LAC AIGUEBELETTE, France - The United States team has arrived in France and will begin competition at the 2015 World Rowing Championships in Aiguebelette, France Sunday.
The U.S. has 27 crews competing in the men's single sculls, women's single sculls, lightweight men's single sculls, lightweight women's single sculls, men's double sculls, women's double sculls, lightweight men's double sculls, lightweight women's double sculls, men's quadruple sculls, women's quadruple sculls, lightweight men's quadruple sculls, lightweight women's quadruple sculls, men's pair, women's pair, men's pair with coxswain, lightweight men's pair, men's four, women's four, lightweight men's four, men's eight, women's eight, lightweight men's eight, arms and shoulders men's single sculls, arms and shoulders women's single sculls, trunk and arms mixed double, legs, trunk and arms mixed double sculls and legs, trunk and arms four with coxswain.
Of those crews, 14 are Olympic or Paralympic - class boats and each of them will have to be qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games through a ranked finish system. Those boats include the men's and women's single sculls, men's and women's double sculls, lightweight men's and women's double sculls, men's and women's pair, men's and women's quadruple sculls, men's four, lightweight men's four, and men's and women's eights.
The Paralympic boat classes include the men's and women's arms and shoulders single sculls, trunk and arms mixed double sculls, legs, trunk and arms mixed double sculls and legs, trunk and arms four with coxswain.
Among the 87 athletes selected from camps, World Rowing Cup competition and the 2015 Senior I and II World Championships Trials, 18 are Olympians, or Paralympians, 52 have competed at a past world championships and 17 are new to the U.S. Senior National Team.
Here are the crews that will begin competition Sunday:
Men's Single Sculls
Two-time Olympian Ken Jurkowski (New Fairfield, Conn.) returns to the national team for the first time since the 2012 Olympic Games by winning trials. Jurkowski is a seven time national team athlete and represented the United States at the 2008 Olympics where he finished 11th. He rowed in the 2015 World Rowing Cup 3 and finished 16th. A top-nine finish is required to qualify this boat class for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Women's Single Sculls
Returning to the event on the international stage is Cambridge Boat Club's Gevvie Stone (Newton, Mass.). Stone competed in the event in the 2012 Olympic Games in London, finishing seventh, then left international competition to complete her medical degree at Tufts University School of Medicine. After finishing ninth at the 2014 World Rowing Championships, Stone came back, won her national selection regatta event and then not only earned a nomination to the 2015 team, but also won a silver medal at World Rowing Cup 2 in Varese, Italy in June. Stone went on to World Rowing Cup 3 in Lucerne and took bronze. "It was an amazing feeling to return the podium and to share it with such champions," Stone said after her bronze medal performance. A top nine finish is required to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Lightweight Men's Single Sculls
Newport Aquatic Center's Nicholas Trojan (Los Alamitos, Calif.) last rowed on the world championship team in 2013, where he finished 12th in the lightweight double sculls. After winning the lightweight single event at Senior World Championship Trials 1, Trojan will make his second appearance on a senior team.
Lightweight Women's Single Sculls
Three-time senior team athlete Kate Bertko (Oakland, Calif.) from California Rowing Club won a bronze medal at the 2014 world championships. Bertko won Senior World Championship Trials 1 to earn a place on the world championships team. Bertko won silver in the lightweight double in 2013 and finished ninth in the double in 2011.
