CHUNGJU, South Korea – Coming off the start line and nearly all the way through the first quarter of the lightweight women’s double sculls final, the pack of six boats looked more like one mass than a group of individual shells.
In the frantic first strokes, when the crews were rowing between 42 and 46 strokes per minute, the field held tightly together and did not begin to separate the medal contenders from the rest until deep into the second five hundred meters.
Kate Bertko (Oakland, Calif.) and Kristin Hedstrom (Concord, Mass.) were among those pushing out and declaring that they were in it for the medals. They rowed into third through the first half. Going through the third quarter, they passed Germany, which led off the line.
Italy’s Laura Milani and Elisabetta Sancassani went through both crews to the front going into the final five hundred meters, but Bertko and Hedstrom held firmly onto second. The U.S. completed the race – and a season to remember – in possession of silver medals.
“I wasn’t looking a lot,” said Hedstrom. “We knew it was going to be close, that’s just the nature of lightweight women’s racing. The goal was to be internal. We’ve been working on a few things all season. Ever since Lucerne, we knew that being internal was going to be a strength of ours.
“You never know what’s going to happen,” she said. “We got to the middle of the race, and I’m calling that we’re in third for a long time, and it just becomes trusting your strength and trusting that you’re going to have it in the tank to unleash at some point later on in the race. We’ve very happy.”
The medal was the first of two for the United States on Saturday at the 2013 World Rowing Championships in Chungju, South Korea. The men’s four took bronze, and the women’s pair and the women’s quadruple sculls missed the podium. The quad finished in fifth and the pair in fourth.
It was the second to last day of finals in the regatta, and the medal tally for the U.S. when Saturday ended totaled six, with four more chances on the line Sunday. The lightweight men’s four, the women’s single sculls, and the men’s and women’s eights close out racing on the Tangeum International Regatta Course.
For Bertko and Hedstrom, it was a sweet ending to a successful season that started at the national selection regatta on Mercer Lake in New Jersey, through to the last world cup in Lucerne with a silver medal and a place on the national team. It finished here with another silver medal.
Bertko, who last rowed on the national team in 2011 in the women’s double sculls where she finished fifth, and Hedstrom, who finished 11th in the event in London and was not sure if she would come back for this season, said they gained strength from each other as the year went by.
“This is pretty good,” said Bertko. “Kristin helped me overcome a lot of things this year, and we worked together and I really wouldn’t race with anyone else. I think she is just the best.”
“The same goes for me,” Hedstrom said. “Kate really pulled me out of my thinking that I wasn’t going to come back. This opportunity arose and I grabbed it. And God, I am so glad that I did. This is great. It’s just awesome to be in the medals.”
Italy won gold in 7:17.31. The U.S. crossed in 7:20.73, and Germany took third in 7:22.24.
In the men’s four, the crew of Michael Gennaro (Havertown, Pa.), Henrik Rummel (Pittsford, N.Y.), Seth Weil (Menlo Park, Calif.) and Grant James (DeKalb, Ill.) came into Chungju having never trailed in competition through the season.
They led from start to finish in the races in Lucerne and won gold. And they led all the way through their heat and semifinal here. But that was not what happened in the final.
They fell all the way to the back of the pack at the start, and had to row through the field to get into medal position. They reached second by the thousand and were chasing Australia, which led through the first three quarters.
In the end, it was The Netherlands that sprinted past both crews to take the gold medal, leaving silver for Australia and bronze for the United States. The Dutch finished in 6:13.95. Australia was second in 6:14.58 and the U.S. was third in 6:15.46.
While they had reached the medal stand, the disappointment with the finish was evident. “We just wanted to win,” said Rummel, who won bronze in the event in London last summer. “I thought we could win and I think we still can, just not today. We just didn’t have quite as good a race as we normally do,” he said.
“The Australians had an unbelievable race,” said Gennaro, who was an alternate in London. “I still don’t know much about this event and how it goes, but I have to believe that was some of the best rowing anyone ever had.
“It’s not the result we wanted,” he said. “The tactics that have been working for us didn’t work today, and we’ve got to learn how to respond when that happens again, if it happens again. We have to be disappointed with the bronze medal, because that’s the attitude that our team is going towards now.
“I don’t want to sound selfish. I don’t want to sound rude. I’m honored to have the chance to represent my country and I’m extremely proud to race with these guys and get a bronze, but it’s not what we want to do.”
The first race of the day on Saturday also ended in disappointment for the U.S.
Rowing in the women’s pair, Meghan Musnicki (Naples, N.Y.) and Taylor Goetzinger (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.) faced Great Britain, New Zealand, Romania, The Netherlands and South Africa.
The U.S. set the pace off the line and led the field in the early, opening strokes. Great Britain had been dominating through the heat and semifinal and caught the U.S. as the crews passed the 500-meter mark. The U.S. stayed with them and rowed across the halfway point in second place.
But as they approached the final quarter, both Romania and New Zealand closed the gap and were cutting into the U.S. medal position. As the finish line neared, the U.S. was overtaken and pushed off the podium.
Great Britain won in 7:22.82, Romania was second in 7:25.75. New Zealand finished third in 7:27.58. Musnicki and Goetzinger crossed the line in fourth in 7:32.24.
The race was the last for Goetzinger in these world championships. Musnicki, who was pressed into duty in the women’s eight when the crew lost stroke Heidi Robbins (Hanover, N.H.) to back injury in training, will have another chance at a medal Sunday afternoon.
The last medal race of the day featured the U.S. women’s quadruple sculls crew of Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.), Esther Lofgren (Newport Beach, Calif.), Kara Kohler (Clayton, Calif.) and Susan Francia (Abington, Pa.).
The U.S. was never in a position to medal, starting in fifth place and falling into sixth before crossing the finish line back in fifth. Germany won in 6:41.86. Canada was second in 6:45.02 and Poland was third in 6:46.27.
In B final racing, the lightweight men’s double sculls crew of Nick Trojan (Los Alamitos, Calif.) and Austin Meyer (Cohoes, N.Y.) rowed against Australia, The Netherlands, Denmark, Great Britain, Norway and Germany and finished sixth, for a 12th-place overall result in the regatta.
Sunday Race Preview: 2013 World Rowing Championships
With the 2013 World Rowing Championships coming to a close Sunday, the United States will have four more chances at the medal podium.
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