LUCERNE, Switzerland – Racing begins Friday morning on the Rotsee course in Lucerne, Switzerland, in an event that for most U.S. athletes will be their final international competition before the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. 2016 World Rowing Cup II will see 17 U.S. crews in competition and showcase five crews that have already earned Olympic qualification including the men’s eight that won the 2016 Final Olympic Qualification Regatta on Tuesday.
Competition begins Friday morning with heats and runs through Sunday finals. Click here for complete event information including live race tracker, entries and results.
Here's a snapshot of the U.S. crews in action this weekend:
Women's Pair (W2-)
The U.S. will have two crews competing in this boat class. In USA1 are Grace Luczak (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and Felice Mueller (Cleveland, Ohio). Luczak and Mueller won the event at 2016 National Selection Regatta I and can earn Olympic qualification with a top-four finish.
USA2 features the second-place NSRI pair of two-time Olympic champion Eleanor Logan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine) and 2012 Olympic champion Meghan Musnicki (Naples, N.Y.).
Among the 17 crews entered are Helen Glover and Heather Stanning of Great Britain, who have not lost since 2012. Luczak and Mueller race in the second of three heats against New Zealand, Argentina, France, Belarus and Canada. Logan and Musnicki race in the third heat and face Canada, China, Great Britain and South Africa. The top two crews in each heat advance to the semifinals.
Women's Single Sculls (W1x)
Gevvie Stone (Newton, Mass.) earned her spot on the Rio roster last month at trials. The 2012 Olympian finished fourth at last year’s world championships and won silver and bronze medals in world cup competition last year.
Stone will race in a field of 18 including Australia’s Kim (Crow) Brennan who has reached the podium in every singles event since 2012 and was the 2013 and 2015 world champion. Also racing is China's 2015 bronze medalist, Jingli Duan.
Stone races in the second heat and faces Thailand, Czech Republic, Germany and Australia. The top two scullers in each heat advance to the semifinals.
Men's Single Sculls (M1x)
Beijing and London Olympian Ken Jurkowski (New Fairfield, Conn.) and Thomas Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) will compete in the men’s single sculls. Jurkowski raced in the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta earlier this week, but was eliminated from competition in the repechages.
Graves, a three-time national team athlete from Craftsbury Sculling Center, finished second to Jurkowski at the 2016 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Team Trials last month. The largest field in the regatta has 26 entrants, including New Zealand's defending Olympic champion Mahe Drysdale and Cuba’s Angel Rodriguez Fournier, the 2013 silver and 2014 bronze world medalist.
Jurkowski races in the second of six heats and faces Drysdale, Lithuania, France and Venezuela. Graves races in the sixth heat and faces Germany, Lithuania and Paraguay. The top three scullers advance to the afternoon quarterfinals.
Lightweight Women's Single Sculls (LW1x)
Racing in the lightweight women's single will be Michelle Sechser (Folsom, Calif.). Sechser was in the lightweight women's double the past two world championships and qualified the boat class for Rio. She finished seventh in the lightweight single sculls at the 2013 World Rowing Championships and fourth in the lightweight quadruple sculls at the 2012 World Rowing Senior and Junior Championships.
There are 18 women entered and Sechser races in the first of three heats against The Netherlands, Denmark, Brazil, Thailand and Australia. The top two scullers advance to the semifinals.
Lightweight Men's Single Sculls (LM1x)
The U.S. will have two athletes rowing in the lightweight men's single sculls event. Both Hugh McAdam (Hollis, N.H.) and Austin Meyer (Cohoes, N.Y.) rowed at Olympic Trials. McAdam, who finished fifth in the lightweight quadruple sculls at the 2015 World Rowing Championships, finished third in his men’s single semifinal, while Meyer, who has rowed on nine national teams from junior to senior, finished second in the lightweight men’s double sculls.
Sixteen scullers are entered for World Cup II. McAdam races in the second of three heats against Peru, Hungary, France and Thailand. Meyer races in the third heat against two entries from Norway, Japan and Slovenia. The top two scullers in each race advance to the semifinals.
Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x)
Kate Bertko (Oakland, Calif.) and Devery Karz (Park City, Utah) won the event at trials and will use Lucerne as a stepping stone for Rio. Bertko is a seven-time national team athlete who won bronze medals at the last two world championships. Karz helped qualify the boat class at the 2015 World Championships and has rowed on five national teams.
There are 17 crews racing. Bertko and Karz take on Great Britain, Brazil, Canada, Denmark and China in the second of three heats. The top two crews advance to the semis.
Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x)
Andrew Campbell, Jr. (New Canaan, Conn.) and Joshua Konieczny (Millbury, Ohio) won the lightweight double at trials to qualify for Rio. An 11-time national team member, Campbell won consecutive under-23 gold medals and a senior worlds bronze in 2012 in the lightweight single. Konieczny, a four-time national team member, qualified the boat class for Rio with Campbell at the world championships last summer.
Thirteen crews are entered in the event. Campbell and Konieczny race in the third of three heats against Great Britain, Norway and Austria. The top three crews advance to the semifinals.
Men’s Double Sculls (M2x)
Craftsbury Sculling Center's Willy Cowles (Farmington, Conn.) and Stephen Whelpley (Moquon, Wis.) rowed in the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta earlier this week, but finished sixth in the final. A top-two placement was needed to qualify the boat for Rio.
Twelve crews are entered to race at World Cup II. Cowles and Whelpley compete in the first of two heats against two entries from Germany, Great Britain, New Zealand and Cuba. The heat winner advances to the final, with the rest going on the repechages, or second-chance races.
Men's Four (M4-)
Seth Weil (Menlo Park, Calif.), Henrik Rummel (Pittsford, N.Y.), Matt Miller (Fairfax, Va.) and Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.) return as the favorites in the men's four event, having won gold at the 2016 World Rowing Cup I.
Twelve crews are entered. The U.S. rows in the second of two heats against Canada, Argentina, The Netherlands and Germany. The top two crews advance directly to the final.
Women's Quadruple Sculls (W4x)
The U.S. will have two crews racing in the field of seven, and is the defending world champion. In USA1's Kerry Simmonds (San Diego, Calif.), Kara Kohler (Clayton, Calif.), Tracy Eisser (Fair Lawn, N.J.) and Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) race The Netherlands, Australia and China in the first heat.
USA2's Emily Huelskamp (Sainte Genevieve), Olivia Coffey (Watkins Glen, N.Y.), Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Grace Latz (Jackson, Mich.) race Poland and Germany in the second heat. The winner of each race advances to the final.
Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x)
Craftsbury’s Ben Davison (Inverness, Fla.), Ben Dann (Pound Ridge, N.Y.), John Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) and 2012 Olympian Peter Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) return after having finished fourth in the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta, just two spots out of qualification. Eight crews are racing and the U.S. faces Switzerland, Great Britain and Lithuania in the second heat, with the winner advancing directly to the final.
Women’s Eight (W8+)
A lineup deep with Olympic and world champions includes coxswain Katelin Snyder (Detroit, Mich.), Tessa Gobbo (Chesterfield, N.H), Amanda Elmore (West Lafayette, Ind.), Logan, Lauren Schmetterling (Moorestown, N.J.), Luczak, Musnicki, Emily Regan (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Mueller. The U.S. has not lost a championship or Olympic race in the event since 2006. The U.S. races for lane placement in the final against Canada, Russia, New Zealand and Great Britain.
Men's Eight (M8+)
The U.S. is coming into the event fresh off of its Rio-qualifying win on Tuesday. The crew of coxswain Sam Ojserkis (Linwood, N.J.), Austin Hack (Old Lyme, Conn.), Rob Munn (Redmond, Wash.), Mike DiSanto (Boston, Mass.), Steve Kasprzyk (Cinnaminson, N.J.), Glenn Ochal (Philadelphia, Pa.), Alex Karwoski (Hollis, N.H.), Hans Struzyna (Kirkland, Wash.) and Sam Dommer (Folsom, Calif.) race for lane placement against Germany, New Zealand, Russia, Great Britain and The Netherlands.
Great Britain is the reigning world champion; Germany is the defending Olympic champion and won silver at the 2015 World Rowing Championships, while The Netherlands won bronze.