Men's Double Sculls
Craftsbury Sculling Center's John Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Benjamin Dann (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) won their national selection regatta event in the spring, but did not place high enough at World Rowing Cup 2 or 3 and had to qualify for the team through trials. Both Dann and Graves finished eighth in the quadruple sculls at the 2014 World Rowing Championships. "This is just one of those steps on the way to our ultimate goal, which is the Olympics next year," said Dann following his trials win. "We knew we had to check this off. I'm glad we did what we had to do today and get the job done, and now it's time to get back to the classroom and sharpen our skills and get ready for the next battle." A top-11 finish is required to qualify the boat for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Women's Double Sculls
Beijing Olympian Ellen Tomek (Flushing, Mich.) and Meghan O'Leary (Baton Rouge, La.) have represented the U.S. in this event for the past two years. They finished seventh in 2013 and sixth in 2014. The two remained together, training at the United States Training Center - Oklahoma City under Jeremy Ivy and again won the national selection event. They earned their places on the 2015 team with a silver-medal performance at World Rowing Cup 2, in Varese, Italy. "That might have been the tightest race I have ever been in," said Tomek. "It was really fun. Being in stroke, I can't see everything like Meghan can. But everyone was right there and I knew it without even looking." A top-11 finish is required to qualify the boat for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Lightweight Men's Double Sculls
Cambridge Boat Club's Joshua Konieczny (Millbury, Ohio) and Andrew Campbell, Jr. (New Canaan, Conn.) won their national selection regatta event and went on to earn spots on the 2015 team with a fourth-place finish at World Rowing Cup 2. "It is really great to make the A final and the U.S. team," said Campbell, who has rowed on four senior teams in the lightweight single sculls and won consecutive world championships at the 2013 and 2014 under 23 world championships. This is Konieczny's second senior team. He finished 10th in the lightweight double in 2014. A top-11 finish is required to qualify the boat for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Lightweight Women's Double Sculls
Michelle Sechser (Folsom, Calif.) and Devery Karz (Park City, Utah) won the lightweight double sculls at 2015 National Selection Regatta 1 and then raced at World Rowing Cup 3 in Lucerne, Switzerland, where they finished third and earned nominations to the squad. This is the second year they will represent the U.S. in the event. The Vesper Boat Club duo finished 10th last year. "It's an incredible feeling to see the hard work pay off," Sechser said after earning a return to the senior team. A top-11 finish is required to qualify the boat for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Men's Pair
USRowing Training Center - Princeton's Tim Aghai (Skokie, Ill.) and Michael DiSanto (Boston, Mass.) earned their place on the U.S. squad by winning at trials. Disanto rowed in the event at the 2013 world championships and finished 14th. This is Aghai's first senior national team. "We just decided to keep our heads in the boat for the first half and then go in the second," said Aghai of their trials race. "We did it and it worked out and we were able to push off the other boats and continued to build speed. We didn't count anyone out at all." A top-11 finish is required to qualify the boat for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Women's Pair
Seven-time senior national team athlete and two-time Olympic champion in the women's eight, Eleanor Logan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine) teamed up with two-time senior team athlete Felice Mueller (Cleveland, Ohio) and won the event at the 2015 National Selection Regatta 1. The USTC - Princeton pair earned nominations to the team with a fourth-place finish at World Rowing Cup 2 in Varese, Italy. A top-11 finish is required to qualify the boat for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Lightweight Men's Pair
Peter Gibson(Belmont, Mass.) and 2012 London Olympian Robin Prendes (Miami, Fla.) earned their place on the team with a win in the 2015 Senior I World Championship Trials. For Prendes, who finished 10th in the lightweight four at last year's world championships, this will be his ninth national team. Gibson raced in the lightweight eight at the 2014 World Rowing Championships, finishing fifth. Prendes and Gibson represent OKC Riversport and USTC - OKC.
Men's Pair with Coxswain
Jacob Mendelson (Jacksonville, Fla.), Erick Winstead (Fairfield, Conn.) and Taylor Brown (Winter Park, Fla.) won their event at the Senior World Championship Trials 1 and will go on to compete in France. Mendelson and Brown represent Vesper Boat Club, while Winstead rows out of Penn Athletic Club.
Men's Quadruple Sculls
California Rowing Club's Ian Silveira (West Bloomfield, Mich.), Hans Struzyna (Kirkland, Wash.), John Madura (West Milford, N.J) and Derek Johnson (Hillsborough, Calif.) are a mix of first time and veteran U.S. senior team rowers and qualified for the team with a win at trials. This is Madura's first senior team. Johnson and Struzyna finished 13th in the quad at the 2013 World Rowing Championships. Silveira finished 20th in the double sculls at the 2014 World Rowing Championships and was in the eight that took bronze in 2013. "We did a good job handling the time trial as a test for us," Silveira said following the trials final. "It was the first chance for us at pulling a full two thousand meters for this lineup. Being able to handle those two days between the trial and the final was good for us and we handled it really well." A top-eight finish is required to qualify the boat for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Women's Quadruple Sculls
The U.S. won a bronze medal in the event at the 2014 World Rowing Championships. Returning from that USTC - Princeton crew is Tracy Eisser (Fair Lawn, N.J.) and and Olivia Coffey (Watkins Glen, N.Y.). They will be joined by Amanda Elmore (West Lafayette, Ind.) who is competing in her first senior world championships, and London Olympic bronze medalist in the event Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.). A top-five finish is required to qualify the boat for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Lightweight Men's Quadruple Sculls
Austin Meyer(Cohoes, N.Y), Colin Ethridge (Laytonsville, Md.), Matt O'Leary (Westwood, Mass.) and Hugh McAdam (Grantham, N.H.) raced uncontested at senior trials and earned their place on the 2015 senior team. Meyer finished 10th in the lightweight double in 2014 and 12th in 2013. Ethridge raced in the lightweight quadruple sculls that finished seventh in 2013. Early in the summer of 2015, Meyer and Ethridge claimed the silver medal at the 2015 Pan American Games in the lightweight double sculls.
