U23 Men’s Pair Wins Semifinal at 2024 World Championships

The U23 men’s pair posted the fastest time of the day, winning their semifinal in tremendous fashion. 10 other crews raced today at the 2024 World Rowing Senior, Under 23 and Under 19 Championships in St. Catharines, Canada. 

Columbia University’s Colton Millar and Adam Pushner won their U23 men’s pair semifinal in dramatic fashion. Slovenia led the field throughout the race, with the American pair falling back to fourth in the first 500 meters. They found their footing and continued to chip away at the other crews, moving past Greece in the first half the race and passing Germany as they neared the 500-meter mark. With the momentum in their favor, they set their sights on Slovenia, closing the gap and taking the victory in the last 400 meters of the race. 

Colton Millar, stroke of the pair, said “I didn’t look out of the boat the entire race. We were focused on putting ourselves in a qualifying position, making the final and not letting Greece walk through us. I didn’t know we had won until we crossed the finish line. We stayed focused on rowing our race and ended up taking it”

They will race in the A Final tomorrow at 4:59 p.m. ET. 

In the lightweight women’s single sculls repechage, Audrey Boersen finished second after a strong sprint brought her across the line less than a second ahead of third place Tunisia. Tunisia’s Khadija Krimi led Boersen through the entire race, with over three seconds separating them throughout. Boersen was able to close the gap in the last 500 meters but was unable to close the margin on the first-place finisher, France. Boersen will race in the A/B Semifinals on Friday. 

“I’m glad I had my sprint in my back pocket,” said Boersen. "I didn’t actually want to use it in that race, but you have to do what you have to do to advance. I told myself in the last 500 meters that I was not going to be in the C/D semifinal and that worked very well. In general, it was a solid race and I think I could have done a little more throughout the first 1500 meters. I’m just really excited that it puts me in a position now to push for the A Final.”

The U23 women’s quadruple sculls finished fifth in the repechage in a time of 7:16.97. Germany won the race, leading from wire to wire, followed by Italy. The U.S. crew started strong, sitting in third for the first 500 meters in the race. The Italian and Czech Republic crews took moves in the second 500 meters to push their bows ahead of the U.S, finishing second and third, respectively. The U.S. crew will race in the B Final on Thursday at 10:22 a.m. ET. 

Lucas Liow and George Dolce finished second in the U19 men’s pair with a time of 7:21.58. Germany won the race in a time of 7:15.43, leading from the first 500 meters. The U.S. crew battled with Great Britain, trading blows down the course. Liow and Dolce were able to pull ahead in the sprint. With only one spot advancing directly to the A Final, they will race in the repechage on Thursday. 

George Dolce said “It was a pretty good race. We had a pretty strong start but Germany got us on the start and got into a good rhythm. We were even with GB pretty much through the 1750 mark until we decided to up our gear and were able to get them in the end. It was a good first race and we are excited for the repechage.”

The U19 men’s quadruple sculls finished fourth in their heat won by the Czech Republic in a time of 6:22.39. The Czech crew started strong and led the race with Great Britain following in second place. The U.S. crew held onto the field in the first half of the race until Ireland walked away in the third 500 meters. They will race in the repechage tomorrow afternoon at 2:40 p.m. ET. 

Donovan Moses and George Kapp finished third in the U19 men’s double sculls heat. Bulgaria won the heat in a time of 6:59.32 followed by Greece in second. Moses and Kapp had a strong start, holding second in the first 500 meters before a move from Bulgaria pushed them into third. They will race in the repechage tomorrow.  

Ian O’Riley’s finished fifth in the U19 men’s single sculls heat, behind winner Panagiotis Makrygiannis from Greece. O’Riley crossed the finish line in 8:02.96. He will race in the repechage tomorrow.  

The U23 women’s four from the University of Texas finished fifth in their A/B Semifinal in a time of 7:10.58. New Zealand was victorious in the semifinal, winning in a time of 7:02.99. Great Britain finished second after battling for the lead with New Zealand. The U.S. crew tried to close the margin to the fourth place crew from the Netherlands in the sprint but was unable to overtake them. They will race in the B Final at 9:50 a.m. ET on Friday. 

In the U23 men’s quadruple sculls semifinal, the U.S. crew finished fifth in the event in a time of 6:23.89. They battled throughout the race with the Swiss crew, pulling ahead in the sprint. Germany won the semifinal with a time of 6:10.09, followed by the Czech Republic in second place. The U.S. will race in the B Final on Friday at 10:05 a.m. ET.

Stanford’s James Fetter finished sixth in the U23 men’s single sculls semifinals. Germany’s Timo Strache won the race in a time of 7:38.39, followed by New Zealand’s Oscar Ruston in second. Fetter’s start placed him in sixth place and he remained in that position finishing in a time of 7:38.39. The B Final will be on Friday at 10:15 a.m with Fetter racing in lane six. 

In the U23 women’s single sculls, University of Washington’s Cillian Mullen finished fifth in the semifinal which was won by Alexandra Foester from Germany in a time of 7:57.06. Mullen settled into fifth place in the first 500 meters and despite attempts to break into the top four was unable to pull his bow ball ahead of the leaders. Mullen finished in a time of 8:12.11 behind fourth place finisher, Paraguay. He will race on Friday in the B Final at 10:20 a.m.

Finals begin tomorrow for Team USA in the U23 men’s and women’s four with coxswain and the men’s pair and lightweight pair. U19 races continue tomorrow with heats and repechages. 

Schedule and results can be found here.