VARESE, Italy - Meghan O'Leary listened to the announcer during the first set of semifinals as he talked about the smooth racing conditions and the fast times crews were having and she was looking forward to the same for her semifinal in the women's double.
O'Leary (Baton Rouge, La.) and Ellen Tomek (Flushing, Mich.), from the United States Training Center - Oklahoma City, won their Friday heat and were in a good position to advance to the final and earn a nomination to the 2015 world championship team because they had also won their national selection regatta event this spring.
But the wind can turn and conditions in a sport contested outdoors can always change - which they had. No matter. Tomek and O'Leary fought through the issues and being out of qualifying position in the first meters of the race and won in a very tight finish.
"It was a little bumpy out there," O'Leary said. "In hearing world best times achieved, you're thinking of really fast conditions and it seemed like the wind picked up and turned a little. So it got pretty choppy.
"But we knew going into the race that the other crews would get out fast and we knew just to relax through that. We were down coming into the last five hundred, but we just were in control the entire time. We felt good about where we were. I told Ellen to take it up and we made our move and just kind of eased through the other crews and we're excited to take that number one spot and obviously super excited to have qualified and got our spot for the 2015 team."
Tomek and O'Leary won in 6:45.98. Germany was second in 6:46.17 and Great Britain was third in 6:47.05. They will be joined in the Sunday final by New Zealand, Poland and Australia.
The women's double was one of six U.S. crews to gain a spot in the top finals Sunday. In total, the U.S. will race for medals in 10 events, including the women's single, the two women's pair entries, the men's pair, the lightweight men's double, the women's quadruple sculls, two women's fours and the men's and women's eights.
There were also four crews that qualified for national team nominations Saturday.
Also qualifying was United States Training Center - Princeton's London Olympian Eleanor Logan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine) and Felice Mueller (Cleveland, Ohio) in the women's pair, the lightweight men's double sculls crew from the Cambridge Boat Club of Joshua Konieczny (Millbury, Ohio) and Andrew Campbell, Jr. (New Canaan, Conn.), and women's single sculler Gevvie Stone (Newton, Mass.) All four crews were NSR winners.
Three crews that did not advance, the men's single, the men's double and the men's quadruple sculls, can earn nominations with a win in the B finals. All NSR winners earn nominations with a top seven finish at this world cup or the World Cup 3 in Lucerne, Switzerland next month.
The first to qualify for a final was the USTC - Princeton's USA2 with Kerry Simmonds (San Diego, Calif.) and Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.). Racing against the reigning world and Olympic champions from Great Britain, Helen Glover and Heather Stanning, the U.S. moved into second place and stayed there despite challenges from New Zealand.
Great Britain won in 6:53.04. The U.S. was second in 6:54.67 and New Zealand was third in 6:58.48.
"It's been a fun regatta so far," said Simmonds. "I've been looking forward to this trip and the opportunity to race this event again. So far I've been impressed with the strength of this field and I am definitely looking forward to what should be a fierce final tomorrow."
Next to advance were Logan and Mueller. Racing as USA1, they jumped into the lead and held the pack behind them the length of the race, finishing first in 6:57.48. Denmark was second in 6:59.27 and France was third in 7:01.86.
All top six crews will meet in the final tomorrow.
Next was the men's pair with USTC - Princeton's Ross James (DeKalb, Ill.) and Dariush Aghai (Skokie, Ill.). James and Aghai rowed in qualifying position early, but through the last 500-meters Germany pushed them hard for third place. When the two boats crossed the line, it was a few minutes before the result was announced.
Italy1 was first in 6:25.25 followed by Italy2 in 6:25.46. The U.S. grabbed the last qualifying position in their semifinal in 6:26.76 with Germany following in 6:26.89.
"We thought we were managing the race in the last two-fifty and then I saw Germany take off, so we had to juke it up in the last strokes. When we crossed we didn't know who won. They were asking us and we were asking them," said James.
Joining them in the final tomorrow will be the Netherlands, Australia and Great Britain2.
In the lightweight men's double sculls, Konieczny and Campbell reached the final in their event in third place and clinched a nomination to the 2015 world championship team.
Rowing in the second semifinal, France led followed by Great Britain with the U.S. and Japan dueling for third through the thousand. That was when Konieczny and Campbell raised their game and cleared Japan for good.
France won in 6:10.90. Great Britain1 was second in 6:13.97. The U.S. crossed in 6:15.43. Those three boats will be joined in the final by Italy, Germany and Austria. "It is really great to make the A final and the U.S. team," said Campbell.
"That was the goal coming here and so now that that job is done, we'll try to maximize our training and improve from where we are now."
