U.S. Men's Four Shocks Rowing World with Victory; Women's Eight Golden at BearingPoint World Cup Stop in Switzerland
LUCERNE, Switzerland - The U.S. men's four and women's eight won gold medals on the final day of competition at the 2004 BearingPoint Rowing World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland. The gold medals highlighted a four-medal day for the United States.
While the U.S. came home with two gold medals, the story of the regatta was the U.S. men's four. The crew of Bryan Volpenhein (Cincinnati, Ohio), Beau Hoopman (Plymouth, Wis.), Dan Beery (Oaktown, Ind.), and Jason Read (Ringoes, N.J.), racing in its first international competition together as a crew, stunned the rowing world by defeating Canada and Great Britain to win the gold medal.
"It was unbelievable. I didn't expect it to happen," Volpenhein said. "We haven't been having great rows since we've been here. It's just unbelievable."
Canada, the defending world champions, got off the line first and led the British crew, which included rowing superstars Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell, through the 1,500-meter mark. But, the U.S. boat maintained contact with the two favorites, slowly inching its way closer to the leading crews as it approached 500 meters to go. That's when the U.S. made its move, exploding past the British boat and then the Canadians. The crew clocked a 6:02.21 to finish 1.96 seconds ahead of Canada. Great Britain finished third in a 6:05.01.
"We knew that we had to be in contact throughout the whole race, so our whole goal was to get out with them because we knew Canada and Great Britain would shoot out of (start)," Volpenhein said. "We wanted to stay at least in contact with them. They got out like we expected, and luckily, we held them. They didn't go anywhere. I was a little worried in the middle of the race; the cadence was a little low, so I called them to come up at the 1,000 (meter mark) and it's like the race started over. It was good, a lot of length."
The women's eight of Mary Whipple (Sacramento, Calif.), Lianne Nelson (Seattle, Wash.), Anna Mickelson (Bellevue, Wash.), Laurel Korholz (La Jolla, Calif.), Caryn Davies (Ithaca, N.Y.), Alison Cox (Turlock, Calif.), Megan Dirkmaat (San Jose, Calif.), Sam Magee (Simsbury, Conn.), and Kate Johnson (Portland, Ore.) won its second consecutive world cup event and clinched the overall world cup title in Sunday's final.
"It was aggressive; it was quick," Cox said about the race. "We just got out in front and held it."
The crew dominated the race, taking control during the first 500 meters. The boat continued to pull away from Romania and the Netherlands during the middle portion of the race, building an open-water lead with 500 meters to go. The U.S. came home in a 6:11.04, finishing 2.31 seconds ahead of the Netherlands. Romania finished third, clocking a 6:14.35.
"At the 1,000 (meter mark), I was thinking keep the rhythm, keep the momentum," Cox said. "In the back of my head, I know that Romania has a tradition of walking in the last 1,000, so I kept that in my head, but I also had confidence in my crew that we were going to keep moving."
The lightweight men's pair of Mike Altman (Marin County, Calif.) and Simon Carcagno (Pennington, N.J.), the bronze medalists in the event at last year's world championships, won a silver medal in Sunday's final. The crew clocked a 6:37.48 to finish one second behind Italy. With all six crews challenging for medal positions in the first 1,000 meters, Altman and Carcagno sat in fourth position at the midway point of the race. That's when Italy, Germany 2 and the U.S. began to pull away from the remainder of the field. Altman and Carcagno then used the fastest final 500 meters to pass Germany 2 for second place.
The women's quadruple sculls quartet of Danika Holbrook (Durham, N.H.), Kelly Salchow (Cincinnati, Ohio), Hilary Gehman (Wolfeboro, N.H.), and Michelle Guerette (Bristol, Conn.) used a blistering last 500 meters to move into third place, claiming the bronze medal. The crew got off the line in sixth position but clocked the fastest last 500-meter split to finish in a 6:25.10, just 1.33 seconds behind the gold medalists from Great Britain. Great Britain stroked a 6:23.77 to hold off a hard-charging German crew by 0.08 seconds for the gold.
