PARIS – A total of six Washington Rowing alumni booked their place in A finals Monday at the 2024 Olympics, advancing in the men's and women's eight heats.
Washington had winners in both of the two men's eight heats. In the first, the U.S. men's eight, coached by UW head coach
Michael Callahan, and including four UW alumni – Chris Carlson, Rielly Milne, Evan Olson, and Pieter Quinton – won its heat with a time of 5:29.83, the fastest time from either heat, beating the Netherlands crew by less than two seconds.
"It was an exciting one," Quinton told USRowing.org. "We knew it was going to be a tight race. We were definitely expecting the Dutch to come at us hard, so we knew we had to be ready from the start. We want to execute our own race, and our race is designed to put pressure on the other crews. We expected the Dutch to try to do the same to us … our goal was 100 percent to win that race and make sure we could dictate the rest of the week in preparation for the final."
In the second heat, the Great Britain eight, with 2020 bronze medalist and 2016 UW captain Jacob Dawson in the four seat, won its race, earning the second of six spots in Saturday's A final, where medals will be awarded.
"It was a good race", Dawson told BritishRowing.org. "We knew we had to execute a strong performance to get through to the final. It was about keeping to our processes – simple is better. There's so much time between now and the final, so you could have a flat out race today and still be able to perform. It wouldn't have changed anything for us – if we'd had to fight to the line we are fully prepared to do that. It just so happened that we executed our first 1,500m well enough that we were able to enjoy the last 500m a little more."
The remaining five men's crews, including the Dutch boat – with UW alum Gert-Jan van Doorn – that ran second in heat one, will race in a Thursday repechage for the four remaining A final spots.
In the first women's eight heat, Great Britain, with UW alumna Holly Dunford in the three seat, led throughout the 2,000 meters to win and advance directly to the A final.
In the other heat, former Husky coxswain Nina Castagna (USA) and current Husky rower Aisha Rocek (Italy) finished second and third, respectively, behind Romania. They'll both compete in a repechage Thursday, still looking for a spot in the A final.
In the women's quad sculls repechage, UW alum Teal Cohen and her American crew finished fifth. That crew will race in a B final on Wednesday.
Only two Huskies will be back in action on Tuesday morning. Dutchman Simon van Dorp will row in a quarterfinal in the men's single sculls, while American Ben Davison will race in a semi-final in the men's pair.
The first Husky to row for a medal will be German Tabea Schendekehl, in the women's quad sculls. The A final for that race category is Wednesday morning.
See the full schedule of events below.
U.S. men's eight photo courtesy USRowing.org
NBC TV Viewing Information
CBC TV (Canada) Viewing Information
Washington Rowing Alumni in the 2024 Olympics
Men's Single – M1x
Simon van Dorp '20, Netherlands
Women's Pair – W2-
Jessica Thoennes '18, USA
Men's Double – M2x
Ben Davison '18, USA
Women's Four – W4-
Phoebe Spoors '17, New Zealand
Men's Four – M4-
Logan Ullrich '23, New Zealand
Women's Quad – W4x
Teal Cohen '21, USA
Tabea Schendekehl '20, Germany
Women's Eight – W8+
Nina Castagna '22, USA
Holly Dunford '22, Great Britain
Aisha Rocek '25, Italy
Men's Eight – M8+
Chris Carlson '18, USA
Rielly Milne '18, USA
Evan Olson '19, USA
Pieter Quinton '21, USA
Jacob Dawson '16, Great Britain
Gert-Jan van Doorn '21, Netherlands
Spare, PR3 Mixed Coxed Four – PR3Mix4+
Danielle Hansen '17, USA
Coaches
Michael Callahan '96, USA men's eight coach
Lori Dauphiny '85, USA women's pairs coach
Adrienne Martelli '10, USA women's sweep coach
SCHEDULE OF RACES (UW-related only)
Men's Single Sculls (M1x) – van Dorp
Quarterfinal 3: Tue., July 30, 10:30 a.m. CET/1:30 a.m. PDT
A/B Semifinals: Thu., Aug. 1, 9:50-10:00 a.m. CET/12:50-1:00 a.m. PDT
A Final: Sat., Aug. 3, 10:30 a.m. CET/1:30 a.m. PDT
Men's Double Sculls (M2x) – Davison
A/B Semifinal 2: Tue., July 30, 11:20 a.m. CET/2:20 a.m. PDT
A Final: Thu., Aug. 1, 11:30 a.m. CET/2:30 a.m. PDT
Women's Pairs (W2-) – Thoennes
Semifinals: Wed., July 31, 10:54-11:04 a.m. CET/1:54-2:04 a.m. PDT
A Final: Fri., Aug. 2, 11:42 a.m. CET/2:42 a.m. PDT
Women's Quad Sculls (W4x) – Cohen, Schendekehl
B Final (Cohen): Wed., July 31, 12:14 p.m. CET/3:14 a.m. PDT
A Final (Schendekehl): Wed., July 31, 12:38 p.m. CET/3:38 a.m. PDT
Women's Four (W4-) – Spoors
A Final: Thu., Aug. 1, 12:10 p.m. CET/3:10 a.m. PDT
Men's Four (M4-) – Ullrich
A Final: Thu., Aug. 1, 12:10 p.m. CET/3:10 a.m. PDT
Women's Eight (W8+) – Castagna, Dunford, Rocek
Repechage: Thu., Aug. 1, 10:10 a.m. CET/1:10 a.m. PDT
A Final: Sat., Aug. 3, 10:50 a.m. CET/1:50 a.m. PDT
