Benko Sets World Record on Sunday at Indoor Nationals

Andrew Benko set a Concept2 world record in the men's 55-59 age category to highlight Sunday's racing at the 2023 USRowing Atlantic City Indoor National Championships at the Atlantic City Convention Center in New Jersey.

Racing in the men's masters E race, Benko clocked a 6:10.4 to break Tom Darling's record by just over two seconds. Benko, who is heading to Toronto for the World Rowing Indoor Championships, was focusing on trying to set the record today.

"I have the 50-54 record, so I've been targeting this one for the past couple of years as I'm getting a little bit older," Benko said. "I knew what pace I had to hold and knew if I stayed around that, a little bit high, I could kick it in towards the end and manage to get it. Pretty straight forward strategy.

"This is kind of a stepping-stone towards the world event a little bit later in February – get the world record here and kind of take that pressure off. Then you can have a little fun there and see what happens. (I) probably expect to go a bit faster because you have three more weeks to get in a little bit better shape. Overall, it's just fun at the age of 55 to have this kind of competitive environment to get out here and do this."

In the tightest race of the day, 1.6 seconds separated the top three finishers in the under 23 men's 2,000-meter event with Nemanha Sajatovic winning in a 6:07.3. Sitting next to each other, Sajatovic and Andrew Manns were able to keep a close eye on the other's monitors as they battled at the head of the field through the 1,500-meter mark, with Nick Foley sitting just off the pace.

"I was looking at (Andrew's) split the whole time, saw him five meters behind," Sajatovic said. "At the end, he was getting me, and I was (saying,) 'no, I'm not letting that happen to me.'"

All three took their rates up in the final sprint, with Sajatovic holding on for a 1.3-second victory and Foley passing Manns in the last few strokes. Sajatovic clocked a 6:07.3, with Foley crossing in a 6:08.6 and Manns in a 6:08.9.

"He's always been more of a sprinter than me, so got a little scared coming into that last 200 meters," Manns said. "We go back and forth all the time, so it was really fun."

South Jersey Rowing Club's Hadley McCormack won the women's U23 race in a 7:30.4, finishing more than 14 seconds ahead of Megan Baldwin. Emma Willard School's Bailey Leone-Levine finished third.

Damian Lis won the men's open event in a 6:02.2, finishing 10.2 seconds ahead of Jake Miller, with Ivan Milan taking third in a 6:13.5. Greenwich Crew's Kelsey Barolak won the women's open event in a 7:10.7.

Row New Jersey's Liam Baker won the men's youth 500-meter sprint by 4.6 seconds over teammate Steven Simonfay. V-Scills Donovan Moses finished third. In the women's youth 500-meter sprint, Danica Swetz won by 10 seconds over Cedar Creek High School's Kyleigh Pelikan. Row New Jersey's Verra Scorsune finished third.

Indoor nationals ran concurrently with the 2023 USRowing Annual Convention presented by Filippi and offered events in the under 15, under 16, under 17, under 19, under 23, open, para, and masters categories. In addition to the traditional 2,000-meter format, competitors had the opportunity to compete in a triathlon with the erg, bike erg and ski erg, as well as 500-meters sprints, watts tests, and more. Medals were awarded across 65 categories and more than 660 athletes competed this weekend.

Click here for complete results. Check out USRowing's YouTube channel for replays of the race days.