Making a Statement: Team USA's Lofty Performance in Lucerne

Lucerne skies (Photo: B. Kitch)
Following the 2012 Olympic Games, there were significant changes to the structure and the personnel at USRowing, with the departure of Tim McLaren, and the subsequent hiring of Curtis Jordan and Luke McGee adding new blood to the system at the outset of a new quadrennium. At the time, we questioned the addition of a second high performance director, but lauded the hiring of McGee, given his track record of success at the college level and personal understanding of what it takes to be a national team oarsman. Also, while Bryan Volpenhein had taken his lightweight four through the qualifiers and to the Olympic Regatta, making the transition to one of the marquee events on the heavyweight side would be no easy task. Fortunately for those of us stateside, however, the two-time Olympic medalist showed, in no uncertain terms, that he was ready to take it on.

The lead-up to London was often fraught with controversy for the U.S. men's squad, as the dearth of international medals through multiple seasons led many (including us) to question the leadership and coaching decisions. Now, with London in the rearview mirror and Rio just over the horizon, the team's first major international competition couldn't have contrasted more greatly with the previous regime. Despite taking on the role with the national team just over eight months before Lucerne, McGee's eight—a mixture of 2012 Olympians and younger athletes, including Stanford's Austin Hack—showed fantastic early-season speed, knocking off the Germans in a slugfest all the way to the line. The victory marked the first time that anyone has defeated Germany's top-tier men's eight since the Beijing Olympic Games.

Meanwhile, in the men's four, a crew with one returning athlete from the bronze medal-winning lineup in London (Henrik Rummel), also had an outstanding regatta. Though, as Greg Searle commented at the time, perhaps not the smoothest of rows, there was no shortage of power being applied by the American crew, stroked by 2011 under-23 world champion Mike Gennaro. Again, the crew was a mixture—Seth Weil, sitting in the two seat, made his first-ever international race a memorable one on the Rotsee. In fact, as USRowing noted following Lucerne, no less than nine of the 31 U.S. athletes who earned a trip to the podium were appearing in their first senior-level international competition.

Of course, this is a World Cup, and we haven't yet seen the real speed of the rest of the field, with everyone building toward Chungju. This fact, however, wasn't lost on the U.S. team. Henrik Rummel summed it up succinctly:

"It's a World Cup win in a post-Olympic year. We have three years till Rio, and that's the important one."

On the women's side, the U.S. has long been a force to be reckoned with, and that certainly doesn't look like it's about to change any time soon—top to bottom, heavyweight and lightweight, Team USA was nothing short of dominant. The result for the eight was, obviously, outstanding, but perhaps the most impressive result of the regatta came from Elle Logan in the women's single, where she defeated the defending Olympic champion Mirka Knapkova en route to a silver medal (Logan's fourth medal of the 2013 World Cup season). Also of note was the solid, bronze medal result for the new-look U.S. women's double of Meghan O'Leary and Ellen Tomek—this could be a real crew to watch heading into the world championships in South Korea, and beyond.

Is there a new-old rowing superpower on the rise?

-RR

Trending posts this month

"I Row Crew" — Rowing in 'The Social Network'

Image
Like many of the rowing faithful, I've been keeping up with the saga penned by Dan Boyne about the filming of the rowing scenes in David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin's The Social Network , and I must say I had high hopes going into the film. The first problem I encountered: the phrase, "I row crew." It was uttered so many times before anyone "rowed crew" on the water that I had trouble buying any of it later. It's understandable that the character of Mark Zuckerberg makes that mistake, since he has no idea about the sport. But when the Winklevoss twins themselves utter the phrase several times, one begins to wonder where Boyne was when these lines were not being chopped or changed. Seriously, who says that? As far as the actual rowing goes, the first scene, which has the twins out training in a pair along with the rest of the Harvard squad, is not all bad — it just ends that way. The line, "Those guys are freakin' fast" is certainly every b
Read more

Will It Make the Boat Go Faster? At Marin Rowing Association, Culture is Key

Image
Hands in after training  My alarm goes off—it’s 4:22am.  It’s been a while since I did this. Immediately, I think back to a college dorm room, rolling out of bed and running down the steps to carpool caravan to Marina Del Rey.  Not this time, though. It’s a Tuesday in late September, and I’m heading across the Golden Gate Bridge to Greenbrae, California, where I’ll meet with the Marin Rowing Men’s Masters squad. Fortunately, it’s an unusually warm morning—and when I roll in, the boathouse is already buzzing with activity.  Launch time: 5:10. Heading out into the Bay before dawn The Marin Rowing Association program has both men’s and women’s masters boats competing to win at every event they attend. In the fall, that can only mean one thing: The Head Of The Charles .  The boat that Coach Rodrigo Rodrigues and I spend most of our time with is the Grand Masters eight—average age 60+. But that’s just one of five crews that launched with us that morning. Everyone’s up before 4:30am. So, wh
Read more

The 30 Best Rowing Coaches of All Time, Part 3: The Top 10

Image
The top 10 best rowing coaches, including guess who (Photo © Iain Weir / Rowing Photography ) It's time for the third and final part of our 3-part series on the best of the best in the rowing coaching ranks. These coaches not only command respect based on performance, but have also shown the ability to adapt to new circumstances, build dynasties, and ultimately help shape the trajectory of rowing as a sport. Honestly, it would be easy to extend this series into 10 more posts... But we wouldn't do that to you. As we've said before, the hope is that the following may serve to educate and spark discussion, as both an appreciation of history and of the coaching craft. Also note: As we stated in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, there are few women in this list, but that is a reflection of a general underrepresentation of women in the head coaching ranks in our sport—and indeed (as has been well documented ) a growing number of NCAA sports in the United States.
Read more

So, are Naked Rowing Calendars a Thing Now?

Image
Warwick rowers are all in again this year (Photo courtesy of Warwick Boat Club)  The phenomenon started four years ago with the Warwick Rowing men's squad. Then, the following year, the Warwick women's team joined the fray. Now, Newcastle University's men and women are back on the naked calendar train. So, the question is, have rowing and naked calendars become a thing? The above video features the 2014-2015 Warwick women's squad—the third edition of the calendar , and, from the looks of it, the raciest. However, perhaps not so racy as that of the 2014-2015 Warwick men (see below). But raciness aside, all four of these teams have chosen worthy charities and have gone "the full monty" to make sure that those causes have received considerable contributions. The Warwick women contribute to Macmillan Cancer Support —a cause for which Warwick reports it has donated some £5,000. The Warwick men? Sport Allies —a charity that combats homophobia in spor
Read more

Video Of The Week: Holland Beker 2013

Image
This week's video comes to us from the Bosbaan, where the 2013 Holland Beker saw truly elite, international competition over the weekend. Perhaps the most outstanding racing came in the women's single, where the A Final closely mirrored a world championship or Olympic final in recent years—the lineup included two-time Olympic champ Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus, Kim Crow of Australia, New Zealand's Emma Twigg , reigning Olympic champion Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic, another two-time Olympic champion (albeit in the women's eight) in Eleanor Logan , and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist (also in the eight) Chantal Achterberg of Holland.  As it turned out, the final was a wire-to-wire victory for Kim Crow, who looks to be on top form and may be the athlete to beat in this event for the foreseeable future, holding off both Karsten and Twigg in the closing stretch, with Knapkova finishing fourth. Elle Logan had another solid race in a great field, finishing just ove
Read more