The United States won four medals including gold in the men’s eight, silver in the women’s pair, and bronze in the women’s double sculls and men’s pair on the final day of competition at the 2002 World Under 23 Regatta in Genoa, Italy.
The men’s eight of coxswain Ryan Marks (Dartmouth, Mass.), John Cranston (San Francisco, Calif.), Beau Hoopman (Plymouth, Wis.), Matthew Deakin (Seattle, Wash.), Jamie Schroeder (Wilmette, Ill.), Peter Giese (Fon du Lac, Wis.), Christopher Liwski (Sarasota, Fla.), Chris Hawkins (Seattle, Wash.), and Paul Daniels (Burlington, Wis.) won the gold medal in a time of 6:12.05, finishing 3.67 seconds ahead of second-place Canada. The U.S. got off to a strong start, racing to a 1.84-second lead at the 500-meter mark over then second-place Italy. The crew continued to build on its lead over the second quarter of the race and led Germany at the midway point by more than five seconds. With 500 meters to go, the Canadian crew had taken over second place but the U.S. still had more than a five-second advantage and cruised to the finish.
In the final of the women’s pair, Heidi Hurn (Redmond, Wash.) and Kara Nykreim (Kirkland, Wash.) clocked an 8:25.87 to win a silver medal behind the crew from Australia, which finished in a time of 8:22.83. Germany finished third in an 8:27.07. The Germans led the race off the starting line and held the second position behind Australia at the 1,000-meter mark. After getting off the line in third position, the U.S. crew slowly caught Germany, passing them in the third quarter of the race to solidify the second-place finish.
In the women’s double sculls, the U.S. tandem of Frederique Garnier (Devon, Pa.) and Lia Pernell (Seattle, Wash.) brought home the bronze medal. Garnier and Pernell stroked an 8:24.24 to finish 10.13 seconds behind the gold-medal crew from Italy. The Italians clocked an 8:14.11, while Germany finished second in a time of 8:21.72. Italy and Germany jumped out to fast starts and staked their claim to the first two spots by the 500-meter mark. Meanwhile, the U.S. sat in fourth position behind Latvia at the midway point of the race, before overtaking the Latvians in the final 1,000 meters. Latvia finished fourth in a time of 8:28.11.
After finishing second in their morning semifinal, Sam Burns (Seattle, Wash.) and Andrew Brennan (Valley Forge, Pa.) came back to win a bronze medal in the final of the men’s pair. Burns and Brennan clocked a 7:43.54 to finish 8.24 seconds behind the gold-medal crew from Italy. Latvia took home the silver medal in a time of 7:38.79. The U.S. duo sat in fourth place at the 500-meter mark and had passed Argentina for third place by the midway point of the race. However, the top two crews established their positions off the line and the U.S. was never able to cut into the deficit.
The women’s four of Ariana Canova (Sebastopal, Calif.), Sabrina Kolker (West Vancouver, British Columbia), Jessica Lanning (Atlanta, Ga.), and Michelle Orem (Whittier, Calif.) just missed winning a medal, finishing fourth in a time of 7:41.25. The crew got off to a rough start in the first 500 meters, sitting in sixth place more than four seconds behind the fifth-place German crew. However, the U.S. boat would not give up, clocking the fastest second 500-meter split and the second fastest third 500 meters to move into third place at the 1,500-meter mark. After the great comeback, however, the crew could not hold on in the final quarter of the race and dropped to fourth. Australia won the gold medal in a time of 7:29.06, with the Netherlands taking the silver medal with a time of 7:34.56. Russia ended up with the bronze medal, clocking a 7:36.41.