Lightweight Women's Quadruple Sculls
Senior team veteran Hillary Saeger (Dedham, Mass), and newcomers Lauren Ayers (Portland, Maine), Erin Roberts (Fogelsville, Pa.) and Mary Foster (Sharon, Mass.) won their trials event and will represent Riverside Boat Club at the 2015 World Rowing Championships. Ayers, Roberts and Foster will make their first senior team appearance. Saeger has rowed on five national teams and won silver in the event in 2013 and bronze in 2011 and 2009. "We knew what we had to do and we had to execute it today," said Saeger after winning at trials. "The first thousand meters we wanted to keep clean and strong to get ourselves into a good position, which we accomplished. We did our best keeping it clean and focused all the way through to the finish."
Men's Four
Two members of the USTC - Princeton that won silver at the 2014 World Rowing Championships, return to the lineup - 2012 London Olympian Henrik Rummel (Pittsford, N.Y.) and Seth Weil (Menlo Park Calif.). They will be joined by 2012 Olympians Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.) and Glenn Ochal (Philadelphia, Pa.) Rummel, Cole and Ochal won bronze at the London Olympics in the boat class and won at the 2014 World Rowing Cup 2. "That was fantastic," Ochal said of the win. "We put this four together hoping that it would have some good speed and this was our first test and it went pretty well. We established the race at the beginning. We got our bow out front and made sure that we rowed our race." A top-11 finish is required to qualify the boat for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Women's Four
The U.S. won silver in the women's four at the 2014 World Rowing Championships and is returning this year with a new lineup that includes Grace Luczak (Ann Arbor, Mich.) Adrienne Martelli (University Place, Wash.), Grace Latz (Jackson, Mich.) and Kristine O'Brien (Massapequa Park, N.Y.). Martelli won bronze in the quad at the 2012 Olympic Games.
Lightweight Men's Four
A priority boat class for the U.S., the lightweight men's four, training out of the USRowing Training Center - Oklahoma City, will seat 2008 Olympian Will Daly (Vail, Colo.), Edward "Mix" King (Ironton, Mo.), 2012 Olympian Anthony Fahden (Lafayette, Calif.) and newcomer to the boat Tyler Nase (Phoenixville, Pa.). Three of the crew - Daly, King and Fahden - return from a 10th-place finish in 2014. A top-11 finish is required to qualify the boat for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Men's Eight
The U.S. men fell one place short of medaling at last year's world championship, but are coming into this competition feeling confident after taking a bronze medal at the 2015 World Rowing Cup 2. Coxswain Zach Vlahos (Piedmont, Calif.) is back at the helm and the boat is being stroked by Tom Peszek (Farmington Hills, Mich.), who did not compete at the world championships last year. Joining them are Tom Dethlefs (Lawrenceville, N.J.), Alex Karwoski (Hollis, N.H.), Austin Hack (Old Lyme, Conn.), Matt Miller (Fairfax, Va.), Sam Dommer (Folsom, Calif.), Mike Gennaro (Havertown, Pa.) and Grant James (DeKalb, Ill.). A top-five finish is required to qualify the boat for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Women's Eight
No matter what the lineup is, the U.S. women's eight is the gold standard in women's rowing. Under head coach Tom Terhaar, the women's eight has won one silver and two Olympic gold medals. His eight has won every world championship since 2006, and his crews have amassed a total of 30 medals at the Olympic Games and world championships, combined. The team is again deep and proved it at the second world cup when illness and injury forced last-minute lineup changes and women doubling up in events. They came away with gold in the eight and four, a silver medal in the pair and bronze in the quad. Following the eight race, two-time Olympian Eleanor Logan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine) said, "We train all year for this. We make it hard in practice so that race day anyone can row anywhere in any boat." The lineup this year returns coxswain Katelin Snyder (Winter Park, Fla.), London Olympian Meghan Musnicki (Naples, N.Y.), Vicky Opitz (Middleton, Wis.), Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Heidi Robbins (Hanover, N.H.) and Lauren Schmetterling (Moorestown, N.J.). New to the lineup for this year are Kerry Simmonds (San Diego, Calif.), who won silver in the pair at last year's world championship, Emily Regan (Buffalo, N.Y.), who won silver in the four last summer and Tessa Gobbo (Chesterfield, N.H.), who also won silver in the four last year. A top-five finish is required to qualify the boat for the 2016 Olympic Game.
