GIFU, Japan - The men's eight won a gold medal, the lightweight women's double sculls won a silver medal and the men's four with coxswain won a bronze medal to highlight the final day of competition at the 2005 FISA World Rowing Championships on the Nagaragawa International Regatta Course in Gifu, Japan.
The men's eight of coxswain Marcus McElhenney (Lansdowne, Pa.), Beau Hoopman (Plymouth, Wis.), Bryan Volpenhein (Cincinnati, Ohio), Josh Inman (Hillsboro, Ore.), Dan Beery (Oaktown, Ind.), Mike Blomquist (Greensboro, N.C.), Steven Coppola (Buffalo, N.Y.), Matt Deakin (San Francisco, Calif.) and Paul Daniels (Burlington, Wis.) clocked a 5:22.75 to finish 1.26 seconds ahead of Italy as the crews crossed the finish line. The U.S. grabbed the lead early in the race, holding less than a 0.50-second advantage on Russia at the 500-meter mark. Russia continued to challenge the Americans through the midway point of the race before Italy and Germany picked up their pace during the third 500 meters. The U.S. held a 0.62-second advantage on Italy as the crews headed into the last 500 meters before inching away from the field. Germany won the bronze medal with a time of 5:25.66.
"Going in, we knew that we were the best boat and we just had to execute," Volpenhein said. "Our goal was to get out and get as much in front of the field as we could. I think we did that and it worked out well. It feels great (to win another gold medal). I'm very excited about it. I'm happy for the new guys in the boat. They did a great job. I think they did most of the work for us."
The lightweight women's double sculls tandem of Julie Nichols (Livermore, Calif.) and Renee Hykel (Haverford, Pa.) won a silver medal, finishing just 0.30 seconds behind Germany. Finland led the race through the 1,500-meter mark, with Germany close behind in second place. At the same time, the U.S. was battling Poland for third place, about one length behind Finland. However, the U.S. mounted a strong challenge to the leaders with 500 meters to go, passing Finland and coming up just short of the top position. Germany won gold with a time of 6:48.47. The U.S. finished in a 6:48.77, with Finland winning the bronze by stroking a 6:49.02. Poland finished fourth.
"We knew we were going to have to go early in the last 500," Hykel said. "I called the move before we even got to the 500 (to go) because I saw Poland moving. It was really tight across the lanes, and I knew we had to go. We tried to go up every eight strokes, and with 250 to go, we just went and threw everything that we had at them."
In the men's four with coxswain, the crew of coxswain Marcus McElhenney (Lansdowne, Pa.), Brett Newlin (Riverton, Wyo.), Pat Sullivan (St. Paul, Minn.), Matt Hughes (Ludington, Mich.) and Troy Kepper (Tallahassee, Fla.) won a silver medal. France passed the U.S in the final 250 meters to win the gold. The U.S. got off the line well, grabbed the early lead and extended its advantage to a boat length by the 1,000-meter mark. However, the French slowly chipped away at the U.S. lead. The American crew still led by a half length with 500 meters to go, but the French sprint was too much as they rowed on to a half-length victory. France clocked a 6:02.42, with the U.S. finishing in a 6:03.44. Germany won the bronze medal.
"We got out really fast and then it was a matter of trying to push out," Hughes said. "I thought we had them at the 1,000 (meter mark) because we were bow to stroke. We tried to push out more but they just overcame us right at the end. We saw them start their sprint at about 500 (to go), so we just tried to take the biggest push we could. They pushed out real hard and kept it up, and we just couldn't finish at that level."
The women's eight of Mary Whipple (Sacramento, Calif.), Caroline Lind (Greensboro, N.C.), Lindsay Shoop (Charlottesville, Va.), Megan Dirkmaat (San Jose, Calif.), Sam Magee (Simsbury, Conn.), Anna Goodale (Camden, Maine), Susan Francia (Abington, Pa.), Liane Malcos (Carlisle, Mass.) and Sharon Kriz (Somerset, N.J.) finished in fourth place after getting edged out for a medal at the finish line. The U.S. led by 1.55 seconds at the 500-meter mark and held a three-seat advantage over Australia at the midway point of the race. That's when Australia made its big push. Australia took a slight advantage during the third quarter of the race, holding a bow-ball lead with 500 meters to go. The U.S. sat in second place, a bow-ball up on Romania. During the final quarter of the race, Australia and Romania inched away, with the Netherlands sneaking into the bronze medal position. Australia clocked a 5:58.10, with Romania stroking a 5:59.50. The Netherlands took bronze in a 5:59.61, while the U.S. stroked a 5:59.88.
In the women's quadruple sculls, Anna Mickelson (Bellevue, Wash.), Caryn Davies (Ithaca, N.Y.), Margot Shumway (Westlake, Ohio) and Kelly Salchow (Cincinnati, Ohio) finished fifth. The crew got off the line in sixth position and could never challenge for a spot on the medal stand, finishing with a time of 6:24.02. Great Britain rowed through Germany in the final 500 meters to win the gold medal with a time of 6:09.59. Germany finished second, followed by Russia in third. The Germans finished 0.34 seconds behind the British boat.
The lightweight men's quadruple sculls crew of Rob Zechmann (Lincoln, Neb.), Greg Ruckman (Cincinnati, Ohio), Matt Muffelman (Mathews, Va.) and Sean Wolf (New Haven, Conn.) finished sixth. Italy won the gold medal, followed by Belgium and Canada. The Italians clocked a 5:44.76. The U.S. finished with a time of 5:54.48.
Other gold-medal winners on Sunday included Hungary in the lightweight men's double sculls, France in the lightweight men's four, Poland in the men's quadruple sculls, Denmark in the lightweight men's pair and Canada in the lightweight women's quadruple sculls.
The U.S had three crews racing in the B finals for places 7-12. The lightweight men's four of John Wachter (Mt. Laurel, N.J.), Tom Paradiso (Blue Bell, Pa.), Simon Carcagno (Pennington, N.J.) and Rich Montgomery (Batavia, Ill.) finished third in its B final for a ninth-place finish overall. In what was a very tight race throughout, South Africa won a five-boat sprint to the finish. South Africa clocked a 5:57.15 to edge out Great Britain by 0.39 seconds at the line. The U.S. finished third in a 5:58.38, besting Spain by 0.6 seconds. Japan finished fifth less than a half second behind Spain.
The men's quadruple sculls of Ken Jurkowski (New Fairfield, Conn.), Dan Walsh (Norwalk, Conn.), Shane O'Mara (Tampa, Fla.) and Jonathan Burns (Vancouver, Wash.) also finished third in the B final for a ninth-place finish overall. The U.S. sat in fourth position through the 1,000-meter mark before moving past the Ukraine in the final 500 meters. Great Britain won the race by clocking a 5:43.95. Russia finished second in a 5:45.70, followed by the U.S. in a 5:46.52.
In the B final of the lightweight men's double sculls, Bjorn Larsen (Lake Stevens, Wash.) and Mike Altman (Marin County, Calif.) finished fourth for a 10th-place finish overall. Larsen and Altman clocked a 6:19.21. Great Britain won the race by clocking a 6:16.02 to edge out host Japan by 0.17 seconds.
On Saturday, the U.S. won medals in two senior events and two adaptive events. The U.S. won a total of seven medals at the championships. For full results, please visit http://www.fisa.org/results/default.sps.