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May 20, 2024
Team USA
The U.S. men's single sculls and men's double sculls won their semifinals on Monday, leading a group of four boats that kept their Olympic and Paralympic dreams alive today at the 2024 World Rowing Final Olympic & Paralympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland.
In addition to the men's single and double, the PR1 men's single sculls and PR2 mixed double sculls advanced to tomorrow's finals, joining the men's quadruple sculls, women's quadruple sculls, and men's eight, which had already advanced to the finals for the chance to qualify for the upcoming 2024 Olympic or Paralympic Games.
The men's single sculls, men's double sculls, men's quadruple sculls, women's quadruple sculls, and men's eight will need a top-two finish tomorrow to qualify for the Olympic Games. The top two PR2 mixed doubles will qualify for the Paralympic Games, while only the winning PR1 men's single will earn a spot in Paris.
In the men's single sculls, Jacob Plihal (Vashon Island, Wash./Northeastern University/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) won his morning quarterfinal before coming back to win his afternoon semifinal to advance to tomorrow's final. Racing in the second quarterfinal, Plihal got off the line in third position before passing Norway's Kjetil Borch, the defending Olympic silver medalist, to take the lead in the second 500 meters. Borch regained the advantage during the third quarter of the race, before Plihal made a push to retake the top spot in the sprint, crossing the line in a 7:00.03.
"Yes, it was a busy day! Two critical races separated by about three-and-a-half hours, so recovery was super important in between those," Plihal said. "I did my best to conserve some energy in the quarterfinal. Kjetil Borch and I were out in front of the pack in the last 250 meters, and I saw him shut it down, so I was able to do the same and ease off the press for a little bit at the end there."
The quarterfinal victory gave Plihal a spot in the second semifinal. With three to advance, Plihal got off the line in third position behind Poland's Piotr Plominski and Great Britain's George Bourne. Plominski continued to lead through the midway point as Plihal moved into second position. As the scullers approached 500 meters to go, Plihal pulled up even with Plominski with Bourne in hot pursuit. Over the final 500 meters, Plihal kept Bourne at bay as Italy's Davide Mumolo caught Plominski for third. Plihal finished with a time of 6:50.53, with Bourne crossing 0.12 seconds later in a 6:50.65. Mumolo clocked a 6:51.17. Romania's Mihal Chiruta won the first semifinal in a 6:52.74, finishing 2.53 seconds ahead of Borch. Ireland's Konan Pazzaia took third to claim the other spot in the final.
"For the semifinal, it was all about going with the pack," Plihal said. "Luckily, I was able to have a quick start and stay with the leading group through the 1k, hold onto my technique throughout the race, and come away with a qualifying position for tomorrow's final in the back half. I'm doing my best to stay relaxed for tomorrow. I've made it through the progression to the big moment, but nothing changes tomorrow. It's still 2,000 meters and everyone in the race will be giving it their all just like any other race. I just need to trust in my training and the technical habits I've been developing, stay calm, and execute."
Racing in the second semifinal of the men's double sculls, Ben Davison (Inverness, Fla./University of Washington/California Rowing Club) and Sorin Koszyk (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich./Cornell University/California Rowing Club) moved into the lead during the second 500 meters and rowed to a comfortable victory over Moldova and Australia. With the top three advancing, Australia's Marcus Della Marta and David Bartholot took the early lead before the U.S. boat was able to gain control of the race in the second 500 meters. The Americans continued to extend their advantage over the third 500 meters, taking nearly five seconds on the field going into the final quarter of the race. At the line, Davison and Koszyk crossed in a 6:16.78. Moldova's Chirill Visotchi-Sestacov and Ivan Corsunov finished second in a 6:19.20, with the Australian's clocking a 6:20.56. In the first semifinal, Serbia's Nikolaj Pimenov and Martin Mackovic finished 2.62 seconds ahead of Greece's Nikolaos Cholopoulos and Ioannis Kalandaridis to win the race in a 6:20.24. Sweden's Hugo Nerud and Jonas Richter finished third to claim the other spot in tomorrow's final.
"We were happy with the race today," Davison said. "We feel we were able to execute a stronger first half than yesterday. Our focus tomorrow will just be continuing to improve upon today's performance and lay down the fastest possible time."
With four to advance in the PR1 men's single sculls, Andrew Mangan (Buffalo, N.Y./Stanford University/Texas Rowing Center/West Side Rowing Club) took second in the repechage. Mangan got off the line in fourth position before slowly working his way back to second place in the final 500 meters. China's Jie Yang held less than a one-second lead on Mexico's Michel Munoz Malagon at the 500-meter split before walking away from the rest of the field during the second quarter of the race. Yang crossed the line in a 9:48.16, with Mangan finishing in a 10:04.75. Munoz finished third in a 10:15.65, with Egypt's Alaa Hassan Ibrahim claiming the last spot in the final. The four scullers will take on heat winners Alexis Sanchez of France and Rene Campos Pereira of Brazil on Tuesday with Paralympic qualification on the line.
"It was great to race in heats yesterday and get the first race of the season under my belt," Mangan said. "I was working on adjusting a couple parts of my warm-up and starting 500 today, building off of the heat. I was happy with the execution and maintained speed well, moving through some of the other boats. For tomorrow, I am going to run a similar race plan with the biggest adjustment being working on rating a bit higher throughout the race and especially in the first 500, so I can keep the field a bit closer."
