MILAN, Italy - The men's four with coxswain won a gold medal, the men's eight won a silver medal, and the lightweight men's pair won a bronze medal on the final day of competition at the 2003 FISA World Rowing Championships on the Idroscalo in Milan, Italy. In total, the U.S. won six medals at this year's world championships.
The men's eight of coxswain Pete Cipollone (Ardmore, Pa.), Jon Watling (Greenwich, Conn.), Joey Hansen (Bakersfield, Calif.), Jeff Klepacki (Kearny, N.J.), Bryan Volpenhein (Cincinnati, Ohio), Wolf Moser (Moultonboro, N.H.), Mike Wherley (Sun Prairie, Wis.), Jason Read (Ringoes, N.J.), and Ryan Torgerson (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) put on a huge sprint over the last 500 meters but came up just short of the Canadians to win a silver medal on Sunday. The crew sat in second place for almost the entire race, while the Canadians took the lead from the start and held on for a 1.02-second victory. Racing in a tough head wind, Canada clocked a time of 6:00.44 with the U.S. finishing in second in a 6:01.46. Great Britain took the bronze medal.
"We wanted to get out with the pack and be with the leaders. I think in the second 500 (meters), we let (the Canadians) get a little bit too far ahead. In the end, especially in a head wind like this, it's just too far to come back from," Volpenhein said. "I thought we had a pretty solid race. It was a good job by the Canadians. I know how hard it is to repeat. There's a lot of pressure and it's really tough. They responded well. We had a good race. Anytime you win a world championships' medal, it's a good feeling. We're a little disappointed now, but we'll be happy in five minutes."
With this year's world championships serving as the initial Olympic qualifier for countries, the men's eight earned the United States a berth in the event at the 2004 Olympics by finishing in the top seven. (The qualifier is for countries only and does not qualify the individual athletes for the Games.)
In the opening race of the day, the men's four with coxswain of coxswain Marcus McElhenney (Lansdowne, Pa.), Luke McGee (Madison, Conn.), Jason Flickinger (Big Flats, N.Y.), Matt Deakin (San Francisco, Calif.), and Brian McDonough (Spring, Texas) clocked a 6:04.68 to hold off the British crew and win the gold medal in the event. The U.S. crew got off the line just behind the French boat but took the lead by the 500-meter mark. The Americans slowly pushed ahead of the field, earning a 1.56-second lead by the midway point of the race. With 750 meters to go, the British crew began to push back into the U.S. crew's lead and pulled up almost even with 250 meters to go. However, the U.S., which took its stroke rate up three times to counter the British move, pulled away in the final 10 strokes to earn the victory. Great Britain won the silver medal in a time of 6:05.82, while Germany grabbed the bronze medal in a 6:08.90.
"We had a decent lead most of the race, and we were able to row within ourselves pretty comfortably," McGee said. "(The British) started moving up on us and Marcus started making the call and telling us where they were. He did a great job. The last 250 (meters), we just decided that we weren't going to let them come through. They came up about even and we just decided it was time to go. There was no way we were going to let them get to the line first. We did a good job of taking (the rate) up."
The lightweight men's pair of Mike Altman (Marin County, Calif.) and Simon Carcagno (Pennington, N.J.) finished fifth in the event last year and set winning a medal as its goal for this year. On Sunday, the duo did just that, winning a bronze medal in a time of 6:41.05. It marked the first time the U.S. has ever won a medal in the event at the world championships. Altman and Carcagno sat in fourth place at the 1,000-meter mark before passing the Netherlands to easily win the bronze medal. Denmark won the gold medal, clocking a time of 6:35.73. Germany took home the silver medal.
"It's absolutely surreal; I can't believe I'm here," said Altman after the race. "On that little walk up from the (dock) to where we are right now, I'm walking on air."
"There's so much hard work that we put into this. To finally get here and to do well is the best feeling," Carcagno said.
The defending world champion U.S. women's eight of Mary Whipple (Sacramento, Calif.), Ali Cox (Turlock, Calif.), Jen Dore-Terhaar (Kearny, N.J.), Sam Magee (Simsbury, Conn.), Megan Dirkmaat (San Jose, Calif.), Michelle Guerette (Bristol, Conn.), Anna Mickelson (Bellevue, Wash.), Maite Urtasun (Riverside, N.J.), and Kate Johnson (Portland, Ore.) caught a boat-stopping crab about 750 meters into the race and finished fifth overall. Racing into a stiff head wind, the U.S. boat was sitting in second place to Germany as it crossed the 500-meter mark. But just a few strokes later, the U.S. crew was at a stand-still, focusing on getting the boat moving again. With only the top five crews qualifying their country for next year's Olympic Games, the U.S. had to regroup and chase down Belarus, which had moved ahead of the American boat by about one length. The U.S. quickly regained its composure, moving past Belarus by the 1,000-meter mark, and went on to clock a 6:50.81 to finish 9.58 seconds behind the gold medal winners from Germany. Romania won the silver medal, followed by Canada and Australia.
