Racing at the 2015 World Rowing Championships begins Sunday, August 29, on Lake Aiguebelette with heats in 10 events.
Of the 26 United States crew competing in the seven-day regatta, the men's and women's single sculls, lightweight men's and women's single sculls, lightweight men's and women's double sculls, men's and women's pairs, men's four and men's quadruple sculls will all begin action tomorrow beginning at 10 a.m. local time.
Up first will be the Newport Aquatic Center's lightweight men's entry Nicholas Trojan (Los Alamitos, Calif.) racing in the second of six heats. Trojan will face Japan's Takahiro Suda, Javid Afandiyev of Azerbaijan, Bulgaria's Nedelcho Vasilev, Adam Ling of New Zealand and Peru's Renzo Leon Garcia. Trojan won the lightweight singles event at Senior Worlds Trials 1. He last rowed on the world championship team in 2013, where he finished 12th in the lightweight double sculls. Ling finished third at the 2015 World Rowing Cup 3. Vasilev finished fourth at World Rowing Cup 2. The top three crews will advance to the Wednesday quarterfinals.
In the lightweight women's single sculls, California Rowing Club's Kate Bertko (Oakland, Calif.) will be racing in the second of four heats and faces Ireland's Denise Walsh, Poland's Martyna Mikolajczak, Kanako Ueda of Japan and Mexico's Kenia Lechuga Alanis. The winner will advance directly the semifinal.
Bertko won bronze in the event at the 2014 World Rowing Championships and should be the favorite in this heat.
Rowing in the third of four heats of the women's pair will be the USTC - Princeton crew of London Olympic gold medalist Eleanor Logan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine) and Felice Mueller (Cleveland, Ohio). They race Czech Republic, Denmark, Croatia and Belarus. Logan and Mueller finished fourth in the event at World Rowing Cup 2. Britain's unbeaten pair of Heather Stanning and Helen Glover, racing in heat two, is the favorite in the event. One boat will advance to the semifinal from each heat.
In the men's pair, USTC - Princeton's Tim Aghai (Skokie, Ill.) and Michael DiSanto (Boston, Mass.) will race in the second of five heats with the top four finishers moving to the Wednesday quarterfinals. This is Aghai and DiSanto's first international test and they face Canada, Poland, Serbia, Finland and Argentina. Serbs Milos Vasic and Nenad Bedik finished third at World Rowing Cup 3 in Lucerne behind the British and New Zealand's seemingly unstoppable Hamish Bond and Eric Murray.
Next will be Cambridge Boat Club's Joshua Konieczny (Millbury, Ohio) and Andrew Campbell, Jr. (New Canaan, Conn.) in the lightweight men's double sculls. Rowing in the fifth of six heats, Konieczny and Campbell race Thailand, Portugal, Italy and Poland. The U.S. finished fourth at World Rowing Cup 2. Denmark's Henrik Stephansen and Jens Nielsen are expected to challenge for a medal here. The top three boats advance to the Wednesday quarterfinals. Vesper Boat Club's Michelle Sechser (Folsom, Calif.) and Devery Karz (Park City, Utah) race next in the third of five heats and face Italy, Sweden, Poland and China. Sechser and Karz won bronze in Lucerne at World Rowing Cup 3 and should be among the top four crews in their heat to advance to the Wednesday quarterfinals.
In the men's four, the USTC - Princeton crew of Seth Weil (Menlo Park, Calif.), Henrik Rummel (Pittsford, N.Y.), Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.) and Glenn Ochal (Philadelphia, Pa.) will row in the last of four heats and face Serbia, South Africa, Spain and Ukraine.
Rummel, Cole and Ochal won bronze at the London Olympics in the boat class and won at the 2014 World Rowing Cup 2. The winner advances to the semifinals.
Next up will be California Rowing Club's Ian Silveira (West Bloomfield, Mich.), Hans Struzyna (Kirkland, Wash.), John Madura (West Milford, N.J.) and Derek Johnson (Hillsborough, Calif.) in the men's quadruple sculls. They will race in the second of three heats with the first and second finishers advancing to the Thursday semifinals.
The U.S. team's is a mix of veteran and first time senior team members and this is their first international test. Great Britain beat Germany earlier in the season and will be considered the top boat in this heat.
In the men's single sculls, two-time Olympian Ken Jurkowski (New Fairfield, Conn.) will race in the fifth of eight heats. He faces the Ivory Coast's Riccardo Bouehi, Puerto Rico's Mario Mihalik, Great Britain's Alan Campbell and Sweden's Anders Backeus. Campbell finished third at the 2012 Olympic Games and should be considered the favorite in this heat. The first two crews advance to the KenWednesday quarterfinals.
The final event of the day will be the women's single sculls. Cambridge Boat Club's Gevvie Stone (Newton, Mass.) will race in the fourth of six heats against Kenya's Diana Wanyonyi, Tonga's Akossiwa Ayivon, Nigeria's Chierika Ukogo, and Fie Udby Erichsen of Denmark.
Stone represented the U.S. in the event at the 2012 Olympic Games, finishing seventh. She finished ninth at the 2014 World Rowing Championships, but this season she appears to have moved into contention after winning silver at the second world cup and bronze in Lucerne at the final world cup. Stone should be among the top three crews to advance to the Wednesday quarter finals.