Philadelphia's famed rowing course will once again be the center of USRowing efforts to field medal-winning crews at the Olympics, according to just released plans to use the Schuylkill for 1500 meter Selection Regattas in the run-up to the 2028 Games.
Reportedly, this will include the 2028 Olympic Trials themselves, according to USRowing's Mike Zimmer, "As long as there isn't too much rain up in Conshy the weekend before."
This departure from using the straighter 2000 meter courses at Sarasota, Mercer, and Chula Vista—which are all in the running to pre-Paris 2024 selection—is a pivot to respond to World Rowing's recent acknowledgment that the 2028 Olympic Regatta will be contested over 1500 meters to accommodate the host city's choice venue.
Long Beach, the legacy rowing venue from the 1932 Games, is no longer a full 2000 meters, and USRowing, like many NGB's, is already planning out how training and selection will be different in that quadrennial.
"That opens up the wooder here in Philadelphia," said one anonymous Schuylkill Navy administrator, who noted that the river easily accommodates 1500 meters of straight racing for high schoolers annually.
The presence of a bridge on the course was also seen as a helpful feature, as the Long Beach course shortening is caused by the presence of local bridges. Sarasota officials reportedly are still trying to make a case for having the new, shorter trials there, noting that their funding sponsor said: "You want a bridge we'll build a bridge."
No word yet on how USRowing's selection calendar might impact local races like Cities or Stotesbury that take place on Fridays and Saturdays, but the Sunday Flicks should remain unaffected.