Rowing next in the repechage of their event was the men's quadruple sculls team from the California Boat Club of Hans Struzyna (Seattle, Wash.), John Madura (West Milford, N.J.), Ryan Shelton (Wrightwood, Calif.) and Paul Marcy (Guilford, Vermont).
Finishing fifth, they were relegated to B final, but because they are the winners of their national selection regatta event, they could still earn a nomination to the U.S. squad with a win and a top seven finish.
They will race against Italy, New Zealand, Germany and Norway.
Following the men's quad to the B final is the Craftsbury Sculling Center's Benjamin Dann (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) and John Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio), who were rowing as USA1 in the event. Dann and Graves finished fourth.
Dann and Graves are also NSR winner and can qualify to the world championship team with a win in the B final tomorrow where they will face Germany, Denmark, Argentinia, Italy, Australia and Great Britain.
The last semifinals of the afternoon were the men's and women's single sculls.
Rowing in the second semifinal was Craftsbury Sculling Center's William Cowles (Farmington, Conn.). Cowles, who is also a NSR winner, finished in sixth place and will have a second chance to earn a national team nomination in the B final where he will race Belarus, Finland, Germany, Italy and Germany2.
"It was a tough race," said Cowles. "It's fast company out there. I had a great quarterfinal yesterday and I think I used up a little bit more energy trying to stay within striking distance and I wasn't able to hang on in the second thousand. But I definitely learned something and hopefully I can do some damage in the B final. I can still qualify if I win it."
Last up for the day was the women's single. After qualifying for the semifinal with a win in the heat, Stone had her work in front of her with Australia's 2013 world champion and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Kim Crow in her semifinal.
Everyone expected Crow to set the tone for the race and she did. Crow led the length of the race and won in 7:21.41. Stone was third in the first 500-meters and fought her way into second where she finished in 7:24.64. Tatsiana Kukhta of Belarus was third in 7:27.01.
Those three will meet Austria's Magdalena Lobnig, China's Jingli Duan and Canada's Carling Zeeman in the Sunday final.
"It's feels good. Goal number one was to make the A final and qualify the boat for the world championships and so it's nice to have that done," she said. "Conditions were definitely not perfect out there and it was a fight in the last seven hundred. It's good to be in the A final and there will be another big challenge tomorrow."
Rowing in the men's single D final, Vesper Boat Clubs USA2 Yohann Rigogne (Besançon, France) finished second in a time of 6:52.6 and ended in 20th place overall. In the men's double sculls C final, California Rowing Club's USA2 entry of Derek Johnson (Hillsborough, Calif.) and Ian Silveira (West Bloomfield, Mich.) crossed fourth in 6:18.2 for a 16th place overall finish.
Two U.S. crews are scheduled to race in the women's four. Racing for the U.S. USTC - Princeton USA1 with Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Heidi Robbins (Hanover, N.H.) Tessa Gobbo (Chesterfield, N.H.) and Meghan Musnicki (Naples, N.Y.). Racing as USA2 are USTC - Princeton's Olivia Coffey (Watkins Glen, N.Y.), Emily Regan (Buffalo, N.Y.), Lauren Schmetterling Moorestown, N.J.) and Victoria Opitz (Middleton, Wis.).
They face Australia1, Australia2, Germany and Italy.
In the women's quad, the U.S. crew of Adrienne Martelli (University Place, Wash.), Amanda Elmore (West Lafayette, Ind.), Tracy Eisser (Fair Lawn, N.J.) and Grace Latz (Jackson, Mich.). They race Australia, New Zealand, China, Germany and Poland.
The men's four crew of USTC - Princeton's Seth Weil (Menlo Park, Calif.), Henrik Rummel (Pittsford, N.Y.), Charlie Cole (New Canaan, Conn.) and Glenn Ochal (Philadelphia, Pa.) race for medals against Australia, Germany, Canada, Great Britain and Italy.
In the men's eight the USTC - Princeton crew of Sam Ojserkis (Linwood, N.J.), Austin Hack (Old Lyme, Conn.), Tom Peszek (Farmington Hills, Mich.), Matt Miller (Fairfax, Va.), Sam Dommer (Folsom, Calif.), Tom Dethlefs (Lawrenceville, N.J.), Alex Karwoski (Hollis, N.H.), Michael Gennaro (Havertown, Pa.) and Rob Munn (Redmond, Wash.) … race against New Zealand, German1, Germany2, Poland and Great Britain.
The women's eight crew from USTC - Princeton coxswain Katelin Snyder (Detroit, Mich.), Robbins, Polk, Coffey, Regan, Schmetterling, Gobbo, Musnicki and Grace Luczak (Ann Arbor, Mich.) will also race for medals and face Great Britain, Australia, China, New Zealand and Canada.