Trials No. 2 (April 12-16)

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Team Trials in Rowing continue this week (April 12-16, 2021) with phase No. 2 in West Windsor, New Jersey, as the team that will represent Team USA at the Tokyo Olympic Games this summer is pieced together.

USRowing's first phase of Olympic team trials took place Feb. 22-26, 2021, in Sarasota, Florida. A third, if necessary, is slated for June 4-6, 2021.

These are the events included on the schedule:

  • Women's Double Sculls (W2x)
  • Men's Pair (M2-)
  • Men's Quadruple Sculls (M4x)
  • Men's Para Single Sculls – PR1 (PR1M1x)
  • Women's Para Single Sculls– PR1 (PR1W1x)
  • Mixed Para Double Sculls– PR2 (PR2Mix2x)

You can stream trials live on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app using the following links:

[STREAM: Wednesday, April 14]
7:55 - 9:05 a.m. ET

8:00: W Double Sculls (W2x) Semifinal*
8:10: W Double Sculls (W2x) Semifinal*
8:20: M Quadruple Sculls (M4x) Repechage*
8:30: M Para Single Sculls – PR1 (PR1M1x) Final**
8:40: W Para Single Sculls – PR1 (PR1W1x) Final**
8:50: Mix Para Double Sculls – PR2 (PR2Mix2x) Final**

*1-2 to final, remainder eliminated
**Winner(s) qualifies/qualify for Tokyo

[STREAM: Thursday, April 15]
7:55 - 8:35 a.m. ET

8:00: W Double Sculls (W2x) Final*
8:10: M Quadruple Sculls (M4x) Final
8:20: M Pair (M2-) Final

*Winners qualify for Tokyo

Results

Live results can be found here.

In the semifinals of the women's double sculls on Wednesday, the first flight was won by Jenifer Forbes and Sophia Vitas (7:02.52), followed by Michelle Sechser and Molly Reckford (7:02.75) in second. Cicely Madden, who took fifth in the event with a different partner at the most recent worlds, came in third alongside Maggie Fellows and did not advance.

In the second, 2016 Olympic single sculls silver medalist Gevvie Stone and her partner Kristi Wagner (7:04.18) placed first, and the event's 2017 world silver and 2018 world bronze medalist team of Ellen Tomek and Meghan O'Leary (7:06.36) were runners-up. Forbes/Vitas, Sechser/Reckford, Stone/Wagner and Tomek/O'Leary will contend for Team USA's qualification spot in Thursday's final.

Also on Wednesday, three athletes qualified to represent Team USA at the Paralympics: Blake Haxton (10:58.06) in the men's Para single sculls PR1, who just missed the podium in Rio; Hallie Smith (12:51.31) in the women's Para single sculls PR1, her first Games; and Russell Gernaat and Laura Goodkind (8:42.60) in the mixed Para double sculls PR2, Goodkind's second Games after placing 10th in Rio with a different partner.

 

Trials No. 1 (Feb. 22-26)

The first trials phase included the men's single sculls (M1x), women's single sculls (W1x), men's double sculls (M2x), women's lightweight double sculls (LW2x) and men's lightweight double sculls (LM2x) — and only the women's single sculls event produced an Olympic qualifier in winner Kara Kohler, who finished in 7:23.37, beating 2016 Olympic silver medalist Gevvie Stone by 3.8 seconds as well as Kristina Wagner and Margaret Fellows.

The other four event winners — John Graves in the men's single sculls; Kevin Cardno and Jonathan Kirkegaard in the men's double sculls; Michelle Sechser and Molly Reckford in the women's lightweight double sculls; and Zachary Heese and Jasper Liu in the men's lightweight double sculls — will race May 15-17 at the 2021 FISA Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland, to earn their spots on the Olympic roster.

You can re-watch NBC Sports' live streams from trials No. 1 here: semifinals and finals.

And below is an interview with Kohler after her win: