Coach’s Update: 2023 World Rowing Championships

2023 USRowing M2-
 USRowing/Row2k

Penn AC contributed significantly to US Rowing’s strong showing at the 2023 World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. The club prepared and supported six American athletes. Additionally, I coached the M2-, the M4x with Kris Kozeniowski, and the LW2-.

2023 USRowing M2- qualified for Paris 2024
 Row2k

The M2- with our own Evan Olson shined the brightest. Evan and his pair partner Billy Bender, both racing on their first Senior National Team, placed fifth in the world thus qualifying the boat for the Olympic Games. This is the best showing for the USA in recent memory. Attached are pictures following their semi-final race.

Selection Camp we hosted Dom Williams and Kevin Cardno at Penn AC. Both earned seats in the M4x and now Dom has returned to the Club. Here’s their incredibly tight B Final race (the graphic at the end incorrectly has us in fifth and Australia in third. In fact, we beat them by .09 seconds.

Club athletes Jamie Copus (LM4x) and Solveig Imsdahl & Laine Tierney (LW2-) placed third out of three boats in each of their events. They prepared professionally and represented the Club honorably but couldn’t get ahead of the Italians and Germans.

Penn AC can take immense pride in all of our athletes and in how the HPG contributed to US Rowing’s improved results. We serve as a bridge from college to the senior national team by developing athletes, we provide an attractive training environment for established athletes, and we contribute coaching support. We are truly a High Performance Partner Club.

Our short term focus is on preparing our seven Pan Am athletes for the Pan American Games in October. Beyond this, we aim to help athletes race at the Olympic Games next July and develop our new arrivals. We also hope to build a more collaborative high performance program in Philly with other Boathouse Row clubs.