U.S. National Team Crews Head to Lucerne With Four Medals From Varese World Cup

Twelve U.S. National Team entries will compete at the second, and final, World Rowing Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland, from June 27 to 29, after an impressive showing at the first.

U.S. National Team boats earned four medals at the World Rowing Cup in Varese, Italy. The women’s four won gold, Jacob Plihal won silver—his first World Rowing Cup medal—and the women’s eight took home silver, all on Sunday, after the PR3 mixed four with coxswain took silver on Saturday.

The USA1 entry of Camille VanderMeer and Olympians Kate Knifton, Teal Cohen, and Azja Czajkowski trailed a Dutch four through the first half of the race before taking the win. The USA2 entry of Etta Carpender, Alexandria Vallancey-Martinson, and Olympians Jess Thoennes, and Charlotte Buck finished fifth.

The two fours combined into an eight coxed by Olympian Nina Castagna to finish second to the Brits. Level with Australia and trailing both Germany and Great Britain through the first half of the race, the U.S. crew closed the gap to two seconds at the line, leaving Australia (third) and Germany (fourth) behind. Italy’s women’s eight missed catching Germany by .01 second. China finished sixth of the six total entries.

Plihal, who won the C final and recorded the fastest time ever for a U.S. single sculler at the Paris Olympics last summer, chased Olympic bronze medalist Simon Van Dorp down the course in the grand final after winning his heat and quarterfinal races. Plihal, the Northeastern alum, lost to Van Dorp, the Washington alum, by three-quarters of a second in the semi. Van Drop extended the margin to two seconds in the final. But Plihal, who didn’t have the full four years to concentrate on the single going in to Paris, has narrowed the gap to the top impressively so far in the early run-up to LA 2028. This spring, he told Rowing News he was looking forward to concentrating on the single and seeing what he could accomplish.

Any budding rivalry will have to wait, as Plihal is entered to race in the quadruple sculls and, combined with the four, in the eight at Lucerne.

“Always good to keep people guessing,” said U.S. National Team boss Josy Verdonkschot, who is leading the coaching staff of new hire Fiona Bourke, women’s coach Jesse Foglia, and Olympic-champion men’s coach Casey Galvanek on the three-week training and racing trip that will not include Henley Royal Regatta, calling it a “nice opportunity to try out some stuff.”

The Netherlands, with three golds and eight total, topped the medal table at the Varese World Rowing Cup, but will not compete in Lucerne. Great Britain, also winners of three golds, was second with five total and will mostly skip Lucerne but see Dutch and Australian competition at Henley. The U.S. was seventh on the Varese medals table but fourth in the World Rowing Cup (not all medal events count).

The year following an Olympic Games is typically a time for elite rowers and national teams to try new things, and is the only year the World Rowing Championships are held outside of Europe. This year’s worlds will be held September 21-28, outside of Shanghai, China.

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