The United States took home three medals Sunday at the 2010 Rowing World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland. The U.S. won gold the women's eight, silver in the women's pair and bronze in the women's double sculls to highlight the final day of competition.
The U.S. came from behind in the final 100 meters of the women's eight race to win gold by 0.2 seconds over Canada. The Canadian crew, coming off a win at the Henley Royal Regatta, got out to an early lead and maintained half of a boat length on the U.S. and Great Britain through the body of the race. Great Britain fell back in the last 500 meters, while the U.S. and Canada went stroke-for-stroke to the line.
Coxswain Katelin Snyder (Winter Park, Fla.), Esther Lofgren (Newport Beach, Calif.), Susan Francia (Abington, Pa.), Meghan Musnicki (Naples, N.Y.), Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Jamie Redman (Spokane, Wash.), Kady Glessner (Seattle, Wash.), Erin Cafaro (Modesto, Calif.) and Sarah Zelenka (Itasca, Ill.) posted a winning time of 6:12.19, a bow ball ahead of Canada's 6:12.39. Four members of last year's world-champion crew returned to the eight lineup, including 2008 Olympic gold-medalists Francia and Cafaro. For Redman and Zelenka, this was their second gold medal of the regatta, having won the women's four event Saturday. Great Britain, boating the crew that medaled at the first two world cup stops, crossed third in a 6:17.35 for the bronze medal. The Netherlands finished fourth in a 6:22.31, with China and Germany rounding out the field in fifth and sixth, respectively.
Four hours earlier, Francia and Musnicki raced to a silver medal in the final of the women' pair. The U.S. duo finished second in its heat and won its repechage en route to Sunday's medal race. Francia and Musnicki were in fourth place crossing the 500-meter mark and worked their way into second position by 1,500 meters to finish 1.5 seconds ahead of Canada's Krista Guloien and Ashley Brzozowicz in a 7:14.24. In a repeat of its performance in Munich, New Zealand's Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown led from wire-to-wire, crossing in a 7:09.57 for the gold medal. Canada took bronze in a 7:15.63, with Australia's Sarah Tait and Sarah Cook fourth in a 7:16.82. Australia's second boat finished fifth, followed by Germany in sixth.
In the women's double sculls, Kate Bertko (Oakland, Calif.) and Stesha Carle (Long Beach, Calif.) came from behind in sixth place, edging out Czech Republic by 0.32 seconds for the bronze medal. Racing one lane over in the USA 2 boat, Margot Shumway (Westlake, Ohio) and Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.), 2008 Olympians in the double and quad, crossed the first 500-meter mark in fourth place before slipping back to finish fifth. Great Britain's Anna Watkins and Katherine Grainger posted a time of 6:50.53 to win their third gold medal of the 2010 Rowing World Cup series. Australia's Kim Crow and Sally Kehoe took silver in 6:52.60. Munich bronze-medalists Bertko and Carle clocked a 6:57.39 for their second world cup bronze of the season, with Czech Republic's Jitka and Lenka Antosova coming up just short of the podium in a 6:57.77. Shumway and Kalmoe clocked a 6:59.40, with Germany's Annekatrin Thiele and Stephanie Schiller sixth in a 7:05.19.
Bertko, Carle, Shumway and Kalmoe competed less than three hours later in the final of the women's quadruple sculls, finishing fifth. Coming off a second-place finish in its preliminary heat, the U.S. crew was able to move into fifth place by the halfway point and held position to cross in a 6:28.63. Great Britian's Watkins and Grainger joined Annabel Vernon and Beth Rodford to win gold in a 6:23.50. Ukraine, the defending world champions in the event, won silver in a 6:24.78, with Germany third in a 6:25.26 for the bronze medal. China held off the U.S. for fourth place, crossing 0.33 seconds ahead in a 6:28.30, while New Zealand rounded out the field in sixth place.
The U.S. men's four crew of Josh Inman (Hillsboro, Ore.), Henrik Rummel (Pittsford, N.Y.), Brett Newlin (Riverton, Wyo.) and Giuseppe Lanzone (Annandale, Va.) finished sixth in the final, crossing in a 6:01.71. Great Britain, boating the same lineup that took bronze in Munich behind the U.S., controlled the race from the start, crossing in a 5:55.15 for the gold medal. New Zealand edged out France for the silver medal in a 5:57.37, with France in a 5:57.92. New Zealand's 2 entry took fourth in a 5:59.82, with Australia fifth in a 6:00.53. Racing in the B final, the USA 2 men's four of Thomas Peszek (Farmington Hills, Mich.), Ross James (DeKalb, Ill.), Grant James (DeKalb, Ill.) and Justin Stangel (Madison, Wis.) finished third in a 5:58.02 behind Germany and Slovenia for ninth place overall.
In the men's eight, the U.S. finished sixth. Coxswain Ned DelGuercio (Media, Pa.), Silas Stafford (Santa Rosa, Calif.), Sam Stitt (McLean, Va.), Alex Osborne (Sherman Oaks, Calif.), Steve Coppola (Buffalo, N.Y.), David Banks (Potomac, Md.), Michael Holbrook (Madison, Wis.), Mark Murphy (Madison, Wis.) and Jason Read (Ringoes, N.J.) crossed the line in a 5:37.80. Germany held off Australia to win the gold medal in a 5:30.32. Australia took silver in a 5:31.31, with Great Britain rounding out the top three in a 5:32.23 for bronze.
After missing a spot in the final by 1.8 seconds, the men's double sculls duo of Warren Anderson (Paso Robles, Calif.) and Glenn Ochal (Philadelphia, Pa.) won Sunday's B final for seventh place overall. The U.S. crew sprinted from third place at the 1,500-meter mark, edging out Norway by 0.32 seconds to win in a 6:22.19.
In the women's single sculls, Gevvie Stone (Newton, Mass.) also won the B final for seventh place overall. Stone crossed 0.96 seconds ahead of Canada's Isolda Penney for a time of 7:45.70.
With a fourth-place finish in its morning semifinal, the U.S. men's quadruple sculls crew of Scott Gault (Piedmont, Calif.), Will Miller (Duxbury, Mass.), Wes Piermarini (West Brookfield, Mass.) and Elliot Hovey (Manchester-By-The-Sea, Mass.) came back less than an hour later to finish second in the B final for eighth place overall. In the semi, the U.S. sprinted from fifth place, missing the qualifying spot by 1.7 seconds to cross in a 5:52.02 for fourth. In the B final, Poland won the race by 1.8 seconds in a 5:55.45, with the U.S. second in a 5:57.28.
The lightweight men's double sculls duo of Brian de Regt (Rowayton, Conn.) and Jon Winter (New Haven, Conn.) finished eighth overall with its second-place performance in the B final. De Regt and Winter, who finished seventh in the event at the Rowing World Cup in Bled and fourth in Munich, sprinted from sixth place at the 1,000-meter mark to cross within a second of the winner. Portugal's Pedro Fraga and Nuno Mendes crossed first in a 6:27.76, with the U.S. in a 6:28.64.
Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.) and Jake Cornelius (Brooktondale, N.Y) finished fourth in B final of the men's pair for tenth place overall. The U.S. crew had a 0.9-second lead on the field 500 meters into the race, but slipped back to finish in a 6:35.23. Serbia won in a 6:32.72, with The Netherlands (6:33.40) and Great Britain (6:34.43) in second and third, respectively.