Boersen Wins Silver in Lightweight Women’s Single at World Rowing Cup III

Audrey Boersen won a silver medal in the lightweight women’s single sculls on Saturday, giving the U.S. its first medal of the week at World Rowing Cup III in Poznan, Poland. The U.S. also had two boats – the women’s single sculls and PR3 mixed double sculls – advance to tomorrow’s finals, joining the PR3 mixed four with coxswain in Sunday’s medal races.

With both the semifinals and the finals of the lightweight women’s single sculls taking place on Saturday, it was a busy day for the two U.S. entries of Audrey Boersen (West Olive, Mich./Grand Valley State University/Whitemarsh Boat Club) and Mary Jones Nabel (Huntsville, Ala./University of Tennessee/Cambridge Boat Club). In the morning semifinals, the two faced off in the first of two semis, with both U.S. scullers advancing to the afternoon medal race. Norway’s Maia Emilie Lund raced bowball-to-bowball with Boersen through the 1,500-meter mark before Boersen was able to push ahead to take the victory. Jones Nabel sat in fourth heading into the final 500 meters before passing the Netherlands’ Femke van De Vliet in the sprint to claim a spot in the final. Boersen won the race in an 8:21.89, with Jones Nabel clocking an 8:24.49.

In the final, France’s Aurelie Morizot took the lead off the start with Boersen, who served as an alternate at last year's world championships and took fifth in the event last month at World Rowing Cup II, moving into second position and Mexico’s Kenia Lechuga in third. Morizot continued to extend her lead through the 1,500-meter mark with Boersen building on her advantage over Lechuga. Jones Nabel, who won a silver medal in the lightweight women’s double sculls at last year’s world championships, got off the line in fifth position before moving into fourth during the third 500 meters. Jones Nabel made a huge push on Lechuga over the final 500 meters to try to move into a bronze-medal position but came up less than one second short. Morizot won the race in an 8:17.86, with Boersen taking second in an 8:21.73. Lechuga held on for bronze in an 8:22.72, with Jones Nabel taking fourth in an 8:23.52.

"It was a long race; we faced a cross-headwind that created some challenging conditions," Boersen said. "I though I executed well enough, but there's definitely still work to do. It was great to be challenged the whole way down the course and to test myself. It's now time to put in some more work to solidify my race for trials. I'm excited about the podium. My coach and I have been in Europe for about a month now, and there's a relief to finally getting to the podium and now a hunger for more. I think it was a great race to finish my European racing tour and to launch me into training for worlds."

In the final of the lightweight men's single sculls, Sam Melvin (Huntington Beach, Calif./Columbia University/New York Athletic Club), who won the B final to take seventh overall at last year’s world championships, just missed the medal stand, finishing fourth. Melvin got off the line in fifth position before moving into third place during the middle 1,000-meters. The American still held the bronze-medal position as the scullers came into the final 500 meters but was unable to hold off a charging Jonathan Rommelmann, who overtook Melvin and Austria’s Lukas Reim in the sprint to earn the silver medal. Switzerland’s Jan Schaeuble took the lead off the start and left the other scullers to battle for silver as he pulled away in the second 500 meters of the race. Schaeuble won the gold medal with a time of 7:26.67, with Rommelmann taking second in a 7:35.58. Reim held on for bronze, crossing the finish line in a 7:37.63. Melvin clocked a 7:39.05.

In the women’s single sculls, Margaret Fellows (Warwick, Mass./St. Lawrence University/Community Rowing, Inc.) took second behind Switzerland’s Aurelia-Maxima Katharina Janzen in the second semifinal to advance to tomorrow’s medal race. With three to advance, Fellows moved into second place off the line and comfortably held that position the entire way down the course. Janzen took the lead off the start and was never challenged for the top spot, while Poland’s Wiktoria Kalinowska pulled away from Paraguay’s Alejandra Alonso during the final 500 meters to take third. Janzen won the race in an 8:22.45, with Fellows finishing in an 8:26.72. In the first semifinal, Australia’s Tara Rigney, who won silver in the event at the World Rowing Cup II race in Lucerne and bronze at the 2023 World Rowing Championships, won the race by nearly 10 seconds over Austria’s Magdalena Lobnig. Rigney clocked an 8:09.95, with Lobnig finishing in an 8:19.92. Germany’s Juliane Faralisch took the last spot in the final, finishing third. The USA2 entry of Anneta Kyridou (Kalamaria Thessaloniki, Greece/Ohio State University/Next Level Rowing) dropped to sixth off the line and was never able to challenge for a spot in the medal race. Kyridou will take on two scullers from Paraguay, as well as scullers from Brazil, the Netherlands, and Azerbaijan, in tomorrow’s B final, while Fellows will race against Janzen, Rigney, Lobnig, Kalinowska, and Faralisch for the medals in the A final.

In the repechage of the PR3 mixed double sculls, Todd Vogt (Rochester, N.Y./University of Buffalo/Portland Boat Club) and Saige Harper (Easthampton, Mass./Sacred Heart University) finished third to advance to tomorrow’s final. Germany took a five-second lead on the field in the first 500 meters and was never challenged for the top spot, winning the race in an 8:04.13. France held a slight lead on the U.S. for second at the 500-meter mark and then solidified their position in the middle 1,000 meters. The U.S. sat comfortably in third the rest of the way, crossing the line in an 8:20.37. Vogt and Harper will take on Australia, Great Britain, Germany, France, and India in tomorrow’s final.

"We had two goals for today - finish in the top four to advance to the final and to row a solid overall race," Vogt said. "We've only been rowing together for a few weeks, so we still have technical improvements to make. We haven't done much speed work, so we are still putting the pieces together. I felt that today's race accomplished those goals. For tomorrow, we're aiming to row a more aggressive race than today, while still focusing on the technical aspects we've been working on. Then, it's back to Boston for some serious training in lead up to the Paralympics."

In addition to the boats that advanced today, the PR3 mixed four with coxswain of Emelie Eldracher (Andover, Mass./Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Ben Washburne (Madison, Conn./Williams College), Alex Flynn (Wilmington, Mass./Tufts University), Skylar Dahl (Minneapolis, Minn./University of Virginia), and Gemma Wollenschlaeger (St. Augustine Beach, Fla./Temple University) will race its final on Sunday. The crew finished second behind Great Britain in yesterday’s preliminary race for lanes. The U.S. will take on Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy in tomorrow’s medal race.

Racing concludes on Sunday with finals in the Olympic and Paralympic boat classes. Racing is scheduled to begin at 8:10 a.m. local time. Click here for the most up-to-date schedule and results. 

The live race tracker and live audio will be available for all races on www.worldrowing.com. Live video streaming will be available on the World Rowing website on Sunday starting at 8:30 a.m. local time for the A finals of all World Rowing Cup boat classes. 

The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games are scheduled from August 28 to September 8, with Para rowing events beginning August 30. Rowing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will take place July 27-August 4.  

The full Olympic team was announced earlier this week, while the complete Paralympic team will be officially nominated by July 1. For information, updates, and athlete features, visit our Row to Paris page. 

Click here for the current rosters of the 2024 Olympic Team and 2024 Paralympic Team. 

USRowing would like to thank our national team sponsors including our Official Boat Supplier for the U.S. Senior, Under 23, and Para Rowing National Teams, Filippi Lido; our Official Apparel Provider, 776BC; our Official Partner, Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc., our Exclusive Supplement Supplier, Thorne HealthTech; our Official Performance Electronics Outfitter, Nielsen-Kellerman; the National Rowing Foundation; and TrainingPeaks, the Official Training and Coaching Software of USRowing's High Performance Team.