Jul 22, 2024
Team USA
2024 Olympic Games: Boat-By-Boat Preview
The U.S. will have 12 boats competing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 including the men's single sculls, women's single sculls, men’s double sculls, women’s double sculls, lightweight women’s double sculls, men’s pair, women’s pair, women’s quadruple sculls, men’s four, women’s four, men’s eight, and women’s eight.
Last year, the U.S. won seven medals and finished fourth in total medals at the 2023 World Rowing Championships.
Of the 42 U.S. athletes who will be competing in Paris, 17 are returning Olympians with three Olympic medals amongst them. Thirty-eight have competed on previous senior national teams, while four will be making their senior team debuts.
Meghan Musnicki, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in the women's eight in 2012 and 2016, will be competing at her fourth Olympic Games, having raced the eight in Tokyo as well.
Kara Kohler will be racing at her third Olympics. Kohler won bronze in the women's quadruple sculls in 2012 and raced the single at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Justin Best, Charlotte Buck, Olivia Coffey, Claire Collins, Liam Corrigan, Ben Davison, Clark Dean, Michael Grady, Nick Mead, Molly Reckford, Regina Salmons, Michelle Sechser, Jessica Thoennes, Kristi Wagner, and Madeleine Wanamaker will be racing at their second Olympics, having all competed in Tokyo.
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Women's Single Sculls
In the women's single sculls, 11-time national team member and three-time Olympian Kara Kohler earned a spot on her third Olympic team by winning the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Rowing in early April. Kohler won bronze in the event at the 2019 World Rowing Championships and finished fourth at last year’s world championships. The Netherlands' Karolien Florijn is the defending world champion, while New Zealand's Emma Twigg is the 2023 world silver medalist and reigning Olympic champion. Australia's Tara Rigney won bronze in 2023. Florijn, Rigney, and Twigg took the top three spots at the 2024 World Rowing Cup II in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Kohler finished ninth in the event in Tokyo, while Gevvie Stone won the last U.S. medal in the event, a silver at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
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Men's Single Sculls
In the men’s single sculls, Jacob Plihal will be competing at his first Olympic Games after winning the Olympic trials and then finishing second in the 2024 World Rowing Final Olympic & Paralympic Qualification Regatta. Plihal won a silver medal in the single at the 2023 Pan American Games. Germany’s Oliver Zeidler is the two-time reigning world champion. Dutch sculler Simon Van Dorp won silver at last year’s world championships, while New Zealand’s Thomas Mackintosh took home the bronze. Van Dorp bested Zeidler at the world cup race in Lucerne in May.
The U.S. did not qualify a men’s single for the Olympics in 2016 or 2020, last racing the event at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The U.S. last won a medal in the event in 1956 when John Kelly, Jr., took home a bronze medal.
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Women's Double Sculls
Sophia Vitas and Kristi Wagner joined forces in July of 2022 and went on to finish fifth at the World Rowing Championships later that summer. The duo reunited in 2023, winning bronze at the world championships, and were nominated to the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team in late March. At the 2024 World Rowing Cup II in Lucerne, Vitas and Wagner won gold in the event ahead of Australia and Norway. Romania’s Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radis, the reigning Olympic champions, won gold at last year’s world championships, with Lithuania's Dovile Rimkute and Donata Karaliene taking home the silver medal.
Wagner finished fifth in the event in Tokyo with Gevvie Stone, while Vitas will be competing at her first Olympics. The U.S. has never won an Olympic medal in the event.
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Men's Double Sculls
Ben Davison and Sorin Koszyk qualified for the Games after winning the Olympic trials and then winning the Final Olympic & Paralympic Qualification Regatta in May. The duo finished 13th at last year’s world championships. The Netherlands’ Melvin Twellaar and Stefan Broenink won gold at the 2023 World Rowing Championships, followed by Croatia’s Martin and Valent Sinkovic, who won gold in the event at the Rio 2016 Olympics,and Ireland’s Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch. The Dutch duo was back atop the medal stand at World Rowing Cup II in May, with Italy’s Luca Rambaldi and Matteo Sartori winning silver.
Davison was part of the men’s eight in Tokyo, finishing fourth, while Koszyk is making his Olympic debut. The U.S. did not qualify a men’s double for the Olympics in 2016 or 2020. The last medal in the event came in 1984 when Brad Lewis and Paul Enquist won gold.
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Lightweight Women's Double Sculls
In the lightweight women's double sculls, Michelle Sechser and Molly Reckford have been reunited for Paris after racing in different boats in 2023. Sechser and Reckford finished fifth in the event at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and won a silver medal at the 2022 World Rowing Championships, with Sechser also winning silver in the event in 2023 with Mary Jones Nabel. Great Britain’s Imogen Grant and Emily Craig are the two-time defending world champions, while Romania’s Mariana-Laura Dumitru and Ionela Cozmiuc won bronze last year.
Sechser and Reckford won bronze at the 2024 World Rowing Cup 2 in Lucerne, finishing behind Great Britain and New Zealand.
