The final day of racing at the 2017 World Rowing Cup III will contain five competitors from the 2016 Olympic Games who will be representing the United States in the A Finals.
Athletes competing include Meghan O'Leary (Baton Rouge, La.; University of Virginia '08) and Ellen Tomek(Flushing, Mich.; University of Michigan '06) who returned to their Olympic line-up in women's double sculls, Felice Mueller (Cleveland, Ohio; University of Michigan '12), Olympian in the pair, who is now racing in the single, and teammates from the quadruple sculls, Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.; University of Washington '06) and Tracy Eisser (Fair Lawn, N.J.; Cornell University '12), who will race in the women's pair.
For Mueller and Tomek, the 2017 World Rowing Cup III has been their first international 2000m race since the 2016 Olympic Games.
Racing in Sunday's Finals
Transitioning from sweeping to sculling has proven to be successful for USRowing Training Center single sculler, Mueller. In her semifinal, she crossed the line in second place behind Switzerland's Jeannine Gmelin in a time of 7:37.32, securing a spot in tomorrow's A Final.
"It's been a thrill racing the single! This Regatta has really been a learning experience for me, and tomorrow I hope to find another piece of the puzzle," said Mueller. "The transition from team boats to the single has been a lot of fun. I love learning about how the boat responds to your movements. There's a lot that goes into rowing that I didn't really understand before spending time in the single."
Mueller will race against Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Canada at 5:33 a.m. EST.
After directly qualifying to the A Final in their heat on Friday morning, the women's pair line-up of Kalmoe and Eisser, representing the USTC, is looking to return to the podium. The two will race tomorrow against Austria, Great Britain, Denmark, New Zealand 1 and New Zealand 2 at 7:33 a.m. EST.
Following a second place finish in their double sculls semifinal, O'Leary and Tomek will race for a spot on the podium in Sunday's A Final at 8:18 a.m. EST. Representing Vesper Boat Club and the New York Athletic Club, O'Leary and Tomek crossed the line second during their semifinal, behind New Zealand's winner of World Cup II in a time of 6:55.88. The women's double sculls A Finals will include the U.S., Australia, France 1, New Zealand, Lithuania and France 2.
Racing in tomorrow's B Final, the Schuylkill Navy men's quadruple sculls crew composed of Justin Keen(Hatfield, Pa.; Penn State '12), Lenny Futterman (New York, N.Y.; Boston University '14), Jonathan Kirkegaard(Philadelphia, Pa.; Purdue University '08), and Greg Ansolabehere (Bakersfield, Calif.; California State University, Sacramento '09) are set to pull away from the starting line at 3:45 a.m. EST tomorrow morning.
In their Saturday repechage, the Philadelphia crew crossed the line in sixth place with a time of 5:54.49, relegating them to the B Final. They will race against Estonia, Germany, France, Norway and India.
A Final Results
Today, the first few A Finals of the event included the lightweight women's single. This was the first A Final of the weekend that the U.S. would compete in.
The race came down to a photo-finish for third and fourth place. Mary Jones (Huntsville, Ala.; University of Tennessee, Knoxville '08) and Switzerland's Patricia Merz battled head-to-head down the course, with Jones in third place for the first 1500 meters. In the final sprint, Merz edged her bowball across the finish line just ahead Cambridge Boat Club's Jones. Jones followed 0.04 seconds behind in fourth place with a time of 7:50.04.
B Final Results
After switching from the lightweight double to the lightweight single earlier this week, Potomac Boat Club's Emily Schmieg (Philadelphia, Pa.; University of Pittsburgh '10) raced to a tenth place finish overall in the event. With a fast 500 meter sprint in the B Final, Schmieg crossed the line in fourth place with a time of 7:56.69.
Oxford University Boat Club's Matthew O'Leary (Westwood, Mass.; Harvard University '13) raced to an overall ninth place finish in the lightweight men's single sculls today. Racing against Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, Slovakia and Portugal, O'Leary crossed the line third in the B Final with a time of 7:11.71
C Final Results
In the C Final for the lightweight men's single sculls, Craftsbury Sculling Center's Hugh McAdam (Hollis, N.H.; Washington College '08) raced off the line ahead of Brazil, Japan, Austria 2, Sweden and Serbia, maintaining second for the first 1500m of the race against Brazil's Uncas Batista. In the final sprint, he was overtaken by Japan's Hideki Omoto and crossed the line in third place, with a time of 7:14.78. McAdam earned fifteenth place overall.
Also earning a fifteenth place finish overall was the men's double sculls line-up of Luke Wilhelm (Miranda, Calif.; University of California, Santa Barbara '13) and Erik Frid (Madbury, N.H.; Ithaca College '14) representing Schuylkill Navy. The duo of Wilhelm and Frid suffered a slower start off the line, but worked their way from sixth place to third place over the 2000m course, ultimately crossing the line in 6:31.14, only 1.14 seconds behind second place.
2016 Olympic gold medalist in the women's eight, Lauren Schmetterling (Moorestown, N.J.; Colgate University '10), represented the USRowing Training Center in the C Final of the women's single sculls. Facing off against Spain, Latvia, Czech Republic, Russia and Finland, Schmetterling crossed the line sixth in a time of 7:58.42, earning an eighteenth place finish overall in the event.