Despite several illnesses that caused numerous lineup changes, the U.S. won five medals on Sunday at the 2009 Rowing World Cup Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland. The U.S. won gold in the women's double sculls; silver in the women's quadruple sculls and women's eight; and bronze in the men's pair and men's four.
The women's double sculls tandem of Ellen Tomek (Flushing, Mich.) and Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) took the lead in the first 500 meters of the race and held on for a 0.91-second victory. Tomek and Kalmoe took control during the second 500 meters and held more than a four-second advantage going into the final quarter of the race. While Poland's Julia Michalska and Magdalena Fularczyk made a strong push during the last 500 meters, they could not catch the American crew. Tomek and Kalmoe finished with a time of 6:57.48, while Poland clocked a 6:58.39. Bulgaria won the bronze medal.
Three hours later, Tomek and Kalmoe joined Jen Kaido (West Leyden, N.Y.) and Stesha Carle (Long Beach, Calif.) in the final of the women's quadruple sculls. The crew, which was racing together for the first time today due to lineup changes forced by illnesses within the U.S. team, led the race through the 1,500-meter mark before Germany was able to catch it at the line. Germany won the race in a 6:30.25, with the U.S. finishing in a 6:30.80. New Zealand won the bronze medal. Tomek and Kalmoe replaced Kathleen Bertko (Oakland, Calif.), who moved to the women's eight, and Megan Walsh (Charlotte, N.C.).
In the women's eight, the crew of Katelin Snyder (Winter Park, Fla.), Kady Glessner (Seattle, Wash.), Caroline Lind (Greensboro, N.C.), Lindsay Shoop (Charlottesville, Va.), Anna Goodale (Camden, Maine), Mara Allen (San Francisco, Calif.), Esther Lofgren (Newport Beach, Calif.), Bertko and Erin Cafaro (Modesto, Calif.) also won a silver medal. With illness forcing Susan Francia (Abington, Pa.) to the sidelines, Bertko stepped into the lineup from the stroke seat of the women's quad. In the race, the U.S. crew sat in second position at each of the 500 meter splits, clocking a 6:13.18. Romania won the gold medal in a 6:10.76, with The Netherlands claiming the bronze medal in a 6:13.49.
In the men's pair, Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.) and David Banks (Potomac, Md.) came back in the second half of the race to win the bronze medal in a 6:36.90. The duo sat in fifth position at the midway point before passing Greece and South Africa in the third quarter of the race. New Zealand's Hamish Bond and Eric Murray clocked a 6:27.00 to win the gold medal, with Great Britain's Peter Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge taking second in a 6:32.47.
The men's four crew of Brett Newlin (Riverton, Wyo.), Giuseppe Lanzone (Annandale, Va.), Steve Coppola (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Cameron Winklevoss (Greenwich, Conn.) also came back to win the bronze medal, clocking a 6:01.12 to edge Germany at the line by 0.23 seconds. The U.S. sat in fourth position with just 500 meters to go but passed the faltering German crew in the final few strokes. Great Britain won the race in a 5:57.80, followed by Slovenia in second in a 6:00.19. As was the case in the heat, Lanzone replaced an ill Jake Cornelius (Brooktondale, N.Y.) in the final.
The men's quadruple sculls quartet of Elliot Hovey (Manchester-By-The-Sea, Mass.), Will Miller (Duxbury, Mass.), Glenn Ochal (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Sam Stitt (McLean, Va.) finished fourth, missing a medal by 0.03 seconds. While Germany won the race in a 5:50.74, there was a tight battle for the remaining medals between Great Britain, Slovenia and the U.S. The British boat held on for the silver medal, finishing with a time of 5:53.14. Slovenia clocked a 5:53.45 for the bronze medal, while the American boat finished in a 5:53.48.
In the women's pair, the two U.S. crews finished fourth and fifth, respectively. The USA 2 entry of Lind and Shoop finished fourth in a 7:25.32, moving up from fifth place in the final 500 meters. Shoop replaced Francia in the lineup earlier in the week. The USA 1 entry of Cafaro and Allen held third place for the first 1,000 meters before dropping to fifth. New Zealand's Rebecca Scown and Emma-Jane Feathery won the race in a 7:20.18, with Germany and Great Britain taking the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
Michelle Trannel (East Dubuque, Ill.) and Kristin Hedstrom (Concord, Mass.) won the B final of the lightweight women's double sculls to finish seventh overall. The duo got off the line in second position but was able to overtake Austria for the top spot during the third quarter of the race. Trannel and Hedstrom finished with a time of 7:22.70, while Austria clocked a 7:24.35 to finish second.
The men's eight of Ned DelGuercio (Media, Pa.), Grant James (DeKalb, Ill.), Will Daly (Vail, Colo.), Henrik Rummel (Pittsford, N.Y.), Ross James (DeKalb, Ill.), Michael Holbrook (Madison, Wis.), Alex Osborne (Sherman Oaks, Calif.), Stephen Kasprzyk (Cinnaminson, N.J.) and Beau Hoopman (Plymouth, Wis.) also won the B final for a seventh-place finish overall, clocking a 5:45.07 to finish 2.79 seconds ahead of China. Daly, who stroked the lightweight four in Lucerne, replaced Lanzone in the lineup for the final after he was moved to the four.
The men's double sculls tandem of Stephen Whelpley (Mequon, Wis.) and Michael Sivigny (Londonderry, N.H.) finished fourth in the B final for a 10th-place finish overall. Switzerland won the race in a 6:32.30, while Poland, Belarus and the U.S. finished within one second of each other. Poland clocked a 6:36.09 for second, followed by Belarus in a 6:36.15 and the U.S. in a 6:36.83.
In the men's single sculls, Warren Anderson (Paso Robles, Calif.) also finished fourth in the B final to come in 10th overall. Anderson, who was fifth going into the final 500 meters, crossed the finish line in a 7:12.24. Sweden's Lassi Karonen won the race in a 7:04.72, followed by Norway's Nils Jakob Hoff and Ireland's Sean Casey.