The U.S. women’s eight team ended their 11-year winning streak with a fourth-place finish at the World Rowing Championships, which wrapped up today.
For over a decade, the squad has gone undefeated at the major international championships, winning three Olympic titles (2016, 2012, 2008) and eight world championship gold medals from 2006 to 2015.
At the 2017 World Championships held in Sarasota, Florida, however, the home country’s boat crossed the finish line behind new champions Romania, as well as silver and bronze medalists Canada and New Zealand. The U.S. team’s time of 6:09:250 was nearly three seconds behind Romania’s winning time of 6:06.400
It was also far slower than the world record time of 05:54.160, which the U.S. women’s eight set in 2013.
Only three members of the current lineup, which consists of eight rowers and one coxswain, were part of that 2013 team. The same three, Katelin Guregian, Emily Regan and Lauren Schmetterling, are also the only members who were on the gold-medal-winning squad at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The U.S. picked up two silver medals in other events on the last day of the World Championships.
Meghan O’Leary and Ellen Tomek finished second in the women’s double sculls, which is the U.S.’s highest-ever finish in the event at a world championships. The oldest crew in the event, O’Leary and Tomek placed behind gold-medalists New Zealand, with Australia following to claim the bronze medal.
The U.S. men’s eight also earned a silver medal, while the world record holders from Germany lead the entire race en route to winning gold. It was the first world championship medal for a U.S. men’s boat since 2014.
The men’s eight has been coached this season by Mike Teti, who led the U.S. team to gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Before today’s race, he told Team USA of his young squad, “I think all the boats have undergraduates in them and some recent [college] graduates. It’s a good baseline to start the quadrennial with. I think the team will improve over the next three years.”
Dariush Aghai, a member of the team, told World Rowing after the race, “Feels great to medal today, got a great bunch of people here. We’ve only been together a short time as well. The last 500m I just zoned in to our cox and we managed a sprint.”
Overall, Italy won the medal table with nine total medals: three gold, three silver and three bronze. Rounding out the top three was New Zealand with seven and Australia with six medals.
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