Two United States crews will race for medals Sunday on the final day of competition at World Rowing Cup 3 in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Both women's single sculler Gevvie Stone (Newton, Mass.) and the lightweight women's Vesper Boat Club double of Michelle Sechser (Folsom, Calif.) and Devery Karz (Park City, Utah) advanced with second place finishes from the semifinals Saturday
Stone, who took silver at world cup 2, crossed in 8:00.20 behind Australia's Kim Crow who won in 7:55.81. New Zealand's Fiona Bourke was third in 8:03.10. All three will race in the Sunday final and be joined by Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic, Austria's Magdalena Lobnig and Tatsiana Kukhta of Belarus.
Sechser and Karz qualified for the semifinal in the Friday repechage and then advanced to the Sunday final, rowing from fifth position to second. They finished in 7:36.79 behind Ursula Grobler and Kirsten McCann of South Africa, who finished in 7:35.26. Germany was third in 7:39.14.
Also advancing to the final in the event was New Zealand, Great Britain and Australia. Winners of their national selection regatta event, Sechser and Karz can earn a nomination to the U.S. team that will compete in the 2015 World Rowing Championships August 29-Sept. 6, 2015 in Aiguebelette, France with a top four finish.
"It was an exciting race," Sechser said. "It took a lot of mental fortitude to come charging back through the field like that in a raging headwind. This regatta has been an important checkpoint for us to see our growth and improvement since last year. We've learned a lot in our three races here so far, so we're looking forward to bringing it all together tomorrow."
In the men's double semifinal, Craftsbury Sculling Center's USA1 entry of John Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Benjamin Dann (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) finished fifth and will row in the B final tomorrow.
Graves and Dann also won their national selection regatta event and will have to win their race tomorrow to earn a nomination to the world championship team with a top seven finish.
Finishing second in D final in the men's double sculls event was the second U.S. entry from the California Boat Club of Derek Johnson (Hillsborough, Calif.) and Ian Silveira (West Bloomfield, Mich.).
In the men's single sculls two-time Olympian Ken Jurkowski (New Fairfield, Conn.) finished fourth in the C final.