"As soon as we stopped, I looked around to find Belarus because I knew they were back," Whipple said. "We got about a length down (on Belarus) when we stopped, but as soon as I said, 'Go', we shot out of there and got even pretty quickly. All I kept saying was 'qualify, qualify, qualify.' We went out on fire and kept walking. The good thing is that we definitely went to another level that we didn't know we had. I don't know if we could have found that if it hadn't happened. We proved that we had nine of the biggest hearts. I'm excited for the next 11 months leading up to the Olympics."
Rachel Anderson (Darien, Conn.) and Lisa Schlenker (Lake Oswego, Ore.) finished fourth in the final of the lightweight women's double sculls. The duo sat in sixth position at the 1,000-meter mark before passing Canada and the Netherlands over the last half of the race to move into fourth. However, Anderson and Schlenker were never able to mount a challenge on the three medal positions. The U.S. clocked a 7:22.91 to finish 8.36 seconds behind the gold medal winners from Germany, who stroked a 7:14.55. Australia finished second, while Romania, which led for much of the race, settled for the bronze medal. With the top nine crews qualifying their countries for the Olympics, Anderson and Schlenker earned the United States a berth in the lightweight women's double sculls at the 2004 Games.
Racing in a final-only event, the lightweight women's pair of Meghan Sarbanis (Hampstead, N.H.) and Renee Hykel (Haverford, Pa.) was edged out by Greece for the bronze medal in its first, and only, race of the regatta. The first time national team duo held the third position until the final few strokes when Greece snuck in front for the bronze medal. Sarbanis and Hykel clocked a 7:34.62 to finish 0.08 seconds behind Greece. Romania won the gold medal in a time of 7:30.26, while Great Britain claimed the silver medal in a time of 7:32.53.
The lightweight women's quadruple sculls quartet of Stacey Borgman (Homer, Alaska), Michelle Whitcomb-Borkhuis (Walworth, N.Y.), Mary Obidinski (Oneonta, N.Y.), and Maria Picone (Pownal, Maine) also finished fourth in the final. The crew got off to a slow start and sat in sixth position at the 500-meter mark. During the second quarter of the race, the U.S. moved through Germany and Denmark into fourth place and slowly cut into Australia and the Netherlands's lead for second and third positions over the next 500 meters. Despite clocking the fastest last quarter of the race, the U.S. boat came up just short of a medal, finishing 0.18 seconds behind Australia for third. The crew clocked a 6:42.20, while Australia finished in a 6:42.02. China won the gold medal, stroking a 6:36.43. The Netherlands moved up to take silver in a 6:40.95.
The women's quadruple sculls of Danika Harris (Durham, N.H.), Sarah Jones (Stanwood, Wash.), Laurel Korholz (La Jolla, Calif.), and Hilary Gehman (Wolfeboro, N.H.) finished sixth in the final. The crew got off the line in fifth place and could never work its way into medal contention. The quartet ended up stroking a 7:02.69. Australia won the gold medal by open water in a time of 6:46.52. Belarus finished second in a 6:48.87, followed by Germany in the bronze medal position. By finishing in the top seven places, the women's quad earned the United States a berth in the event at next year's Olympics.
The lightweight men's quadruple sculls crew of Michael Aller (Santa Barbara, Calif.), Tim Larson (North Augusta, S.C.), Shawn Stephenson (Raleigh, N.C.), and Stephen Arthur-Wong (Orlando, Fla.) finished sixth in its final. The quartet sat in fourth position through the 1,500-meter mark before dropping back to sixth. Italy won the gold medal in a time of 6:07.10, followed by Australia and Germany in second and third place, respectively. The U.S. boat clocked a 6:17.44.
Other gold medal winners in Sunday's finals included Italy in the lightweight men's double sculls, Denmark in the lightweight men's four, and Germany in the men's quadruple sculls.
In addition to crowning the world's best in each of the 24 disciplines, this week's world championships served as the initial qualifier for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, as 130 of the 202 boat spots were determined. Rowers in the 14 Olympic-class boats had the chance to earn Olympic berths for their countries in each of the disciplines. The qualifier is for country slots only and does not qualify individual rowers for the Olympic Games.
At the world championships, the U.S. qualified a total of nine boats for the Olympics. The remaining five boats will have a second chance to qualify for the Games at next June's Olympic Qualifying Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland.
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