At the conclusion of the 2024 World Championships, the USA won four more medals today, including a convincing gold medal in the junior women’s eight.
The US junior women’s eight left no room for doubt today and absolutely crushed the field. A cool moment during the live broadcast was when the microphone at the side of the track picked up the words of US helmswoman Lucy Herrick, who told her team: “I have a clear run!”
Herrick wasn’t lying; the team extended its lead in the open water and won the Junior World Championship by almost a length of open water.
The JW8+ are a close-knit group
“The race was so good. I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else,” said stroke rider Carly Brown. “This team is incredible.”
“Our coach Caitlin McClain told us it would come down to who wanted it more and I’ve never felt so much hunger or urgency,” added coxswain Lucy Herrick. “There was just always another gear. We were in the moment. We trained so much and this was the moment. I’m so proud of everyone and I really want to thank Caitlin McClain. I’ve never had more belief in me.”
The USA JM8+ was happy with silver
In the junior eight final, the Great Britain team had built a one-length lead by the 500-meter mark and held on to it. They were ahead by a tiny margin by the 1,000-meter mark. However, the US team left the pursuers behind and took the silver medal with a solid second 1,000-meter run that saw them close the gap on Great Britain to five places at the finish line.
“I think we got off to a better start than we did on Thursday, but we were still behind GB,” said strokeman Keenan Heinz after the race. “At kilometre 1 we decided to go early and push the odds up to 39/40 and really did our best to catch GB, but it wasn’t enough.”
The team celebrated at the finish, and Heinz said that was because the team felt they had performed above average. “Although we didn’t get the ideal result, we are all immensely proud of our performance,” he said. “We were smaller and slower on the ergometer than all the other teams – especially the medal winners – and we exploited our team’s potential as much as possible!”
USA JM4+
The US junior coxed four won the preliminary race earlier this week, but as we know, everything is different in the final. The team fell to fourth place early in the race, but steadily gained ground in the second 1000m and took the bronze medal with a strong sprint.
“We went into the race knowing we had to do as well as we did in the heats,” said strokesman Couper Carpenter after the race. “We’re not a fast-starting team, so we knew we had to make up time in the second half of the race. I gave it my all and can say that this was the toughest race of my rowing career.”
USA JW4+
The first medal of the day went to the junior women’s coxed four. Despite starting slower than the field, the US team fought its way back into medal contention and fought its way to the front for the silver medal before falling back to the bronze medal position at the end.
“It’s all a blur,” said helmsman Avery Harries-Jones after the race. “I’m so proud of this crew and what we accomplished today. It was a really tough race and I’m glad I got to compete with my incredible teammates.”
Final of the junior lower class
Americans Lucas Liow and George Dolce put in a strong second 1000m race and held off a Serbian attack to secure first place in the JM2 B final and 7th place overall.
“We had a disappointing result in the re-runs and missed the A final by less than a second in the last 200 meters,” Liow said after the race. “In the B final we just rowed our race and when it came to the last 200 meters we learned from our last race and put in a stronger sprint to come out on top.”
USA JM2 – Race to the finish line
With Liow and Dolce’s winning time in the Petite, they would have won the A final of this event, which took place two hours later in windier conditions, by almost seven seconds.
USA JW4x
The JW4x of Avery Douglas, Claire Sopko, Sumner Kerr and Teagan Farley formed a solid starting line, finishing third in its Petite and ninth overall.
Ian O’Riley finished fourth in the B final, placing 10th.
The USA JM4x with Nikola Antich, Randolph Eddy, Cormac Rooney and Cyrus Rosenberg finished 6th in their B final and 12th overall, the JM2x with George Kapp and Donovan Moses finished 14th.
USA JM4x
Notes from the course
