RACICE, Czech Republic - In the words of U.S. junior men's coach Colin Campbell, the United States men's eight "got it right" on the final day of competition at the 2010 World Rowing Junior Championships. The U.S. won gold in the men's eight and bronze in the men's single sculls.
Combined with the two silver medals won yesterday, the U.S. brought home a total of four medals at this year's junior championships, breaking the previous record of three.
Coxswain Louis Lombardi (Huntingdon Valley, Pa.), Zachary Johnson (Marin, Calif.), Zachary Hershberger (Los Gatos, Calif.), Austin Hack (Old Lyme, Conn.), Paul Popescu (Princeton, N.J.), Connor Jones (Wilmette, Ill.), Whitney Blodgett (Stanfordville, N.Y.), Patrick McGlone (Newton Square, Pa.) and Justin Jones (Bellmawr, N.J.) finished second in both its heat and repechage en route to a spectacular upset in the final.
"It was unreal," said Lombardi. "I had to double-glance to my right a couple of times, and thought 'wow, we're in first place, let's hold on to this and let's walk away.' We made a little change to our length at 20 strokes to go. I said, 'let's go, let's go now' and we did."
The U.S. crew was in third place off the start behind two-time defending champion Germany and last year's silver medalist Great Britain. In the second 500 meters, the Americans took the lead and continued to hold off the competition in the second half of the course. The U.S. crossed the line 0.65 seconds ahead of Germany for the gold medal in a 5:37.08. Germany won silver with a time of 5:37.73. Italy edged out Great Britain by 0.19 seconds for the bronze medal in a 5:41.04.
"We knew we had speed," said men's coach Colin Campbell. "We knew we could race anybody here, but we had to get it right on the right day. Today we got it right."
Also representing the United States on the podium Sunday, Andrew Campbell (New Canaan, Conn.) won bronze in the men's single sculls. Campbell's performance tied the best-ever finish for a U.S. junior men's sculling crew, set at the 1976 Junior World Championships in former Czechoslovakia.
"I entered the regatta with the hope of finaling; that was my goal," said Campbell, a member of the 2009 Under 23 National Team. "Yesterday's [semifinal] race was the most stressful out of all of them. Once you're in the final, you just do the best as you can. I came into today's race a lot looser than before, and just let it rip. It turned out well. I'm pretty proud that I could do this for my country and USRowing. That's a long time without a medal."
The U.S. sculler was first off the line and maintained the second-place position crossing over the 1,000-meter mark. Defending world champion Felix Bach of Germany took the lead in the first 250 meters, and continued to widen the gap on the competition along the course. Greece's Dionysios Angelopoulos moved into second place by the 1,500-meter mark, with the U.S. sculler slipping back to third.
"I slowed down my pace a little bit after the start," said Campbell. "I knew that Felix would try to push through, so I tried to hang with him and stay at least in third. I faced Felix in the semi, and he's a very good sculler. I knew he was going to be in the medals somewhere."
Bach won a second-consecutive world title, crossing the line in a 7:01.33, while Greece took silver in a 7:05.18. Campbell recorded a time of 7:09.36 for the bronze medal.
In the men's four with coxswain, the crew of Patrick O'Hara (Wilmette, Ill.), John McGrorty (Ambler, Pa.), Jacob Merrell (Ann Arbor, Mich.), Patrick Eble (Fort Washington, Pa.) and Michael Cox (Centerville, Va.) finished fifth. The U.S. was last off the start, but was able to move past New Zealand in the third quarter of the race, crossing the line in a 6:37.28. Switzerland led from wire-to-wire to win the gold medal in a 6:19.31, while Italy held off Australia by just 0.34 seconds to win silver in a 6:21.51.
Alycia Daloia-Moore (Bronx, N.Y.) finished fourth in the B final of the women's single sculls for 10th place overall. After several false starts delayed racing, the U.S. got off the line in sixth place before driving hard in the third 500 meters and pushing past Slovenia and Norway. Daloia-Moore crossed the line just 0.25 seconds behind Switzerland in an 8:10.09. Lithuania's Milda Valciukaite won the race in an 8:05.79.
In the C final of the women's double sculls, Susan Greenberg (Westport, Conn.) and Alexandra Zadravec (Fairfield, Conn.) were first off the line and held the lead through the halfway point. Croatia and Sweden edged ahead in the third quarter of the race, but the U.S. crew responded with a big push at the 1,250-meter mark. Croatia won in a 7:34.30. Greenberg and Zadravec sprinted past Sweden in the last 20 strokes, crossing second in a 7:37.05 for 14th place overall.
In the men's quadruple sculls, Graham Anderson (Weston, Conn.), Patrick Donohue (Malvern, Pa.), Max Meyer-Bosse (Westport, Conn.) and Alex Johnson (Seattle, Wash.) finished third in the C final for 15th place overall. The U.S. crew was in fourth place off the start, with France and Czech Republic a boat length ahead at the 1,000-meter mark. Despite posting the fastest 500-meter split in the last quarter of the race, the U.S. couldn't quite close the gap. Czech Republic won in a 6:07.71, with France second in a 6:12.66. The U.S. crew crossed the line in a 6:15.00.
Michael Evans (Portland, Ore.) and Wilson Valle (Miami, Fla.) finished fifth in the C final of the men's pair for 17th place overall. Chile was first off the start, with Argentina close behind.
Czech Republic took the lead with 250 meters to go and crossed first in a 7:01.19. Evans and Valle were in fourth place at the 1,500-meter mark, but slipped back to fifth at the line, posting a time of 7:20.53.
The men's double sculls duo of Nader Al-Naji (Fairfax, Va.) and Robert Rasmussen (Washington D.C.) won the D final for 19th place overall. The duo was sixth crossing the 500-meter mark, but blazed its way through the field, taking the lead in the last quarter of the race and crossing three seconds ahead of Estonia in a 6:50.06.