Seven U.S. crews will continue their quest for medals after Friday's racing at the third stop of the 2007 Rowing World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland.
The women's pair of Anna Mickelson (Bellevue, Wash.) and Megan Cooke (Los Gatos, Calif.), which claimed the silver medal at this season's first world cup regatta in Austria, won its heat to earn a spot in Sunday's final. The duo took a commanding lead in the first quarter of the race and continued to pull away from the rest of the field over the final 1,500 meters, finishing with a time of 7:22.14. Great Britain finished second in a 7:27.33, followed by The Netherlands in a 7:28.42. In the second heat, New Zealand took first place to earn a spot in the final. New Zealand stroked a 7:14.40, edging out Romania by 1.42 seconds.
In the men's pair, Micah Boyd (St. Paul, Minn.) and Ted Farwell (Madison, Wis.) finished second in the first of three heats. With the top two crews advancing to Saturday's semifinals, the duo sat in third position after 500 meters but rowed through Spain in the second quarter of the race to move into second place. Australia's Duncan Free and Drew Ginn won the race in a 6:44.71, with the American crew finishing in a 6:47.86, nearly eight seconds ahead of Spain.
The lightweight women's double sculls tandem of Wendy Tripician (Needham, Mass.) and Jana Heere (Bensalem, Pa.) finished second in its heat to advance directly to Saturday's semifinals. The duo, which won a bronze medal at the second world cup stop in Amsterdam, led the race through the 1,500-meter mark. Great Britain won the race in a 7:17.24. Tripician and Heere finished in a 7:19.64, more than three seconds ahead of Switzerland.
In the women's double sculls, Ala Piotrowski (Manchester, N.H.) and Jennifer Kaido (West Leyden, N.Y.) finished third in their heat to advance to tomorrow's semifinals. With the top three crews advancing, Piotrowski and Kaido sat in second position through the first 500 meters of the race before dropping into third, comfortably ahead of fourth-place Norway. The defending Olympic champions from New Zealand, Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell, won the heat with a time of 7:09.53. Italy finished second in a 7:11.64, followed by the U.S. in a 7:13.10. Norway finished nearly six seconds behind the Americans.
After finishing third in its morning heat, the men's double sculls tandem of Matt Hughes (Ludington, Mich.) and Sam Stitt (McLean, Va.) won its repechage, or second-chance race, on Friday afternoon to advance to tomorrow's semifinals. The duo clocked a 6:26.28 to finish less than one second ahead of the crew from Belgium. In the heat, the U.S. crossed the finish line with a time of 6:29.32 behind Estonia and France.
The men's quadruple sculls crew of Mark Flickinger (Big Flats, N.Y.), Mike Perry (Ann Arbor, Mich.), Shane O'Mara (Tampa, Fla.) and J. Sloan DuRoss (South Portland, Maine) finished second in its repechage to advance to Saturday's semifinals. In a tight, four-way contest for the three qualifying spots, the U.S. led at the midway point of the repechage before holding on for second during the final 500 meters. Germany won the race in a 5:57.05, followed by the U.S. in a 5:57.78. Belarus finished third in a 5:58.33, while The Netherlands was left out of the semifinals with a time of 5:58.70. In its morning heat, the U.S. boat finished fifth in a 6:07.63.
With only six boats entered in the event, the women's eight of coxswain Mary Whipple (Sacramento, Calif.), Susan Francia (Abington, Pa.), Caroline Lind (Greensboro, N.C.), Rachel Jeffers (Los Gatos, Calif.), Erin Cafaro (Modesto, Calif.), Lindsay Shoop (Charlottesville, Va.), Anna Goodale (Camden, Maine), Portia Johnson (Seattle, Wash.) and Brett Sickler (Los Gatos, Calif.) rowed in a race for lane assignments for Sunday's final. The U.S. won with a time of 6:09.01, followed by Germany in a 6:13.83.
The lightweight men's four of Tom Paradiso (Blue Bell, Pa.), Patrick Todd (Cincinnati, Ohio), Scott Wallen (Woodbridge, Va.) and Colin Farrell (Oaklyn, N.J.) will now race in the C final for places 13-18 after finishing fourth in its repechage. The quartet stroked a time of 6:13.11 to finish behind Denmark, Serbia and South Africa. In the morning heat, the crew finished second in a 6:13.14.
In the men's single sculls, Jonathan Burns (Vancouver, Wash.) will now race in the D final for places 19-24 after finishing fifth in the quarterfinals. Burns clocked a 7:20.18 in his quarterfinal to finish fifth behind scullers from Belgium, Germany, Bulgaria and Italy. On Friday morning, Burns finished third in his heat in a 7:18.32 to advance to afternoon racing.
More than 875 rowers from 41 nations are competing in Lucerne. Racing continues on Saturday with the remaining repechages and semifinals. Finals will take place on Sunday. The event will be streamed live in the United States on the World Championship Sports Network Web site at www.wcsn.com. Complete entry lists, heat sheets and results can be accessed at www.worldrowing.com.
The Rowing World Cup series was launched in 1997 and includes all 14 Olympic boat classes. The overall Rowing World Cup champions are determined after a series of three regattas.