ETON DORNEY, Great Britain – U.S. crews fared well on the opening day of racing at the 2013 Samsung World Rowing Cup #2, with four boats advancing to semifinal competition on Saturday.
Click here for start list. For three crews – the men’s single sculls, women’s single sculls and lightweight men’s double sculls – a top-four finish in their respective events could mean a spot on the team that will compete at the 2013 World Rowing Championships in Chungju, South Korea, August 25-September 1.
Eleanor Logan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine) won her heat of the women’s single sculls by more than five seconds. With the top three scullers moving on from each of the three heats, Logan led from start to finish, posting a time of 7:37.28 to Russia’s London Olympian Julia Levina, who crossed in a 7:42.69. China’s Yunxia Chen advanced with a third-place finish in 7:53.95 over Paraguay’s Roclo Rivarola Trappe’s 8:09.61.
Returning to the racecourse where she won her second Olympic gold medal in the women’s eight last August, Logan is sculling for only the second time in her international rowing career. Earlier this spring, Logan won bronze in the women’s single event and silver in the women’s quadruple sculls at the 2013 Samsung World Rowing Cup #1.
In the semifinal, Logan will be up against New Zealand’s Emma Twigg, who won the first heat and finished fourth at the 2012 Olympic Games, China, Estonia and two Great Britain scullers – Victoria Thornley and Melanie Wilson.
In the men’s single sculls,
John Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) finished fourth in his morning heat, but returned to win his repechage to advance to Saturday’s semifinals. Graves was in second place to London silver medalist Ondrei Synek of the Czech Republic over the first half of the 2,000-meter course, but fell back in the final stretch to cross in a 7:03.06.
Then in the rep, Graves led off the start, staying ahead of scullers from Israel, Korea and Moldova, crossing in a 7:17.69.
Graves earned the opportunity to compete in the regatta with his win at the 2013 National Selection Regatta #1. He has previously competed on U.S. under 23 teams, where he finished 11th in the lightweight single in 2010 and 13th in the pair in 2009. In tomorrow’s second semifinal, Graves will face heat winner and two-time Olympian Marcel Hacker of Germany, Bulgaria, Argentina, Israel and Korea.
Racing in the second of three heats, the lightweight double sculls crew of
Peter Alter (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and
Colin Ethridge (Laytonsville, Md.) also finished fourth. Norway’s 2012 Olympian Kristoffer Brunn and his teammate Are Strandli led from wire-to-wire to win in a 6:26.59. Alter and Ethridge held the fourth-place position for the first half of the course before falling back into fifth. A strong sprint brought the crew back into fourth, where it finished in a 6:41.39.
Alter and Ethridge returned in the repechage to lead the pack off the start and secure a place in the semifinals. The U.S. posted a winning time of 6:41.72 to Argentina’s second-place time of 6:44.08. The crew will again face Argentina, along with Japan, The Netherlands, Austria and Poland in the semi.
In international non-Olympic class racing, U.S. lightweight men’s single sculler
Hugh McAdam (Philadelphia, Pa.) won his repechage to advance to the semifinals. Following a third-place finish in the third of three heats, McAdam returned to win the rep in a 7:14.95.
McAdam will line up with Ireland, Portugal, Brazil and two Danish scullers in the first of two semifinals.
In adaptive racing, the trunk and arms mixed double sculls team of
Rob Jones (Lovettsville, Va.) and
Oksana Masters (Louisville, Ky.) will return to the site of the 2012 Paralympic Games, where the crew won a bronze medal in the event. There will be six crews racing in Saturday’s final, including the 2012 Paralympic silver-medal team of France – Perle Bouge and Stephane Tardieu.
Both the U.S. lightweight men’s single sculls and trunk and arms mixed double sculls crews will be selected at their respective trials – Senior World Championship Trials are scheduled for August 4-7 and the Para-Rowing World Championship Trials are scheduled for July 7-9 and in West Windsor, N.J.
Dorney Lake, a part of Eton College, has hosted a number of World Rowing regattas in recent years, including the 2005 World Rowing Cup, the 2006 World Rowing Championships and the 2011 World Rowing Junior Championships. It is a custom-built, manmade rowing venue along the famous Thames River across from picturesque Windsor, and the home of rowing for legendary Eton College.
The 2013 World Rowing regatta season started early in the southern hemisphere in late March. The first stage of the 2013 Samsung World Rowing Cup series was held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre, venue of the 2000 Olympic Rowing Regatta. The third and final race in the series will be held in Lucerne, Switzerland July 12-14, 2013.
Race reports, live results and a photo gallery will be available on
www.worldrowing.com throughout the regatta. Sunday’s A finals will be streamed live beginning at 9:55 a.m. local time at
www.worldrowing.com/video.