Three Crews Win Their Heats at the 2024 World Rowing Championships

Three crews won their races on the first day of the 2024 World Rowing Senior, Under 23, and Under 19 Championships in St. Catharines, Canada. The men’s and women’s U23 eights and Sam Melvin, the men’s lightweight single, were victorious in their heats. 

This morning, Yale University's Timothy Parsons kicked off the day in the U23 men’s lightweight single sculls finishing second in his heat in a time of 6:55.32. Parsons had a strong push in the second 500 meters to push his bow into second place. Caetano Xose Horta Pombo from Spain won the heat in 6:48.30. Parsons will have another opportunity in the repechage.

The women’s double sculls Paige Wheeler from Ohio State University and Ellie Van Houten from Cornell University placed fifth in their heat in a time of 7:01.16. The race was tight behind the winners Olivia Roth and Flavia Loetscher from Switzerland, who led the race wire to wire in a time of 6:55.88. Lithuania's double secured the final qualifying spot in a time of 6:57.51. Only 1.23 seconds separated the final three finishers. Wheeler and Van Houten will race in the repechage for another opportunity to qualify for the A Final. 

Brothers John and James Patton finished fifth in their heat of the U23 men’s double sculls. Despite a strong sprint, the U.S. crew was .2 seconds off of the crew from Hungary, finishing with a time of 6:35.28. The double from Poland won the heat and dominated the race with a boat length on the field in the first 500 meters. Yale University's John Patton and Harvard University’s James Patton will race in the repechage in the hopes of qualifying for the A/B Semifinal. 

The U23 women’s four comprised of rowers from the University of Texas just missed out on qualifying for the A/B Semifinals by .67 seconds. A strong sprint from Switzerland bumped the crew out of the final qualifying position. New Zealand won the heat in a time of 6:34.20 followed by Spain in second place. The U.S. crew’s next race will be the repechage, where they must finish top three to continue. 

Finishing fourth, the U23 men’s four crossed the finish line in 6:03.12. The crew from the University of Wisconsin battled with the Italian crew for the final qualifying spot throughout the race until the final strokes of the race. Great Britain won the heat in a time of 5:53.81 followed by New Zealand with a time of 5:55.73. The repechage for the U23 men’s four will determine the crews for the A/B Semifinals. 

NYAC’s Sam Melvin kicked off a strong afternoon for Team USA winning his heat in a time of 6:43.62. By the 1,000 meter mark, Melvin had a strong lead on the field and crossed the finish line over 12 seconds faster than second place finisher, Marlon Colpaert from Belgium. Melvin’s time was the third fastest of the day. His win advanced him to the A/B Semifinals on Friday. 

Melvin said, “I was happy with how the race was executed. Not the easiest conditions, but it’s always a great opportunity to go out and race in this. First step of the regatta is done. I still have a lot more work to do, but I'm satisfied with the start.”

The U23 men’s quadruple sculls finished third in their heat, narrowly missing a new American record with a time of 5:48.45. Despite a late surge from the crew from New Zealand, the U.S. crew was able to hold them off. The U23 men’s quadruple sculls advance to the A/B Semifinals.

University of Washington’s Quinn Hall, bow of the crew, spoke about the  race: “We went out there and did our thing. We lined up on the start line and we had no doubt we were going to get top three. It was a matter of who we had to beat to get there. We raced to the 1k and then attacked the second 1k, and that was pretty much it.”

Stanford’s James Fetter finished third in his heat with a time of 7:03.47 behind winner Alberto Ciavarro from Italy and second place finisher, Lei Xiao from China. Fetter was able to walk through Lithuania’s Domantas Riauba in the third 500 meters to move into third place. Fetter will need to finish top two in the repechage to advance to A/B Semifinals. 

In the U23 women’s single sculls, Cillian Mullen (he/him) crossed the finish line in a time of 7:56.34 to finish third. Evangelia Fragkou from Greece led the race from the start finishing with a time of 7:36.32. Austria’s Emma Gutsjahr finished in second place. The University of Washington rower will race in the repechage, where the top three finishers will advance to the A/B Semifinals. 

The U23 women’s eight battled down the course with the crew from Australia with both boats crossing the finish line with a time of 6:01.73. The crews traded blows down the course with barely a second separating the crews at any point in the race.  The U.S. crew came out victorious after a photo finish. Their win advances them to the final on Friday. 

The U23 men’s eight closed out the day, narrowly missing the world record time by .17 set by the 2018 U.S. eight in Poznan, Poland. Australia took the lead in the first 500 meters, but the U.S. crew brought their bow even by the halfway mark. A strong finish from the crew stroked by University of Pennsylvania’s Sam Sullivan resulted in a time of 5:22.65. Great Britain finished second in a 5:24.26 followed by Australia in a time of 5:27.67. Their preliminary race was for lanes for the final on Friday. 

Racing tomorrow is canceled due to the weather conditions. U23 heats and repechages continue Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. ET with the men’s and women’s four with coxswains preliminary race for lanes.