At this year’s World Rowing Under 23 Championships — hosted in St. Catharines, Ontario — up to 1000 rowers from around the world competed in 22 different boat classes. Among the contingent were eight Penn athletes, representing all three of Penn’s rowing programs.
“I think it just speaks to the quality of [Penn rowing],” heavyweight senior Sam Sullivan said. “I think there's a lot of good people here. And every single program is doing a good job of developing those people. And I think we talk a lot about how even though we're three different teams, we have one boathouse culture. Having a positive boathouse culture and having a culture of success is really advantageous for all three programs.”
Representing the women’s rowing program were recently graduated Amelia Demopoulos and junior Emma Gray. Demopoulos represented the U.S. in the quad sculls while Gray represented South Africa in the pair.
The lightweight team saw seniors Harrison Azrak and George Drago both representing the U.S. in the lightweight men’s pair. The duo brought with them heavyweight assistant coach Fergal Barry.
On the heavyweight side, senior Charles Jones rowed in the quad scull boat. And rounding out the eight Penn U.S. athletes was the heavyweight trio composed of seniors Sullivan, Jason Kennedy, and Matt Davis who competed in the U.S. Men’s Eight boat.
Azrak and Drago finished their race with a time of 6:53.65, which was just over a second behind the Chile team in front of them, despite a stronger start in the first 1,000 meters of the race. The time was more than good enough for the pair to take home silver medals, continuing the lightweight rowing team’s dominance in the rowing world.
Similarly, the heavyweight senior trio also took home silver medals despite leading for a large section of the race. Leading at the midpoint of the race, the U.S. was overtaken in the last 500 meters by Great Britain. The U.S. finished in 5:27.50, about three seconds behind Great Britain and roughly two seconds ahead of the bronze medalists Australia.
In a sport where team chemistry plays a huge role in how well a boat performs, having rowers who already row together on a daily basis in college was a huge advantage — one of which the Penn athletes took full advantage.
“You're bringing together so many different people from so many different universities and programs, and there's just slight differences in how everybody rows,” Sullivan said. “So to have the three of us knowing where we're at and being consistent, that was really helpful to just have a baseline to build on.”
The solid performances set up all three programs well for the collegiate season this year. And while there’s still plenty of time left before Penn rowing takes to the Schuylkill River again, some of the rowers will be back in action very soon.
The senior trio of Sullivan, Kennedy, and Davis have packed their bags for Germany, where they will be representing the U.S. once again in the Eight at the 2024 World Rowing Masters Regatta.
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
Donate
