The United States women’s Eights ruled the rowing world for an amazing 11 years running, but with a new and inexperienced crew, finished fourth in the 2017 World Championships.
End of an era? Nope, the start of a new one.
With more experience and a couple of veterans, the team of Kristine O’Brien, Felice Mueller, Victoria Ortiz, Gia Doonan, Dana Moffat, Tracy Eisser, Emily Regan, Olivia Coffey and Katelin Guregian (cox) took charge after the 500 m mark and returned the U.S. to the top of the podium to cap the 2018 World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv (BUL). Only Regan and Guregian (cox) returned from the 2016 Olympic Champion team and stayed with the program through 2017 and into 2018. Their patience was rewarded.
“We just had so much belief and so much trust, and that’s what we did all the way down the course,” Guregian said. “If anyone had let go of their belief or their trust, it would have been over. I think that’s what carried us through. The conditions were crazy out there; headwind, tailwind, crosswind, just coming from every direction. We believe in each other with our whole hearts, and we just followed that down the course. It feels amazing to have won that race.”
The U.S. won with style in 6:00.97, with Canada second in 6:03.05 and Australia third in 6:03.86. It’s the 11th World Championship gold and 21st Worlds medal for the U.S. in this event. After winning the Olympic title in 2008-12-16, the U.S. is certainly a contender once again.
The U.S. women also shined in a new Olympic class, the Fours, as the team of Madeleine Wanamaker, Erin Boxberger, Molly Bruggeman and Erin Reelick got out fast and then cruised home to win the world title, ahead of Australia, 6:25.57-6:27.09, with Russia third in 6:27.36.
“Our plan was to execute our race plan and do it better,” said Bruggeman.” We wanted to stay very focused on us and what we were doing and not worry about what anyone else was doing. I think that really worked out for us. I wasn’t looking out the boat the whole time. I didn’t care what place we were in. I knew all I had to do was follow Reelick and pull as hard as I could.
“It’s redemption from last year. We crossed fourth (in 2017), and (Erin and I) told ourselves that we never want to feel like this again. It feels so good right now. I never want to feel anything but this.”
After winning a Worlds silver last season, the Double Sculls duo of Meghan O’Leary and Ellen Tomek finished third this year for the other open-weight American medals.
The high-profile Single Sculls races were both shockers, with European champ Kjetil Borch of Norway leading wire-to-wire to beat defending champion Ondrej Synek (CZE; second) with Robert Manson (NZL), holder of the world’s best time on record finishing sixth. Swiss Jeannine Gmelin had looked unbeatable in the women’s Single Sculls coming in, but had to settle for silver to Sanita Puspure (IRL), who by more than five seconds.
Czech stars Martin and Valent Sinkovic, Rio Olympic gold medalists in Double Sculls, completed their transition to Pairs with an impressive victory for their fifth career World Championships gold medal. Summaries:
FISA World Rowing Championships
Plovdiv (BUL) ~ 9-16 September 2018
(Full results here)
Men
Single Sculls: 1. Kjetil Borch (NOR), 6:38.31; 2. Ondrej Synek (CZE), 6:39.92; 3. Mindaugas Griskonis (NZL), 6:42.90; 4. Harry Leask (GBR), 6:45.02; 5. Robert Manson (NZL), 6:46.11; 6. Oliver Zeidler (GER), 6:50.71.
Double Sculls: 1. Hugo Boucheron/Matthieu Androdias (FRA), 6:05.16; 2. Barnabe Delarze/Rman Roeoesli (SUI), 6:06.49; 3. John Storey/Chris Harris (NZL), 6:06.71; 4. Angus Groom/Jack Beaumont (GBR), 6:08.03; 5. Timo Piontek/Lars Hartig (GER), 6:16.77; 6. Ioan Prundeanu/Marian-Florian Enache (ROU), 6:18.73.
Quadruple Sculls: 1. Italy, 5:35.310; 2. Australia, 5:36.510; 3. Ukraine, 5:37.280; 4. New Zealand, 5:37.390; 5. Netherlands, 5:37.910; 6. Poland, 5:39.430.
Pairs: 1. Martin Sinkovic/Valent Sinkovic (CRO), 6:14.96; 2. Marius-Vasile Cozmiuc/Ciprian Todosa (ROU), 6:16.90; 3. Valentin Onfroy/Theophile Onfroy (FRA), 6:17.51; 4. Mackenzie Copp/Taylor Perry (CAN), 6:21.28; 5. Thomas Murray/Michael Brake (NZL), 6:21.54; 6. Jaime Canalejo Pazos/Javier Garcia Ordonez (ESP), 6:25.12.
Fours: 1. Australia, 5:44.470; 2. Italy, 5:44.990; 3. Great Britain, 5:46.460; 4. Netherlands, 5:47.780; 5. Romania, 5:50.710; 6. Germany, 5:55.320.
Eights: 1. Germany, 5:24.31; 2. Australia, 5:26.11; 3. Great Britain, 5:26.14; 4. United States, 5:26.31; 5. Italy, 5:29.79; 6. Romania, 5:30.43.
