Silver for Katherine Robinson '09 at U23 World Rowing Championships
View photos from Row2k Gallery here -- photos #60-64.
Katherine Robinson ’09 (Marysville, WA) and the US lightweight quad saved its best race for the Finals A race at the U23 World Rowing Championships in Racice, Czech Republic and powered to a silver medal, beating out two boats that had posted faster qualifying times.
Germany, which also won Heat One versus the US on Thursday by a
margin of 4.67 seconds, won the Finals A race and the gold medal
with a time of 6:34.99, while the US finished in 6:37.04. Australia
mounted a furious last 500 meters to capture the bronze medal and
third place (6:37.74).
Placing fourth was the Netherlands (6:39.63), Belarus took fifth
(6:45.51) and Japan finished in sixth (6:51.28).
Germany led at all of the checkpoints and the US based on
Thursday’s qualifying effort surprised many by posting the
second fastest time at each
check point. Today the Germans’ margin of victory over the
US was just 2.05 seconds. Thursday the Ephs came from a third at
the first check point to overtake the Netherlands to advance
directly to the Finals A race along with Germany, Australia and
Japan.
The US benefitted today from a strong start and a consistent
effort holding off the Australians over the final furious 500-meter
charge by the Aussies to capture silver. The Japanese struggled
today and finished sixth in the field of six.
While it is difficult to compare race times even on the same
course it is remarkable that somehow the US found a way to trim
just over 15 seconds off their Thursday qualifying time to
medal.
Eph head coach Justin Moore, currently serving as the US Junior
National Women’s Team coach, commented earlier in the week on
Robinson and her US boat. “This [US Lightweight Four] is a
really fast boat so it would not surprise me if they get a medal,
but Germany looks incredible. The [US] boat has worked really hard
to prepare and they will be ready for Sunday. They will need a good
start and that will help give them confidence and then it’s
all about teamwork.”
Clearly Moore knew what he was talking about even though he is in
Princeton, NJ and the US Lightweight Four was in the Czech
Republic.
Moore who will serve as the head coach of the US Junior National
Eight will have his team at the Junior World Rowing Championships
in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France August 5th – 8th.
Robinson’s rowing resume now includes four NCAA titles and
one world silver medal and she may just be getting started.