Lightweight Men's Eight
A composite crew from eight different boat clubs rowed uncontested at the first senior trials and earned a place on the 2015 world championship team. The crew is comprised of coxswain Jack Carlson (Weston, Mass.), Matthew Lenhart (Lafayette, Calif.), Dave Smith (Seattle, Wash.), Jack Devlin (Arlington, Va.), Alex Twist (Seattle, Wash.), Christopher Lambert (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), Peter Schmidt (Providence, R.I.), Philip Henson (Somerset, N.J.) and Tobin McGee (Rye, N.Y.). Four of the crew rowed on senior teams prior to this one. Smith and Schmidt each took seventh in the lightweight men's quadruple sculls in the 2013 and 2014 World Rowing Championships. McGee won bronze in the lightweight men's eight at the 2013 World Rowing Championships and Carlson finished eighth in the pair in 2014 and fifth in the lightweight eight in 2011. "Now that we know what the lineup is and everyone in it, we can start focusing on the hard work and getting faster as a crew and continue to work for the lineup. I feel like I have a clearer head this time around and that is nice," said McGee, following the trials
Men's Arms and Shoulders Single Sculls
Returning from a fourth-place finish at the 2014 World Rowing Championships will be Blake Haxton (Columbus, Ohio.) Haxton rowed uncontested at trials. "My time was where I expected it to be," said Haxton. "It was a little slower than worlds last year. The conditions turned into a little bit of a head wind, so I think that added a couple of seconds." Haxton, who is in his final year of law school at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, balanced training this summer with an internship at Diamond Hill Capital in Columbus, Ohio. "We're still playing with the pacing, the seat and the boat. I think we're really close to getting it where we want it. There are a few seconds to be gained there in the middle, but my start came off clean." A top-eight finish is required to qualify the boat for the 2016 Paralympic Games.
Women's Arms and Shoulders Single Sculls
North Palm Beach Rowing's Jacqui Kapinowski (Belleville, Fla.) rowed uncontested at para rowing trials to secure her place on the national team. A former triathlon and curling national team member, this is Kapinowki's sixth U.S. team and second in the sport of rowing. She finished ninth in the trunk and arms double at the 2011 World Rowing Championships. After being diagnosed with cancer last year, USRowing Director of Para-Rowing Tom Darling reached out and encouraged her to get re-classified into the arms and shoulders category. "I feel really honored," said Kapinowski. "I never thought I would be back in the boat following 2011. It's a great pleasure to come back after four years and the progression of my disease." A top-eight finish is required to qualify the boat for the 2016 Paralympic Games.
Legs, Trunk and Arms Mixed Double Sculls
A comeback team comprised of 2013 senior team bronze medalist, Community Rowing, Inc.'s Natalie McCarthy (Seattle, Wash.) and 2008 Paralympic silver medalist Jesse Karmazin (Washington, D.C.) is returning to the world stage after a win at the 2015 para-rowing trials. "I had been on Jesse for a year and half to get him to come out and row," said McCarthy. "It just worked, things fell into place fairly quickly."
Trunk and Arms Mixed Double
Also making a comeback after seven years is Beijing Paralympian Scott Brown (Collingdale, Pa.) in the trunk and arms mixed double with newcomer Betsy Irwin Mitchell (Sarasota, Fla.). "It's been a lot of work," said Brown. "I'm seven years older than I was when I competed in Beijing. Conditionally, I'm getting stronger, getting faster." A top-eight finish is required to qualify for the 2016 Paralympic Games.
Legs, Trunk and Arms Four with Coxswain
After taking a silver medal at the 2014 World Rowing Championships, the crew of coxswain Jenny Sichel (Clifton, N.J.), Ricky Vandegrift (Cincinnati, Ohio), Zachary Burns (Ann Arbor, Mich.), Dani Hansen (Paterson, Calif.), and Jaclyn Smith (Williston Park, N.Y.), is returning for another run at the podium. A top-eight finish is required to qualify for the 2016 Paralympic Games.