Lightweight Eats

If you follow rowing in the United States, you'll know that our women's national team is a dominating force, from the smallest boat class to the largest. In 2015:

• Our women's eight won its 10th consecutive world title
• Gevvie Stone reached the A-final in ultra competitive women's single
• The women qualified every. single. boat class. for Rio 2016, the only country to do so

Whoa. That's incredible!



Get excited to watch these ladies blaze down the race course in Rio de Janeiro—racing starts this weekend. Don't be surprised if all six of these boats find themselves in the A-final. Here's a little bit of what to expect.

W1x - Gevvie Stone
If you're looking for a rower to #fangirl (other than me, of course), Gevvie is a good start. She was seventh at London 2012, but has been consistently in A-finals at the World Championships this cycle. A medal is definitely a possibility, but there are a lot of women flirting with silver and bronze. (Kim Brennan of Australia has been winning all of the gold medals.)

W2- - Grace Luczak, Felice Mueller
Felice raced this boat class to a bronze medal at the World Championships last year. Grace and Felice were U23 World Champions in this event. The British pair have set the standard in this event for quite some time, including a win over the US pair earlier this year. However, the US is certainly capable of a silver medal in this event, and will likely be looking to challenge for gold.

W2x - Ellen Tomek, Meghan O'Leary
Ellen and Meghan are the only line-up on this list to have raced together at every World Championship this cycle. Their results have been inconsistent, everywhere from silver medals at World Cups to 11th place at last year's World Championships. Their goal is to medal at the Olympics; hopefully this doesn't take focus from their first challenge: make the A-final.

LW2x - Kate Bertko, Devery Karz
This is a new combination. Devery qualified the boat class last year with Michelle Sechser, placing 11th at the World Championships. Kate is ostensibly faster, having beaten Michelle for her seat earlier this year. While they posted fast times at Olympic Trials, their first international regatta in May saw them scratching from the C-final. If they are healthy and fit for the games, they should feature in the A-final.

W4x - Adrienne Martelli, Megan Kalmoe, Tracy Eisser, Grace Latz
The USA scored a surprise win over reigning world champions Germany at last year's World Championships. Two of that crew, Megan Kalmoe and Tracy Eisser, return to the boat. I expect Germany will be out for revenge, but this crew is capable of earning a gold medal.

W8 - Katelin Snyder, Amanda Elmore, Eleanor Logan, Meghan Musnicki, Tessa Gobbo, Lauren Schmetterling, Emily Regan, Kerry Simmonds, Amanda Polk
The line-up changes. The result stays the same. This crew would be disappointed with silver, and rightly so.

The schedule of events can be found on Wikipedia, because duh. Racing starts August 6th, and online live streaming coverage begins at 7:30AM EST on NBC Olympics. This year, USA Network will be the home of rowing coverage, so figure out which channel it is!

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