Lightweight Women’s Double, Men’s Pair Advance to Semis at Final Olympic Qualification Regatta

LUCERNE, Switzerland – The U.S. lightweight women's double sculls and men's pair advanced to the semifinals on Saturday at the 2021 World Rowing Final Olympic Qualification Regatta, keeping their Olympic dreams alive.

And with inclement weather in the forecast for Monday, FISA compressed the racing schedule into two days – meaning the semifinals and finals will take place on Sunday.

In the lightweight women's double sculls, Michelle Sechser (Folsom, Calif./University of Tulsa) and Molly Reckford (Short Hills, N.J./Dartmouth College) continued to show their speed, this time against international competition. Sechser and Reckford dominated at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Rowing in February and put down another great performance Saturday morning.

Racing in the second of three heats, Sechser and Reckford held a slight advantage on Poland's Weronika Deresz and Jaclyn Nicole Stelmaszyk at the 500-meter mark before they began to pull away from the field. The U.S. boat continued to build its advantage the rest of the way down the course, crossing the line in a 7:04.03 to win the race by four seconds and record the fastest time of the heats. Poland finished in a 7:08.11. Ireland and Switzerland won the other two heats.

"It felt amazing to be racing in such a beautiful and special place," Reckford said. "We always go over our race plan the night before and strategize, so it was fresh in my mind. We have some technical changes that we want to keep improving, but overall, we executed our plan."

In tomorrow morning's first semifinal, scheduled for 9:30 local time, Sechser and Reckford will face Ireland, China, Denmark, Greece and Brazil, with the top three advancing to the 12:10 p.m. final.

"One race at a time!" Reckford said about heading into tomorrow. "The focus will be on improving and making sure we execute a race that we're proud of."

The men's pair of Tom Peszek (Farmington Hills, Mich./University of Michigan) and Mike DiSanto (Boston, Mass./Harvard University) advanced to the semifinals thanks to a second-place finish in the first of three heats. With three to advance, Peszek and DiSanto solidified the second position behind Denmark's Frederic Vystavel and Joachim Sutton in the second quarter of the race. Denmark crossed the line with a time of 6:39.46, with the U.S. finishing in a 6:41.01. Great Britain won the second heat, with The Netherlands winning the third.

The U.S. will race in the second of two semifinals tomorrow at 9:05 a.m. against crews from The Netherlands, Poland, Chile, Hungary, and Slovenia. The top three finishers will advance to the final, which will be held at 11:30 a.m.

In the lightweight men's double sculls, Zachary Heese (Pelham, N.Y./University of Virginia) and Jasper Liu (Phoenix, Ariz./University of Pennsylvania) missed a spot in the semifinals by about a bow-ball as Great Britain was able to inch ahead of the Americans in the final few strokes of their repechage.

After placing fifth in their heat, Heese and Liu needed a top-three finish to advance to Sunday's semis. Racing in the second of two repechages, the U.S. crew rowed in third position behind Denmark and Austria for most of the race, with Great Britain staying within a half-length of the U.S. boat. As the crews came into the final 300 meters, the British started to cut into the lead before pushing their bow-ball ahead in the final strokes. Denmark won the race in a 6:30.86. Great Britain finished in a 6:34.37, with the U.S. 0.16 seconds behind.

After finishing third in their morning heat, the men's double sculls tandem of Kevin Cardno (Huntsville, Ala./ University of Alabama, Huntsville) and Jonathan Kirkegaard (DeForest, Wis./Purdue University) just missed advancing to the semifinals after finishing fourth in the first of two afternoon repechages.

With three to advance, the race turned into a five-way battle for the semifinal spots. Finland got off the line in first, with Norway second and the U.S. and Chile in a dead heat for third. Finland continued to lead at the midway point of the race, while Cardno and Kirkegaard began to move out on Chile. In the third 500, Finland dropped off the pace as Norway took the lead and Estonia made a move into second place. The U.S. continued to hold third as the boats entered the final 250 meters, but Chile timed out their sprint perfectly and was able to overtake the Americans at the line. Norway won the race in a 6:28.83, with Estonia finishing second in a 6:29.50. Chile crossed third in a 6:29.88, with the U.S. finishing fourth in a 6:30.50.

After finishing second in his heat of the men's single sculls, John Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio/Trinity College) finished fourth in his afternoon repechage, missing the semifinal. In the heat, Graves and Austria's Lukas Reim traded second and third positions behind Poland's Natan Wegrzycki-Szymczyk the entire way down the course. Wegrzycki-Szymczyk won the race in a 7:07.65, with Graves finishing in a 7:12.72.

With two to advance from the repechage, Graves sat just off the pace of Cyprus' Alexandros Zisimidis at the 500-meter mark. But, Zisimidis and Chile's Felipe Andres Cardenas Morales were able to pull away from the other scullers, making it a two-boat race over the final 1,000 meters. Zisimidis won the race in a 7:07.33. Graves finished with a time of 7:15.02.

The men's quadruple sculls crew of Charles Anderson (Upper Darby, Pa./Temple University), Justin Keen (Hatfield, Pa./Penn State University), Eliot Putnam (Littleton, Mass./Cornell University) and Sorin Koszyk (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich./Cornell University) also missed the semifinals after finishing third in their heat and sixth in the repechage.

With four to advance out of the repechage, the U.S. sat in fifth at the 500-meter mark but couldn't maintain the pace set by the top four crews. Romania won the race in a 5:47.98, with Lithuania finishing less than a second behind. The Czech Republic and France rounded out the top four. The U.S. finished with a time of 5:54.28.

Racing concludes on Sunday with semifinals beginning at 9:00 a.m. and finals getting underway at 10:10 a.m.

Live video streaming of the finals will be available on www.worldrowing.com. The broadcast also will be available on The Olympic Channel (outside of Europe).

Click here for the U.S. Final Olympic Qualification Regatta roster and bios. For complete coverage of the regatta, click here.

The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will be held July 23-August 9, with rowing events slated to start on the morning of July 23. The U.S. previously qualified eight boats for the Olympics at the 2019 World Rowing Championships. Click here for the 2020 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Qualification Process Quick Guide.