Well, when your coxswain is calling "bowball" 400 meters into an international race, you're probably doing OK. Such was the dominance of the USA U23 W8+ today. In their performance, the crew resembled nothing so much as their older counterparts, the USA Women's Olympic 8+, and there's no doubt that more than a few of these athletes will make that leap in the coming years.
For four of the crew, Sarah Dougherty, Regina Salmons, Gia Doonan and Kendall Brewer, it was the second gold medal of the championships, having won the U23 W4- in a world best time yesterday.
GB was second and Russia was third; the US margin at the line was 7.1 seconds. "Winning two golds in one World Championship feels unreal! No words can really describe it," Doonan told WorldRowing. "The support from this team and this program is incredible."
"When you taste what it feels like to get on the podium and win a medal for a world championship regatta, you just want to keep going," stroke Kendall Chase said to USRowing. "I am so proud of these girls. Georgia [Ratcliff] and I were definitely feeling the race from yesterday; we even took a redemption-ten for gold, since we didn't get the result we wanted yesterday."
With their fifth consecutive win in the event, the USA now has a pretty good streak going in the U23 W8+ as well.
Count it - five gold medals in a row for the U.S. Under 23 women's eight. #MegaWorlds ?????????????? pic.twitter.com/w2YsNPMnMK
— USRowing (@usrowing) August 26, 2016
Curiously, the shift from yesterday's tailwind to today's cross meant that the USA U23 W4- which raced yesterday got down the track faster than the U23 W8+, whew.
The U23 men's pair of Brennan Wertz and Jovanni Stefani captured the USA's first men's rowing championship medal of the (long) summer in a strong race that saw them hang on to a very strong Serbia pair, then capture bronze behind the Serbs and a torridly sprinting (who else?) French pair.
"We tried to control the race as much as possible," bow seat Brennan Wertz told WorldRowing.com. "There was lots of head wind, but our coaching from Craig has been amazing. Waiting all week was hard with so much build up, but it was nice going straight to finals."
Evaporating a 14-year medal drought for the U.S. in the m2-, these @stanfordmrowing boys bring home bronze! pic.twitter.com/OVRV3hMQvi
— USRowing (@usrowing) August 26, 2016
"It was a lot of build-up," continued Wertz, speaking to USRowing. "The water has been nice when we have been practicing, and the boat has been feeling great. I've never had to wait like that, and I don't know that I enjoyed that aspect of it. But, our goal was to advance right to the final. It was a new experience, and you learn from it and move on. We came in wanting to make that final and that is what we did; it's great to medal."
The winning Serbian crew of Martin Mackovic and Viktor Pivac are a UW/Cal combo - and as an aside, I love the British commentators, and I will always get a kick out of hearing Martin Cross describe an athlete having rowed at "Cal Barkley."
In a strong fourth-place finish today from sisters Emily and Eliza Kallfelz in the U23 W2x, despite a game effort late in the race to catch the fading Romanian double, the crew came up about 3/4s of a length short of a medal at the finish.
The Kallfelz sisters finish in fourth in the under 23 women's double sculls! #MegaWorlds @Tigerwcrew @NBC pic.twitter.com/iJrZBtPtAK
— USRowing (@usrowing) August 26, 2016
Eliza's regatta continues tomorrow and Sunday in the Junior Worlds A/B semis and Finals.
The strong crosswind that blew across the course for today's racing did not seem to favor USA's Cicely Madden, who raced away from the protected lower lanes in lane 4 where finished fourth in the A-Final.
Madden, who runs small for an openweight single sculler, had a great regatta here in Rotterdam, progressing strongly from round to round to earn her spot in the final, and will be a sculler to watch in the future.
Madden takes 4th place in the BW1x in the last U.S. race of the day at #MegaWorlds pic.twitter.com/8cDcJ9dQDS
— USRowing (@usrowing) August 26, 2016
FISA responded accordingly to the crosswind prior to the AM racing. "Due to the prevailing cross wind, the Fairness Committee has re-allocated the lanes for the morning session based on the results from the previous round(s). Lanes are prioritized from lane 1."
Good morning from Rotterdam! A bit windy this morning, lanes will be re-allocated, favouring lane 1. #Rotterdam2016
— World Rowing (@WorldRowing) August 26, 2016
Most of the races seemed to be unaffected by the wind, and fairness seemed to prevail; the redraw did not seem to bother Tim Ole Naske of Germany, who rowed to a big win in the U23 M1x out of lane 6.
Call it a home game if you will, but the Dutch U23 M8+ rowed a brilliant race enroute to the win in the event; the crew also rowed with the customary fluid, no-muss Dutch style to take the win by almost a length ahead of the GB and Germany.
Mannenacht Wereldkampioen u23! pic.twitter.com/byCx2q4uNK
— ASR Nereus (@asrnereus) August 26, 2016
The U23 M8+ race also occasioned the quote of the day:
A sea of Dutch are in the water out to congratulate the U23 championship eight #Rotterdam2016
— World Rowing (@WorldRowing) August 26, 2016
Is there a better tradition in rowing?
The strong cohort of US collegians racing for their native countries has fired up teams on Twitter as they call out the accomplishments of their international athletes.
Congrats Martin Mackovic '18 on winning GOLD in the SRB 2- at U23! @CalAthletics @WorldRowing
— California Crew (@CaliforniaCrew) August 26, 2016
Michiel Mantel on the medal stands with his gold-medal Netherlands eight! pic.twitter.com/6597RkVJ49
— Washington Rowing (@UW_Rowing) August 26, 2016
Great work from Arthur Doyle stroking the GB U23 8 to silver!! #gocrimson
— Harvard Heavies (@HarvardHeavies) August 26, 2016
Congrats to our sophomore Chloe Brew on winning SILVER MEDAL at U23 worlds! #goChloe #FightOn #All-in pic.twitter.com/SKA557nFt4
— USC Women's Rowing (@USCWomensRowing) August 26, 2016
Netherlands Mareijke Keiser doesn't just look good on buildings, she rows pretty well too; the dutch "face of the world championships" won the U23 LW1x by miles of open water today, to the delight of the hometown crowd. Mexico's Kenia Lechuga Alanis (she of the "beating Kim Brennan in Rio" performance) showed that she's legit, capturing bronze in the race, a welcome medal for Remo Mexico.
Kenia logra la medalla de bronce!!!!! En una carrera muy dura y después de unos grandiosos Juegos Olímpicos... https://t.co/RMOD9PfgoT
— FedMexRemo (@FedRemoMex) August 26, 2016
In the reps and quarterfinals of the Junior events this morning, US crews acquitted themselves well; the USA JW8+ won their rep to move on to Sunday's A-Final, while the USA JM4x won their quarterfinal with a strong row to move into tomorrow's semifinals in a great position.
USA's JM1x Jack Luby placed third in his quarterfinal to progress to the A/B semifinals, while the JM2x of Conor Donadio and Jeffrey Schlyer fell to sixth in their quarterfinal, and will race in the C/D semis.
With the U23 events concluded today, racing at #megaworlds continues on Saturday with the Senior Finals and the Junior Semis, and then all of the Junior medal races on Sunday.
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