AIGUEBELETTE, France – Six Huskies advanced with their respective crews to finals and semifinals on a successful day of racing for current UW student-athletes and UW alumni at the Senior World Championships.
Current junior Danielle Hansen and her coxed LTA mixed four crew took first in their semifinal heat, finishing in 3:22.63 to advance to the final on Thursday and also guaranteeing the Americans a top-eight finish in the event, qualifying the boat for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In one of the closest finishes of the day, Viktor Pivac represented Serbia in the coxed pair repechage heats and advanced to the final with a second place finish. A sophomore at UW, Pivac and his crew finished in second place with a time of 7:02.04, just behind Belarus and only .26 seconds ahead of third-place Russia (7:02.66). France finished in fourth place only three-hundredths of a second after Russia (7:02.69). All four advance to Friday's finals.
Competing with the U.S. men's eight, Sam Dommer and the Americans finished in third place in their repechage heat to advance to Sunday's B final. With a time of 5:28.48, the U.S. finished behind the Netherlands and New Zealand crews, who both advance to Sunday's A final. The American eight needs to finish in the top five to qualify for the 2016 Olympics.
2014 US Rowing Female Athlete of the Year Megan Kalmoe and her quadruple sculls crew took second in their repechage heat to earn a spot in Saturday's A final. The U.S. finished just behind China with a time of 6:38.31.
Adrienne Martelli saw her first action of the 2015 World Championships with a preliminary race on Wednesday in the coxless women's fours. With only five entries in the event, all five crews advance directly to Friday's final. The Americans won the preliminary race with a time of 6:41.04, over four seconds ahead of second-place Great Britain.
After winning their opening heat in convincing fashion on Sunday, former Husky Patricia Obee and her parter Lindsay Jennerich in the lightweight double sculls secured themselves a place in the semifinals Thursday after a third-place finish in Wednesday's quarterfinals. China and New Zealand crossed the line in first and second position ahead of Canada. All three crews move onto the next round.
Here's the list of all Huskies at the 2015 Senior World Championships.
Current UW Rowers
Danielle Hansen '17, USA, mixed LTA 4+
Viktor Pivac '18, Serbia, 2+
Pietro Zileri '17, Italy, spare
UW Alumni
Will Crothers '09, Canada, men's 4-
Rosie Deboef '10, Canada, spare
Sam Dommer '14, USA, men's 8+
Rob Gibson '09, Canada, men's 4x
Megan Kalmoe '06, USA, women's 4x
Adrienne Martelli '10, USA, women's 4-
Conlin McCabe '12, Canada, men's 4-
Patricia Obee '14, Canada, women's lightweight 2x
Kerry Simmonds '11, USA, women's 8+
Katelin Snyder '09, USA, women's 8+
Hans Struzyna '11, USA, men's 4x
Complete Provisional Schedule
Check back for daily updates on the Huskies at the 2015 Senior World Championships, or follow the action on WorldRowing.com. Fans can also follow the action on Twitter by following @WorldRowing and by following @UWHuskyCrew.
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