LUZERN, Switzerland - At the conclusion of racing Saturday, two more U.S. crews advanced to the race for medals on Sunday at the 2012 Samsung World Rowing Cup II in Lucerne, Switzerland.
The women’s pair advanced from the semifinals, while the lightweight women’s double sculls fought back from the repechage to earn a spot in the A final, highlighting another day of intense Olympic-year competition on the Rotsee.
After falling short in Friday’s heat, the U.S. lightweight women’s double sculls crew of Julie Nichols (Livermore, Calif.) and Kristin Hedstrom (Concord, Mass.) returned in the repechage to finish second in a 7:02.00 to China’s winning time of 6:59.45.
Heading to Sunday’s final means more than a race for medals, as Nichols and Hedstrom are in pursuit of a top-four finish to secure their spot in London. Scheduled for 11:27 a.m. local time, the U.S. crew will take on heat winners New Zealand and Greece, along with Denmark, Great Britain and China.
Eleanor Logan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine) and Erin Cafaro (Modesto, Calif.) also finished second in their race to advance to the final of the women’s pair. The U.S. crew was in the lead crossing the first 500-meter mark before slipping into second behind Great Britain’s Helen Glover and Heather Stanning. GB won in 6:56.61 to the United States’ 6:57.37. South Africa advanced with a third-place time of 7:07.39.
The three crews will meet New Zealand, Australia and Argentina from the second semi in Sunday morning’s first A final, scheduled for 10:22 a.m. local time.
U.S. men’s single sculler Ken Jurkowski (New Fairfield, Conn.) had a promising start to the morning, placing second to Germany’s Marcel Hacker in his quarterfinal to move to the afternoon semi.
Then, matched with New Zealand’s Mahe Drysdale, Great Britain’s Alan Campbell and Ondrej Synek from the Czech Republic in the semifinal, Jurkowski had a tough time cracking the top three. The U.S. sculler was sixth off the line, but could only manage to squeeze past Germany’s Mathias Rocher to cross fifth in 6:53.53. Drysdale and Campbell finished within 0.02 seconds for first (6:44.30) and second (6:44.32), respectively. Synek advanced to the final in third with a 6:50.96.
Jurkowski will now have an opportunity to race in the B final for places 7-12. Without a top-four finish, the men’s single will now be included in the 2012 Olympic Trials - Rowing June 11-14 in West Windsor, N.J.
In the women’s quadruple sculls, the USA 2 entry is also headed to the B final Sunday, having fallen short of qualifying from its repechage.
Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.), Kara Kohler (Clayton, Calif.), Kady Glessner (Seattle, Wash.) and Gevvie Stone (Newton, Mass.) were in fifth crossing the first 500-meter mark and worked their way through Germany by the halfway point. Great Britain won the race in 6:19.69, with Australia second in 6:20.06 to advance to the final. China was edged out and finished third in 6:20.22, followed by the U.S. in 6:23.72.
The USA 1 women’s quad and women’s eight are back in action Sunday, having qualified directly from Friday’s heats.
Coxswain Mary Whipple (Orangevale, Calif.), Caryn Davies (Ithaca, N.Y.), Caroline Lind (Greensboro, N.C.), Taylor Ritzel (Larkspur, Colo.), Meghan Musnicki (Naples, N.Y.), Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Jamie Redman (Spokane, Wash.), Susan Francia (Abington, Pa.) and Esther Lofgren (Newport Beach, Calif.) lit up the stage Friday, setting a new world best time in 5:54.17 and beating the previous time of 5:55.50, set by the U.S. in 2006, by more than a second.
The United States women’s eight will meet heat winner Canada, as well as the winners of Saturday’s repechage - The Netherlands, Australia, Great Britain and Germany - in Sunday’s final, scheduled for 1:55 p.m. local time.
The USA 1 women’s quad entry of Kate Bertko (Oakland, Calif.), Adrienne Martelli (University Place, Wash.), Natalie Dell (Clearville, Pa.) and Stesha Carle (Long Beach, Calif.) advanced directly to the final with a second-place finish in its heat Friday. The U.S. will race Germany, Ukraine, New Zealand, GB and Australia at 1:29 p.m. local time.
For a complete competition schedule, entries and results, visit www.worldrowing.com. For live video of finals Sunday, visit http://www.worldrowing.com/video.