All 12 UW Rowing Alums In Action Monday In Rio
August 08, 2016 | Men's Rowing
U.S. eight move on to repechage while Canada four makes A/B semifinal.
A total of 12 former Washington rowers competed at the 2016 Olympics Monday, a day after the entire program of races was postponed due to high winds at the Lagao Rodrigo de Freitis.
Two boats featuring Husky rowers – the U.S. women's eight and quad sculls – qualified on Monday for A finals, meaning they'll race for medals their next time out.
The men's and women's eights competed for the first time, with a total of six Husky alumni in the U.S. men's and women's boats, combined.
First up among the eights were the dominant American women, winners of the last two Olympic gold medals. The U.S., featuring Huskies Kerry Simmonds '09 in the two seat and Katelin Snyder '11 as the coxswain, needed a first-place finish in its four-boat heat to advance directly to the final.
The American women did the job, leading the other three competitors throughout the race and coasting to an eight-second win over second-place Netherlands. They won't race again until Saturday morning, when they'll vie for a third straight gold.
The U.S. men, with four Huskies (Sam Ojserkis '12, Sam Dommer '13, Rob Munn' 12 and Hans Struzyna '11) in the boat, also needed to finish first in their heat to move directly to the A final. Racing against Poland and Germany in heat two, the Americans fell behind the Germans early and trailed by about a five seats headed into the last 500.
In the end, Germany won by just about that same five-seat margin to join heat one winner Great Britain in the final. The American eight will now have to row in a recepchage Wednesday morning to earn their spot in the A final Saturday.
Americans Megan Kalmoe '06 and Adrienne Martelli '10, who won bronze in 2012, needed only a top-four finish in a five-boat women's quad sculls repechage to reach the A final.
At 1,500, the U.S. quad was running third, behind Poland and the Netherlands, but had a huge fight on their hands with Australia and China to earn one of the final two qualifying spots. In the final few hundred meters, the three boats were just about even and crossed the line within 11 one-hundreds of a second of one another. The U.S. took fourth place in 6:28.54, just .06 seconds behind China, and only .05 in front of Australia. Kalmoe, Martelli and their other American teammates will row for a medal on Wednesday.
"It was awesome," Kalmoe told WorldRowing.com. "That's what we come here to do, to race really, really hard. The athletes are all so talented we've seen the field be really, really close last year and this season as well. We expected a really close race and that's what we got today so we're happy that we executed well today."
Rob Gibson '06, a 2012 silver medalist in the men's eight, rowed in the Canadian quad sculls repechage but, needing a top-two finish to advance to the A final and a chance at a medal, saw his boat finish fifth.
At 1,000 meters, the Canadian boat was running fourth, but the distance from first-place Germany back to them, with Great Britain and Switzerland in between, wasn't insurmountable. But by 1,500, Canada had fallen back a bit more as the Germans and the British held on to the two qualifying spots and crossed the line in first and second, respectively.
Later in the morning, former Husky Patricia Obee '14 made her Olympic debut in the Canadian lightweight double sculls. Named one of her country's strongest medal hopes in rowing by CBC television this morning, Obee and partner Lindsay Jennerich didn't disappoint, moving through to the A/B semifinal on Wednesday with a victory in their heat.
The Canadian duo, rowing in the fourth of four heats and requiring a top-two finish to move to the higher semi, trailed Germany and Poland in the early-going, but eased past both just after the halfway point and rowed to a comfortable win, with Poland second.
"I think it was a well-executed race; it was what we wanted to do," Obee told WorldRowing.com. "We had some demons to push out after London2012. We trained to do it classy, we trained to do it patient and we did that really well."
The final event of the day to feature UW alumni was the men's four, with two of the four spots in the Canadian shell manned by Huskies Will Crothers '09 and Conlin McCabe '11. Silver medalists in the eight in 2012, the two helped guide their boat to a third-place finish and a spot in the A/B semifinal Wednesday.
Trailing the four-boat field early on and racing against the reigning world champion in Italy, the Canadians overtook Belarus just after 1,000 meters and then took aim at the U.S. four. Canada moved just in front of the Americans at 1,500 and barely held them off to take second place. Italy won the heat, with Canada finishing second, just five one-hundredths of a second in front of the United States.
Next up for UW alums:
LW2x (Obee, Canada): A/B semifinal, Wed., 4:50 or 5:10 a.m. PT
M4- (Crothers, McCabe; Canada): A/B semifinal, Wed., 5:30 a.m. PT
M8+ (Ojserkis, Struzyna, Munn, Dommer; USA): Repechage, Wed., 6:00 a.m. PT
M4x (Gibson, Canada): B final, Wed., 6:10 a.m. PT
W4x (Kalmoe, Martelli; USA): A final, Wed., 6:34 a.m. PT
W8+ (Snyder, Simmonds; USA): A final, Sat., 7:04 a.m. PT
Two boats featuring Husky rowers – the U.S. women's eight and quad sculls – qualified on Monday for A finals, meaning they'll race for medals their next time out.
