Semifinals Conclude for the Senior and Para World Rowing Championships Trials

Semifinals took place today in the Senior and Para World Rowing Championships Trials on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J. Athletes are competing for spots on the team that will represent the U.S. at the 2025 World Rowing Championships taking place September 21-28 in Shanghai, China.

Sam Melvin of the New York Athletic Club clocked the fastest time across the three semifinals in the men’s single sculls with a time of 6:53.70. Olympian Jacob Plihal and Caleb Nollenberger, both of the Green Racing Project, along with Eliot Putnam of the New York Athletic Club posted times within a second of each other for the second through fifth spots, setting up an exciting final tomorrow.

In the women’s single sculls, Olympian Lauren O’Connor of ARION clocked the fastest time between the two semifinals with a time of 7:43.02, followed by ARION teammate Audrianna Boersen at 7:47.55. Maddy Focht of the California Rowing Club won her semifinal with a time of 7:49.69. 

Olympian Jess Thoennes and Green Racing Project’s Holly Drapp took the fastest time of two semifinals in the women’s pair with a time of 7:16.12, just 1.81 seconds over USRowing’s Princeton Training Center’s Etta Carpender and Alexandria Vallancey-Martinson, with Olympian Charlotte Buck and Kaitlyn Kynast of USRowing’s Princeton Training Center claiming the third fastest time of 7:21.61.

The events for the men’s pair, PR1 single sculls, lightweight men’s and women’s single sculls, and the lightweight women’s double sculls went straight to finals after time trials. 

Finals will be held on Sunday, August 3, starting at 7:30 a.m. The full schedule and complete results can be found here. 

USRowing would like to thank Filippi Lido, the Official Boat Supplier for the U.S. Senior and Para-Rowing National Teams. Under the agreement, Filippi is providing USRowing a fleet of boats for international competitions, including the World Rowing Cup regattas, World Rowing Championships, Olympic Games, and Paralympic Games, as well as a domestic training fleet for the USRowing Training Center.