Lightweight Women’s Double Finishes Fifth in Tokyo

With less than two seconds separating the entire field, the U.S. lightweight women's double sculls came up just short of a medal, finishing fifth in Thursday's final at the Sea Forest Waterway at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

 
While the U.S. boat of Michelle Sechser (Folsom,

Calif./University of Tulsa) and Molly Reckford (Short Hills, N.J./Dartmouth College) got off the line in sixth position, the six crews were all within 1.5 seconds of each other as they hit the 1,000-meter mark with The Netherlands holding a small advantage over France and Italy. The Dutch crew made a strong move in the third quarter of the race to extend its lead, with Great Britain moving into second position.

 
But over the final 500 meters, the field continued to tighten as they tried to chase down The Netherlands. At the line, Italy was able to pull its bowball ahead, with France taking second. The Netherlands held on to win the bronze medal. Italy crossed the line with a time of 6:47.54, 0.14 seconds ahead of France. The Dutch boat clocked a 6:48.03, 0.01 seconds ahead of fourth-place Great Britain, to claim third. The U.S. finished with a time of 6:48.54.

 
Racing in the second semifinal of the women's single sculls, two-time Olympian Kara Kohler (Clayton, Calif./University of California, Berkeley) missed a spot in the final by a half-second, finishing fourth. Austria's Magdalena Lobnig got off to the hot start, taking an early lead on the field, with four-time Olympian Emma Twigg of New Zealand sitting in second and Great Britain's Victoria Thornley in third. Kohler sat in fifth position at the 500-meter mark before moving past Iran's Nazanin Malaei in the second 500. At the same time, Twigg was pulling ahead of Lobnig and took just over a one-second advantage as the scullers crossed the midway point.

 
"It was a shaky start," Kohler said. "I've struggled to get off the line cleanly this regatta. The crosswind has challenged me, and it challenged me again today. I was dropped pretty quickly, so that was not a great place to start – so that was rough. But, I definitely kept fighting and tried everything I had, but it was a little short today. I'm very disappointed, but I did what I could."

 
Twigg continued to extend her lead over the third 500, as Townley moved up on Lobnig. During the final 500 meters, Kohler put on a big sprint to try to catch the faltering Austrian, but the American ran out of room as Lobnig was able to hold on to the final qualification spot. Twigg won the race in a 7:20.70, with Townley finishing in a 7:25.12. Lobnig crossed in a 7:25.59, while Kohler clocked a 7:26.10. Kohler will take on scullers from The Netherlands, Ireland, Canada, Greece and Iran on Friday at 9:05 a.m. local time (8:05 p.m. EDT, Thursday) in the B final for places 7-12.

 
"The women's single sculls is an incredibly deep field, and it's anyone's game," Kohler said. "There's no clear favorite – well, it seems like Emma (Twigg) is right now – but coming in, it was anyone's guess who could be in that A final contending for the medals. It's a tough field, and I'm proud I could be a part of it and be right there."

 
Four-time Olympian Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis./University of Washington) and two-time Olympian Tracy Eisser (Fair Lawn, N.J./Cornell University) finished fourth in the B final of the women's pair for a 10^th-place finish overall. Romania took the early lead before Australia moved into the top position during the second 500 meters. The U.S. sat in fifth position for much of the race but chased down Ireland in the final few strokes to take fourth. Australia won the race in a 6:56.46, with Denmark using a strong second 1,000 meters to take second. Romania held on for third. The U.S. finished with a  time of 7:02.16

 
"I'm glad we did it," said Kalmoe on focusing on the pair. "To me, it was really just a huge honor to race in such an incredible, very deep, very competitive field of athletes, where every single person in every single boat is so good. None of the talent gets diluted; all your performances are you and your partner and that is it. We didn't get the results that we would have liked. Obviously, you want to come here, and you want to win. But I think with everything that we've gone through this year and last year, we did absolutely the best that we could."

 
"I think we said six weeks ago, we know this is going to be hard, and that there is no guarantee of success," Eisser said. "And, we were right. It was very hard. But I think all of the ways in which I've been challenged and had to grow and adapt and learn – I wouldn't trade it."

 
The U.S. will have two crews racing of medals on Friday.

 
The three-time defending Olympic gold medal-winning U.S. women's eight of coxswain Katelin Guregian (Detroit, Mich./University of Washington), Kristine O'Brien (Massapequa Park, N.Y./University of Virginia), Meghan Musnicki (Naples, N.Y./Ithaca College), Regina Salmons (Methuen, Mass./University of Pennsylvania), Olivia Coffey (Watkins Glen, N.Y./Harvard University), Brooke Mooney (Peru, Vt./University of Washington), Gia Doonan (Rochester, Mass./University of Texas), Charlotte Buck (Nyack, N.Y./Columbia University), and Jessica Thoennes (Highlands Ranch, Colo./University of Washington) held off a late charge by Romania to win their heat and advance directly to the finals. New Zealand won the other heat, clocking the fastest time in the opening round. The two crews will be joined by Romania, Canada, Australia and China in the race for medals, which is set to go off at 10:05 a.m. local time (9:05 p.m. EDT, Thursday). Romania won the repechage, setting a World's Best Time in the process. New Zealand won the most recent world title in 2019.

 
The men's eight of coxswain Julian Venonsky (Malvern, Pa./University of California, Berkeley), Liam Corrigan (Old Lyme, Conn./Harvard University), Conor Harrity (Weston, Mass./Harvard University), Nick Mead (Strafford, Pa./Princeton University), Alexander Richards (Watertown, Mass./Harvard University), two-time Olympian Austin Hack (Old Lyme, Conn./Stanford University), Alex Miklasevich (Pittsburgh, Pa./Brown University), Justin Best (Kennett Square, Pa./Drexel University), and Ben Davison (Inverness, Fla./University of Washington) advanced to their final thanks to a third-place finish in the repechage. The crew will take on Germany, The Netherlands, Great Britain, New Zealand and Australia in the race for the medals on Friday at 10:25 a.m. local time (9:25 p.m. EDT, Thursday). Germany and The Netherlands won the heats, while New Zealand took the repechage. The U.S. led for much of their heat, before Germany edged them at the line. Germany is the defending world champion.

 
Rowing concludes on Friday with finals in the men's and women's single sculls and men's and women's eights. Click here for the most up-to-date schedule on the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 website.
 
NBC's broadcast schedule and links to NBC's live streaming are available on USRowing's Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 coverage page, as are athlete bios, daily recaps/previews, photos and more.

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