"We had a really good second 1,000 (meters)," Gehman said. "Our start was a little bit off. We were sixth off the line. I think we were just really, really aggressive through the second half of the race."
The U.S. men's eight of Pete Cipollone (Ardmore, Pa.), Jon Watling (Greenwich, Conn.), Joey Hansen (Bakersfield, Calif.), Chris Ahrens (Milwaukee, Wis.), Chris Liwski (Sarasota, Fla.), Wolf Moser (Moultonboro, N.H.), Mike Wherley (Sun Prairie, Wis.), Matt Deakin (San Francisco, Calif.), and Wyatt Allen (Portland, Maine) finished fourth, getting passed by the Italian crew at the finish line for third place. The boat sat in fifth position off of the start before working its way back into third place at the midway point of the race. The U.S. crew held that position as it came towards the finish line, but Italy used a strong final 500 meters to steal the bronze medal by 0.12 seconds. The U.S. stroked a 5:37.26. Canada won the gold medal, clocking a 5:35.01, with Germany taking the silver medal 1.97 seconds behind.
The second U.S. entry in the men's eight, the Harvard University varsity boat of coxswain Jesse Oberst, Kip McDaniel, Aaron Holzapfel, Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, Jonathan Lehe, Malcolm Howard, Jordan Sagalowsky, and Jonathan Durham, finished sixth in the final, clocking a 5:44.03.
The lightweight men's double sculls tandem of Greg Ruckman (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Steve Tucker (Mooresville, Ind.) finished fourth in the final, just missing a medal. The duo got off the line very slowly and sat in sixth position at the 500-meter mark. But, the crew clocked the fastest final 1,500 meters to work its way back into fourth. Italy won the gold medal in a time of 6:29.69, holding off France by 0.04 seconds. Hungary finished third, 0.34 seconds behind. Ruckman and Tucker stroked a 6:32.38.
In the final of the women's double sculls, Ala Piotrowski (Manchester, N.H.) and Carol Skricki (Norwood, Mass.) finished sixth. The duo clocked a 7:14.98. The defending world champions from New Zealand, Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell, dominated the race, stroking a 6:59.77 and cruising to a 2.88-second victory. Germany's Kathrin Boron and Kerstin (Kowalski) El Qalqili won the silver medal in a 7:02.65. Germany 2 won the bronze medal.
With Steve Warner (Livonia, Mich.) moving into the stroke seat for Sunday's race, the lightweight men's four of Warner, Pat Todd (Cincinnati, Ohio), Paul Teti (Upper Darby, Pa.), and Matt Smith (Woodbridge, Va.) won Final B to finish in seventh place overall. The crew sat in third position at the 500-meter mark before taking the lead during the second quarter of the race. The U.S. boat clocked a 6:06.61 to finish 0.67 seconds ahead of Russia.
The men's quadruple sculls crew of Kent Smack (Clinton, N.J.), J. Sloan DuRoss (South Portland, Maine), Brett Wilkinson (Hyde Park, N.Y.), and Ben Holbrook (Hartland, Wis.) also won Final B to finish in seventh place overall. After getting off the line in fifth position, the U.S. took the lead during the second quarter of the race and pulled away from the field for an open-water victory. The crew clocked a 5:51.77 to finish 2.93 seconds ahead of Switzerland. Italy finished third.
In Final B of the men's single sculls, Conal Groom (Northford, Conn.) clocked a 7:08.41 to finish second behind Italy's Simone Raineri for an eighth-place finish overall. The first half of the race was a tight, four-way battle for the top spot with Groom sitting in third place at the 1,000-meter mark. Groom made his push during the third quarter of the race, taking a 1.37-second lead over the Swiss sculler Reto Niedermann with 500 meters to go. However, Raineri used a strong sprint to move from fifth to first, with Groom dropping to second. Raineri finished in a 7:07.85.
Other world cup winners included Germany's Katrin Rutschow-Stomporowski in the women's single sculls, Norway's Olaf Tufte in the men's single sculls, Romania in the women's pair, Italy in the men's pair, Italy in the men's double sculls, Canada in the lightweight women's double sculls, Italy in the lightweight men's four, and Australia in the men's quadruple sculls.