U.S. Women’s Eight Takes Winning Streak to the Line

September 01, 2011

BLED, Slovenia – The women’s eight final is usually one of the last events of a world championship.

Not at the 2011 World Rowing Championships on Lake Bled. With a schedule designed to test the new Olympic four-day final program for 2012 in London, the big event for the U.S. women comes tomorrow.

And it should be a good one.

The U.S. is looking for a sixth-consecutive world championship that goes back to 2006 and includes the 2008 Olympic Games. The crew of coxswain Mary Whipple (Sacramento, Calif.), Eleanor Logan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine), Caroline Lind (Greensboro, N.C.), Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Jamie Redman (Spokane, Wash.), Taylor Ritzel (Larkspur, Colo.), Meghan Musnicki (Naples, N.Y.), Susan Francia (Abington, Pa.) and Esther Lofgren (Newport Beach, Calif.) will face China, Romania, Canada, Great Britain and The Netherlands.

While the U.S. is the top seed in this race, Canada will be coming after them. Canada led the U.S. for 1,500 meters at the last world cup stop in Lucerne before the U.S. caught them and finished first for the gold medal.

In addition to the eight, the U.S. will see action in four finals including the lightweight men’s and women’s single sculls, men’s pair with coxswain and the arms and shoulders men’s single sculls.

Semifinal racing will be featured in the men’s single sculls, men’s quadruple sculls, women’s double sculls and men’s pair. The men’s double sculls and lightweight men’s four will race in the C finals, while the men’s lightweight men’s double sculls will race in a C/D semifinal.

Leading the day will be the semifinals of the men’s quad, with Glenn Ochal (Philadelphia, Pa.), Warren Anderson (Paso Robles, Calif.), Will Miller (Duxbury, Mass.) and Sam Stitt (McLean, Va.) up against Great Britain, Poland, Russia, Croatia and Switzerland. The U.S. crew finished second in its heat Sunday to advance.

The men’s pair team of Tom Peszek (Farmington Hills, Mich.) and Justin Stangel (Madison, Wis.) will face France, Germany, Great Britain, Canada and Hungary in the first semifinal. The duo finished second in the repechage, but 2010 silver medalists Peter Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge of Great Britain are in the race and will be tough competition.

In the women’s double, the team of Kate Bertko (Oakland, Calif.) and Sarah Trowbridge (Guilford, Conn.) will face Finland, Ukraine, Australia, Poland and Germany. Kerry Hore and Kim Crow of Australia are the defending world silver medalists from 2010.

Ken Jurkowski (New Fairfield, Conn.) will race his semifinal of the men’s single sculls in a fast field that includes two-time Olympic champion, Norway’s Olaf Tufte, New Zealand’s four-time world champion Mahe Drysdale and Sweden’s Olympic finalist Lassi Karonen. Also racing in the second semi are China and Azerbaijan.

In the United States’ first final of the day, Ron Harvey (Downingtown, Pa.) will race against Australia, Great Britain, Russia, Spain and Korea. Harvey finished third in his semifinal today and stands a good chance of medaling, although Great Britain’s Tom Aggar is the favorite to win.

In the men’s pair with coxswain, the team of Anthony Altimari (Huntington, N.Y.), Blaise Didier (San Francisco, Calif.) and Derek Johnson (Hillsborough, Calif.) race for medals against Croatia, Canada, Italy, Australia and Germany. The U.S. finished third in its repechage to advance. Germany won the race and Canada finished second, but the U.S. defeated Croatia. Italy and Australia both won the heats to advance.
 
Ursula Grobler (Pretoria, South Africa) will race in the final of the lightweight women’s single against Canada, Brazil, Great Britain, Switzerland and Germany. Great Britain’s Katherine Copeland beat her in the heat. Grobler is coming off a semifinal win Wednesday over Brazil and Canada.

Andrew Campbell (New Canaan, Conn.) follows in the final of the lightweight men’s single sculls. Campbell, who has medaled in the single at both the junior and under 23 levels, is in good position to medal again here in Bled. He faces France, Denmark, New Zealand, Italy and Great Britain. Denmark’s Henrik Stephansen is the top seed.

The lightweight double sculls team of Brian de Regt (Rowayton, Conn.) and Jon Winter (New Haven, Conn.) will race in the C/D semifinal against Sweden, Hong Kong, Hungary, Spain and Mexico.

Thomas Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Peter Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) will take on Italy, Serbia, Poland, Latvia and Russia in the C final of the men’s double sculls.

In the final race for the U.S. on Friday, the lightweight men’s four of Ryan Fox (Edgerton, Wis.), Will Daly (Vail, Colo.), Robin Prendes (Miami, Fla.) and Anthony Fahden (Lafayette, Calif.) will race for places 13-18 against Argentina, Mexico, Canada, China and Spain.

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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