LUCERNE, Switzerland - The women's double sculls tandem of Ala Piotrowski (Manchester, N.H.) and Carol Skricki (Norwood, Mass.) finished second in its repechage, or second-chance race, on Monday afternoon, advancing to tomorrow's final at the 2004 Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Racing in the first of two repechages, Piotrowski and Skricki got off to a strong start and led the field at the 500-meter mark. China took the lead during the middle 1,000 meters, but the U.S. double easily kept its advantage over third-place Poland, finishing more than five seconds ahead. China clocked a 6:52.59 to win the first repechage, with the U.S. finishing in a 6:55.32. Poland stroked a 7:00.54, missing the final. The United States joins the heat winners from Hungary and Bulgaria, as well as China, France, and Norway in Tuesday's final. The top two finishers will qualify for the Games.
Conal Groom (Northford, Conn.), a 2000 Olympian in the lightweight men's double sculls, finished fourth in his repechage of the men's single sculls and failed to make the final. Groom sat in fifth position at the 500-meter mark before moving into second place at the midway point of the race. However, he could not maintain that pace, dropping back during the last 1,000 meters. The finish means that the U.S. will not have a men's single sculls representative at the 2004 Olympic Games.
In addition to the women's double sculls, the lightweight men's double sculls and men's quadruple sculls will race in their finals on Tuesday, while women's single sculler Jennifer Devine (Portland, Ore.) will race in the semifinals. If she finishes in the top three in her semifinal, Devine will race in a final on Wednesday.
The Olympic Qualification Regatta is the last chance for countries to qualify for the Olympic Games. Country qualification began at last year's world championships and continued at several regional qualifiers earlier this year. The final qualifier is open to crews from the United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, as well as countries with crews wishing to qualify in an event that was not on the program of the Olympic qualification regatta held in their region. The U.S. failed to earn automatic berths for the Olympics in the men's single sculls, women's single sculls, women's double sculls, lightweight men's double sculls, and men's quadruple sculls at the 2003 World Championships necessitating that those five crews race this week in Lucerne.
A total of 120 boats from 43 countries are vying for the remaining spots. The regatta continues on Tuesday with finals in 13 events and semifinals in one event beginning at 5 p.m. local time. The women's single sculls final will be Wednesday at 5 p.m. local time.