The men's and women's eights competed for the first time, with a total of six Husky alumni in the U.S. men's and women's boats, combined.
First up among the eights were the dominant American women, winners of the last two Olympic gold medals. The U.S., featuring Huskies Kerry Simmonds '09 in the two seat and Katelin Snyder '11 as the coxswain, needed a first-place finish in its four-boat heat to advance directly to the final.
The American women did the job, leading the other three competitors throughout the race and coasting to an eight-second win over second-place Netherlands. They won't race again until Saturday morning, when they'll vie for a third straight gold.
The U.S. men, with four Huskies (Sam Ojserkis '12, Sam Dommer '13, Rob Munn' 12 and Hans Struzyna '11) in the boat, also needed to finish first in their heat to move directly to the A final. Racing against Poland and Germany in heat two, the Americans fell behind the Germans early and trailed by about a five seats headed into the last 500.
In the end, Germany won by just about that same five-seat margin to join heat one winner Great Britain in the final. The American eight will now have to row in a recepchage Wednesday morning to earn their spot in the A final Saturday.
Americans Megan Kalmoe '06 and Adrienne Martelli '10, who won bronze in 2012, needed only a top-four finish in a five-boat women's quad sculls repechage to reach the A final.
At 1,500, the U.S. quad was running third, behind Poland and the Netherlands, but had a huge fight on their hands with Australia and China to earn one of the final two qualifying spots. In the final few hundred meters, the three boats were just about even and crossed the line within 11 one-hundreds of a second of one another. The U.S. took fourth place in 6:28.54, just .06 seconds behind China, and only .05 in front of Australia. Kalmoe, Martelli and their other American teammates will row for a medal on Wednesday.
"It was awesome," Kalmoe told WorldRowing.com. "That's what we come here to do, to race really, really hard. The athletes are all so talented we've seen the field be really, really close last year and this season as well. We expected a really close race and that's what we got today so we're happy that we executed well today."
Rob Gibson '06, a 2012 silver medalist in the men's eight, rowed in the Canadian quad sculls repechage but, needing a top-two finish to advance to the A final and a chance at a medal, saw his boat finish fifth.
At 1,000 meters, the Canadian boat was running fourth, but the distance from first-place Germany back to them, with Great Britain and Switzerland in between, wasn't insurmountable. But by 1,500, Canada had fallen back a bit more as the Germans and the British held on to the two qualifying spots and crossed the line in first and second, respectively.
Later in the morning, former Husky Patricia Obee '14 made her Olympic debut in the Canadian lightweight double sculls. Named one of her country's strongest medal hopes in rowing by CBC television this morning, Obee and partner Lindsay Jennerich didn't disappoint, moving through to the A/B semifinal on Wednesday with a victory in their heat.
The Canadian duo, rowing in the fourth of four heats and requiring a top-two finish to move to the higher semi, trailed Germany and Poland in the early-going, but eased past both just after the halfway point and rowed to a comfortable win, with Poland second.
"I think it was a well-executed race; it was what we wanted to do," Obee told WorldRowing.com. "We had some demons to push out after London2012. We trained to do it classy, we trained to do it patient and we did that really well."
The final event of the day to feature UW alumni was the men's four, with two of the four spots in the Canadian shell manned by Huskies Will Crothers '09 and Conlin McCabe '11. Silver medalists in the eight in 2012, the two helped guide their boat to a third-place finish and a spot in the A/B semifinal Wednesday.
Trailing the four-boat field early on and racing against the reigning world champion in Italy, the Canadians overtook Belarus just after 1,000 meters and then took aim at the U.S. four. Canada moved just in front of the Americans at 1,500 and barely held them off to take second place. Italy won the heat, with Canada finishing second, just five one-hundredths of a second in front of the United States.
Next up for UW alums:
LW2x (Obee, Canada): A/B semifinal, Wed., 4:50 or 5:10 a.m. PT
M4- (Crothers, McCabe; Canada): A/B semifinal, Wed., 5:30 a.m. PT
M8+ (Ojserkis, Struzyna, Munn, Dommer; USA): Repechage, Wed., 6:00 a.m. PT
M4x (Gibson, Canada): B final, Wed., 6:10 a.m. PT
W4x (Kalmoe, Martelli; USA): A final, Wed., 6:34 a.m. PT
W8+ (Snyder, Simmonds; USA): A final, Sat., 7:04 a.m. PT
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