In the PR2 mixed double sculls, Russell Gernaat (Grand Rapids, Mich./Lake Casitas Rowing Club) and Madison Eberhard (Buffalo, N.Y./Canisius University/ West Side Rowing Club) finished third in their repechage to move on to tomorrow's final. With four to advance, Gernaat and Eberhard sat in third position the entire way down the course, clocking a 9:09.65. France's Perle Bouge and Benjamin Daviet grabbed the lead off the line and were never challenged, winning the race by more than 17 seconds in an 8:29.83. Brazil's Michel Gomes Pessanha and Gessyca Guerra finished second in an 8:47.60, with Thailand's Phongsakon Chumchai and Numtip Sinchai taking fourth. The four boats will join Israel's Saleh Shahin and Shahar Milfelder and Germany's Paul Umbach and Jasmina Bier in the final.
In the repechage of the lightweight men's double sculls, Sam Melvin (Huntington Beach, Calif./Columbia University/New York Athletic Club) and Cooper Tuckerman (Bozeman, Mont./Dartmouth College/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) came up just short in a three-way battle to advance to tomorrow's final. With only two crews moving on, China's Bohao Zhu and Zikang Yao took the early lead and continued to race at the head of the field at the midway point with Melvin and Tuckerman sitting in second position just 0.15 seconds off the pace. The Americans overtook China in the third 500 meters, taking about a one-second lead over Portugal's Dinis and Afonso Duarte Costa and Austria's Lukas Reim and Julian Schoeberl as the boats entered the final 500 meters. As the crews reached the line, Austria surged into the lead, crossing in a 6:26.95. Portugal finished in a 6:27.27, with Melvin and Tuckerman clocking a 6:27.34.
In addition to the four crews that advance Monday, the U.S. will have three other boats racing in the finals for a chance to qualify for the Olympics.
The U.S. women's quadruple sculls crew of Lauren O'Connor (Belleville, Wis./University of Wisconsin/ARION), Teal Cohen (Dallas, Texas/ University of Washington/USRowing Training Center – Princeton), Emily Delleman (Davenport, Iowa/Stanford University/Craftsbury Green Racing Project), and Grace Joyce (Northfield, Ill./University of Wisconsin/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) won its preliminary race for lanes on Sunday, clocking a 6:22.23 to best the Ukranian crew by 0.18 seconds. The U.S. will face Ukraine, Canada, Poland, New Zealand, and France in the final.
The U.S. men's eight also won its preliminary race for lanes on Sunday. The crew of coxswain Rielly Milne (Woodinville, Wash./University of Washington/California Rowing Club), Pieter Quinton (Portland, Ore./Harvard University/California Rowing Club), Evan Olson (Bothell, Wash./University of Washington/Seattle Scullers/Penn AC), Peter Chatain (Winnetka, Ill./Stanford University/California Rowing Club), Chris Carlson (Bedford, N.H./University of Washington/New York Athletic Club), Clark Dean (Sarasota, Fla./Harvard University/Boston Rowing Federation), Christian Tabash (Alexandria, Va./Harvard University/University of California, Berkeley/USRowing Training Center – Sarasota), Nick Rusher (West Bend, Wis./Yale University/California Rowing Club), and Henry Hollingsworth (Dover, Mass./Brown University/California Rowing Club) defeated Canada by more than three seconds. The Americans will face Canada, Italy, and Austria in the final.
The men's quadruple sculls crew of Dominique Williams (Madison, Conn./University of Pennsylvania/Penn AC), Will Legenzowski (Vista, N.Y./Brown University/California Rowing Club), Liam Galloway (Ridgefield, Conn./Yale University/New York Athletic Club), and Kevin Cardno (Huntsville, Ala./University of Alabama, Huntsville/Texas Rowing Center) finished second to Norway in its heat to advance to tomorrow's final. The American boat will take on Norway, Australia, Estonia, France, and Ukraine in the final.
For complete results, please visit World Rowing's website at www.worldrowing.com. Live race tracker and live audio is available for all races on World Rowing's website, and live video streaming for all A final races will be available Tuesday on the World Rowing website.
The full Olympic team will be nominated by June 7 and complete Paralympic team will be nominated by July 1. Click here to see a quick guide to Olympic and Paralympic qualification. For information, updates, and athlete features, visit our Row to Paris page.
Click here for the current rosters of the 2024 World Rowing Olympic & Paralympic Qualification Regatta Team, 2024 Olympic Team, and 2024 Paralympic Team.
Rowing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 will take place July 27-August 4. The Paralympic Games Paris 2024 are scheduled from August 28 to September 8, with Para rowing events beginning August 30.
USRowing would like to thank our national team sponsors including our Official Boat Supplier for the U.S. Senior, Under 23, and Para Rowing National Teams, Filippi Lido; our Official Apparel Provider, 776BC; our Official Partner, Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc., our Exclusive Supplement Supplier, Thorne HealthTech; our Official Performance Electronics Outfitter, Nielsen-Kellerman; the National Rowing Foundation; and TrainingPeaks, the Official Training and Coaching Software of USRowing's High Performance Team.
