The day's finals started with the women's four in a Final that developed and ended up almost identical to the Preliminary race for lanes two days ago, which is a relatively rare occurrence. It's also rare to see a crew get out to a 2.5 length lead on the entire field, but that is what the US crew did in both the prelim and in the final. After their win, the crew was looking forward to supporting their team in person after having done so from their hotel earlier in the week.
"We were excited going in because yesterday U.S. had their first medal of the regatta with the LTA4, and we’re just building from there," stroke Grace Luczak said. "We're really excited for the rest of the crews and the rest of the regatta."
"We all stepped up to the plate and came together in the last couple of weeks and really I think had one of our best performances today," Grace Latz said. "It’s really rewarding to have a good win and have it be good racing and good fun."
Bow seat Kristine O'Brien was making her first trip to the senior Worlds, and was the first across the line this year to boot.
" I’m so excited, it was so much fun," she said. "What an honor to row with these girls."
Three –seat Adrienne Martelli had been out of the boats for a while with an injury this summer, but was able to mend and seemed really to be fully back on her game here.
"When I talked to the coaches and they gave me the opportunity to come into the four, I was really happy to get to be racing here," she said. "It’s been such a fun boat to just hop into; it was great and I’m thankful."
Coming into the final, the crew was careful not to put too much credence into the prelim results.
"I think that you’ve got to respect your competitors, and anything can happen in the final," Luczak said. "Just like heats or semis, everything is different when it comes down to the final. Everyone brings their A game, everyone did today and we’re really thrilled to be a part of it and step it up. We tried to have a little bit of a stronger start and keep building from there."
And when the crew got another big lead in the final, they decided not to let their guard down, as it often happens that the leader can get caught up in the race for medals behind them.
"We wanted to keep giving more," Luczak said. "You’re watching the splits on the stroke coach and you want to keep bringing it down, pretend there’s another boat right there because you know everyone else will keep coming during the race. The race is 2000 meters, and you’ve got to go all the way.
"We just kept following our race plan, and the middle 1k is where you win it with your fitness. We’ve been working really hard with our entire team this year. Where you earn it is during the winter and throughout the year, to push in that 1k and then you know you’ve got it in the last 500."
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