The U.S. will have 11 boats racing in semifinals on Thursday at the 2007 FISA World Rowing Championships in Munich, Germany.
The women's single sculls, lightweight men's single sculls, lightweight women's single sculls, men's double sculls, women's double sculls, men's pair, women's pair and men's four will race for spots in the finals in the senior events, while the adaptive men's single sculls, trunk-arms double sculls and legs-trunk-arms four with coxswain will try to reach the finals in the adaptive events. The top three finishers in each of the semifinals will advance to Saturday's finals.
In the women's single sculls, Michelle Guerette (Bristol, Conn.) won her quarterfinal, defeating France's Sophie Balmary, to advance to Thursday's semifinals. Guerette will take on scullers from the Czech Republic, China, Russia, Poland and Spain in the first of two semifinals. The Czech Republic's Mirka Knapkova has won the silver medal in the single at the past two world championships, while China's Zhang Xiuyun won two medals on the world cup circuit earlier this season.
Matt Hughes (Ludington, Mich.) and Sam Stitt (McLean, Va.) won their quarterfinal of the men's double sculls, qualifying for Thursday's semifinals. The duo will race France, Australia, New Zealand, Croatia and Estonia in the second of two semifinals. France's Adrien Hardy and Jean-Baptiste Macquet, the other quarterfinal winners in the race, are the defending world champions, while Estonia won two gold medals on the world cup circuit this summer.
The women's pair of Anna Mickelson (Bellevue, Wash.) and Portia J. McGee (Seattle, Wash.) finished third in its heat to advance directly to the semifinals. McGee, who also is racing in the women's four, was forced into action in the pair after Megan Cooke (Los Gatos, Calif.) had to be replaced due to medical reasons. The duo will take on crews from Belarus, New Zealand, China, Russia and Great Britain. New Zealand's Nicola Coles and Juliette Haigh, who defeated the U.S. in the heat, finished second at last year's world championships after winning the gold medal in 2005. Belarus and China both finished second in their heats.
The men's four of Bryan Volpenhein (Cincinnati, Ohio), Giuseppe Lanzone (Annandale, Va.), Matt Schnobrich (St. Paul, Minn.) and Beau Hoopman (Plymouth, Wis.) cruised to a victory in its repechage to advance to the semifinals. The quartet will take on the Czech Republic, Great Britain, France, Belarus and Italy in the first of two semifinals. The British boat has not lost a race since coming together in 2005 and is the two-time defending world champions. Great Britain and the Czech Republic won their heats on Sunday and enter the race as the top seeds.
The men's pair of Kyle Larson (Seattle, Wash.) and Jason Read (Ringoes, N.J.) finished second in its repechage to advance to the semifinals. The duo will take on Great Britain, New Zealand, Croatia, Serbia and Denmark in the first of two semifinals. New Zealand's Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater are the defending world silver medalists and won two world cup medals earlier this season, while Great Britain's Colin Smith and Matthew Langridge won the world cup race in Austria. Both crews advanced to the semifinals by winning their heats on Sunday.
Ala Piotrowski (Manchester, N.H.) and Jen Kaido (West Leyden, N.Y.) finished second in their repechage of the women's double sculls to advance to the semifinals. Racing in the first of two semis, the duo will take on Great Britain, Italy, Romania, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Great Britain and Italy both won their heats on Sunday and enter the race as the top seeds. Italy, Great Britain and the U.S. took third, fourth and fifth places, respectively, at the final world cup race in Switzerland, while Piotrowski and Kaido bested the Italians at the first world cup in Austria.
In the lightweight women's single sculls, Jen Goldsack (Banstead, Surrey, United Kingdom) defeated two-time defending world champion Marit Van Eupen from The Netherlands in the heats to advance directly to the semifinals. Goldsack will take on Van Eupen for a second time in tomorrow's semifinals. In addition to the Dutch sculler, the first-time U.S. National Team member will race rowers from France, Great Britain, Germany and Italy in the first race of the day. Like Goldsack, France's Benedicte Dorfman also won her heat.
Lightweight men's single sculler Ivan Baldychev (Newark, Del.) won his heat to advance to the semifinals. Baldychev will face scullers from Japan, Germany, Great Britain, Estonia and Canada in the first of two semifinals. Japan's Takahiro Suda is the other heat winner in the race.
In the adaptive events, adaptive men's single sculler Ron Harvey (Long Beach, Calif.) had no trouble winning his heat to advance to the semifinals. Harvey will face scullers from Australia, Canada, China, Germany and Ireland in the second of two semifinals. Australia's Dominic Monypenny is the two-time defending champion in the event, while Harvey won silver last year.
Angela Madsen (Long Beach, Calif.) and Scott Brown (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) finished second in their heat of the trunk-arms double sculls to advance to the semifinals. The duo, which has won the event every year it has been contested, will take on China, Australia, Poland, Belarus and Canada in the second of two semifinals. China won its heat on Monday.
In the adaptive four with coxswain, Ryan Pawling (Jenkintown, Pa.), Jesse Karmazin (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.), Jamie Dean (Pickerington, Ohio), Tracy Lee Tackett (Phoenixville, Pa.) and Aerial Gilbert (Tiburon, Calif.) finished second in their heat to advance to the semifinals. The crew will face boats from Italy, Russia, Brazil, Germany and Japan in the second of two semifinals.
In addition, the lightweight men's double sculls tandem of Andrew Liverman (Oakton, Va.) and Richard Montgomery (Batavia, Ill.) finished fifth in its quarterfinal and will now race in the C/D semifinals, which determine the crews that will race in the C finals for places 13-18 and the D finals for places 19-24. The duo will take on crews from Uruguay, New Zealand, Belarus, Slovakia and Portugal, with the top three finishers moving on to the C final.
The eight-day regatta, which serves as the primary country qualifier for the 2008 Olympic Games, features 1,285 athletes racing in 474 crews from 68 nations.