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Women's Pair
Jessica Thoennes and Azja Czajkowski earned their spot for Paris by winning the Olympic trials in April. While the U.S. finished sixth in the pair last year, Thoennes was part of the silver-medal winning women's eight, while Czajkowski served as an alternate. The Netherlands’ Veronique Meester and Ymkje Clevering are the defending world champions, while Annabelle Mcintyre and Jessica Morrison took home silver last year. Romania’s Ioana Vrinceanu and Roxana Anghel finished third in 2023. Thoennes and Czajkowski finished sixth at the world cup stop in Lucerne in May, their first international race together. The Dutch and Australian boats took the top two spots, with Ireland’s Aifric Keogh and Fiona Murtagh taking bronze.
Thoennes will be competing in her second Olympics, having raced in the eight in Tokyo, while Czajkowski will be racing in her first Olympics. The U.S. finished 10th in the event in Tokyo and last won a medal in the event in 2020 when Karen Kraft and Missy Schwen-Ryan won bronze in Sydney.
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Men's Pair
Oliver Bub and Billy Bender earned their spot for Paris 2024 in the men's pair by winning the Olympic trials in early April. Bender was part of the pair that finished fifth at last year's world championships, while Bub was a member of the men's eight in Belgrade. Switzerland’s Andrin Gulich and Roman Roeoesli are the defending world champions, while Great Britain’s Tom George and Oliver Wynne-Griffith took silver ahead of Ireland’s Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney. Bub and Bender finished 10th at the world cup in Lucerne in May, with George and Wynne-Griffith winning gold and Gulich and Roeoesli taking bronze. Spain’s Jaime Canalejo Pazos and Javier Garcia Ordonez won the silver medal.
The U.S. did not qualify a men’s pair for Tokyo and last won a medal in 2000 when Ted Murphy and Sebastian Bea brought home a silver medal from Sydney.
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Women's Quadruple Sculls
The U.S. women's quadruple sculls crew of Lauren O'Connor, Teal Cohen, Emily Delleman, and Grace Joyce won the Final Olympic & Paralympic Qualification Regatta in May to qualify for Paris. The U.S. finished 11th last year, with O’Connor and Joyce returning from that boat. Great Britain, the Netherlands, and China won the medals at last year’s world championships, with the same three crews repeating their performances at the 2024 World Rowing Cup II in Lucerne.
All four American women will be making their Olympic debuts in Paris. The U.S. last won a medal in the event at the 2012 Olympics in London, taking home bronze. The U.S. finished 10th in Tokyo.
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Women's Four
The women's four features all first-time Olympians in Kaitlin Knifton, Mary Mazzio-Manson, Kelsey Reelick, and Emily Kallfelz. The U.S. finished fourth in the event last year behind The Netherlands, Romania, and Great Britain. The Dutch boat returned intact for this year’s world cup race in Lucerne but finished behind the British boat that featured two lineup changes from 2023.
The women’s four returned to the Olympic program in Tokyo for the first time since Barcelona in 1992, with the U.S. finishing seventh. The American boat won silver in Barcelona.
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Men's Four
In the men's four, Liam Corrigan, Michael Grady, Justin Best, and Nick Mead brought home a silver medal from the 2023 World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, and won gold at the 2024 World Rowing Cup II race in Lucerne. Great Britain won the world title last year and the 2024 European Rowing Championships in April, while New Zealand won bronze in 2023. Racing with their lineups intact in Lucerne, New Zealand finished second behind the Americans, with the British boat coming in third.
All four Americans will be competing in their second Olympic Games, with Best, Mead, and Corrigan racing in the eight in Tokyo and Grady racing in the four. The U.S. finished fifth in the event in Tokyo and last won a medal (bronze) in the event in 2012.
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Women's Eight
The women's eight of Nina Castagna, Molly Bruggeman, Margaret Hedeman, Meghan Musnicki, Olivia Coffey, Claire Collins, Regina Salmons, Madeleine Wanamaker, and Charlotte Buck finished third at the world cup stop in Lucerne in May. The U.S. won silver at last year's world championships behind Romania, with Australia finishing third, and returns four people from that boat. With Romania not in attendance, Canada took the top spot in Lucerne, ahead of Great Britain and the U.S.
Musnicki is a four-time Olympian and two-time Olympic gold medalist, while Buck, Coffey, Collins, Salmons, and Wanamaker all raced in Tokyo. Bruggeman, who served as an alternate in Tokyo, will be racing at her first Olympics, as will Castagna and Hedeman. The U.S. finished fourth in Tokyo after winning three consecutive Olympic gold medals in 2008, 2012, and 2016.
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Men's Eight
After failing to qualify for the Olympics with a sixth-place finish at the 2023 World Rowing Championships, the U.S. men’s eight of Rielly Milne, Pieter Quinton, Evan Olson, Peter Chatain, Chris Carlson, Clark Dean, Christian Tabash, Nick Rusher, and Henry Hollingsworth won the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta to earn their spot in Paris. Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Australia took home the medals from the 2023 World Rowing Championships. At the 2024 World Rowing Cup II race in Lucerne, Great Britain won gold with the U.S. taking silver ahead of the third-place Dutch crew.
Dean is the lone returning Olympian, having raced in the men’s four in Tokyo. The remaining eight athletes will be racing at their first Olympics. The U.S. finished fourth in Tokyo and last won a medal in the eight in 2008 in Beijing (bronze).
