netherlands and New Zealand, who finished fourth and fifth at 2010 World Rowing Championships, respectively. Poland and Ukraine are also in the race.

The men’s double sculls crew of Thomas Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Peter Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) row next in the second-level semifinal against China, Italy, Poland and Korea. Three boats advance to the C final.

Also rowing for a spot in the C final is the lightweight men’s four crew of Ryan Fox (Edgerton, Wis.), Will Daly (Vail, Colo.), Robin Prendes (Miami, Fla.) and Anthony Fahden (Lafayette, Calif.). The U.S. faces Russia, China, Cuba, Spain and India.

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.

Ed Moran

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