Lightweight Single Sculls: 1. Jason Osborne (GER), 6:56.36; 2. Michael Schmid (SUI), 6:58.34; 3. Andrew Campbell Jr. (USA), 7:00.04; 4. Aaron Lattimer (CAN), 7:01.80; 5. Man Sun (CHN), 7:10.12; 6. Peter Galambos (HUN), 7:13.03.
Lightweight Double Sculls: 1. Garu O’Donovan/Paul O’Donovan (IRL), 6:01.81; 2. Stefano Oppo/Pietro Ruta (ITA), 6:08.31; 3. Tim Brys/Niels van Zandweghe (BEL), 6:11.25; 4. Benjamin van Dalen/Matthew Dunham (NZL), 6:15.36; 5. Are Strandli/Jens Holm (NOR), 6:17.18; 6. Patricio Rojas Anzar/Rodrigo Conde Romero (ESP), 6:19.26.
Lightweight Quadruple Sculls: 1. Germany, 5:51.210; 2. Italy, 5:52.850; 3. Turkey, 5:53.950; 4. Denmark, 5:56.690; 5. Ireland, 5:45.640; 6. Czech Rep., 5;59.770.
Lightweight Pairs: 1. Giuseppe Di Mare/Alfonso Scalzone (ITA), 6:38.55; 2. Antonios Papakonstantinou/Ioannis Marokos (GRE), 6:41.48; 3. David Smith/Thomas Foster (USA), 6:59.99; only finalists.
Women
Single Sculls: 1. Sanita Puspure (IRL), 7:20.12; 2. Jeannine Gmelin (SUI), 7:25.93; 3. Magdalena Lobnig (AUT), 7:29.51; 4. Kara Kohler (USA), 7:30.41; 5. Fie Udby Erichsen (DEN), 7:33.15; 6. Annekatrin Thiele (GER), 7:41.68.
Double Sculls: 1. Milda Valciukaite/Ieva Adomaviciute (LTU), 6:44.15; 2. Brooke Donoghue/Olivia Loe (NZL), 6:46.28; 3. Meghan O’Leary/Ellen Tomek (USA), 6:47.75; 4. Charlotte Hodgkins-Byrne/Anna Thornton (GBR), 6:51.59; 5. Roos de Jong/Lisa Scheenaard (NED), 6:52.69; 6. Gabrielle Smith/Andrea Proske (CAN), 6:56.01.
Quadruple Sculls: 1. Poland, 6:08.96; 2. Germany, 6:11.42; 3. Netherlands, 6:11.79; 4. China, 6:11.85; 5. Great Britain, 6:16.45; 6. United States, 6:18.15.
Pairs: 1. Calleigh Filmer/Hillary Janssens (CAN), 6:50.67; 2. Grace Pendergast/Kerri Gowler (NZL), 6:52.96; 3. Anna Boada Piero/Aina Cid (ESP), 7:04.60; 4. Alessandra Patelli/Sara Bertolasi (ITA), 7:06.91; 5. Xinyu Lin/Rui Ju (CHN), 7:11.31; 6. Aifric Keogh/Emily Hegarty (IRL), 7:15.70.
Fours: 1. United States (Madeleine Wanamaker, Erin Boxberger, Molly Bruggeman, Erin Reelick), 6:25.57; 2. Australia, 6:27.09; 3. Russia, 6:27.36; 4. Denmark, 6:28.78; 5. Poland, 6:32.05; 6. China, 6:39.84.
Eights: 1. United States, 6:00.97; 2. Canada, 6:03.05; 3. Australia, 6:03.86; 4. Netherlands, 6:06.48; 5. Romania, 6:07.99; 6. Great Britain, 6:11.88.
Lightweight Single Sculls: 1. Laura Tarantola (FRA), 7:51.79; 2. Clara Guerra (ITA), 7:51.96; 3. Imogen Grant (GBR), 7:52.61; 4. Michelle Sechser (USA), 7:53.70; 5. Jill Moffatt (CAN), 8:02.39; 6. Alena Furman (BLR), 13:30.77.
Lightweight Double Sculls: 1. Ionela-Livia Cozmiuc/Gianina-Elena Beleaga (ROU), 6:50.71; 2. Emily Schmieg/Mary Jones (USA), 6:52.30; 3. Marieke Keijser/Ilse Paulis (NED), 6:52.56; 4. Patricia Merz/Frederique Rol (SUI), 6:54.80; 5. Eleanor Piggott/Emily Craig (GBR), 6:55.81; 6. Zoe McBride/Jackie Kiddle (NZL), 6:57.79.
Lightweight Quadruple Sculls: 1. China, 6:28.320; 2. Denmark, 6:33.330; 3. Germany, 6:34.250; 4. United States (Saeger, Bertasi, Cavallo, Copenhaver), 6:36.02; 5. Great Britain, 6:37.51; 6. Italy, 6:39.04.
Lightweight Pairs: 1. Serena Lo Bue/Giorgia Lo Bue (ITA), 7:30.84; 2. Jennifer Sager/Jillian Zieff (USA), 7:45.50; only finalists.
