Henley Recap: Kara wins Princess Royal Challenge Cup
Until finals day on Sunday, the weather at Henley-on-Thames this weekend was classically British. With high temperatures in the mid-70s and rain on-and-off each afternoon, our gang from Texas was caught a little off-guard! On Sunday, though, the sun came through for most of the morning, the wind died down, and we had perfect conditions for racing.
The water, on the other hand, also gave us classic Henley conditions. As you can see in the video coverage all week, the channel is open to power boat traffic on the west side, and there are constantly boats moving up and down the Thames, creating wakes. Though not great for the fastest rowing, it provides a challenge for every competitor here and is part of Henley’s character.
When it was all said and done, Kara Kohler prevailed through the weather, wakes, and all of her challengers. She was one of two USA national team boats to win yesterday, taking home the Princess Royal Challenge Cup! JP and Kevin made it to the final on Sunday in the men’s quad, while our double and women’s quad fell short in the semifinals on Saturday.
Race Recap
Princess Royal Challenge Cup - W1x - Kara Kohler
Kara and Peter celebrating
Kara capped off an exciting European tour by bringing home the Princess Royal Challenge Cup as the fastest women’s single this past week. After earning a bronze medal in the 2x with Sophia at World Cup II, she had the opportunity to test her speed in the 1x this week at Henley.
She kicked racing off on Thursday, and comfortable won each match-up throughout the week leading up to Sunday. In the final, she faced off against Imogen Grant of Great Britain. Grant has raced lightweight before, but had beaten the rest of the women’s field on her way to the final. She was no match for Kara’s length and power, though. Kara took home the Cup and was able to celebrate with Peter and the rest of the team afterward!
Kara cruising in the quarter-final
Queen Mother Challenge Cup - M4x - JP and Kevin
The USA men’s quad this week was made up of Jacob Plihal in stroke, JP, Kevin, and Dominique Williams in bow. Plihal is based out of Craftsbury, and Dominique has been training at Vesper in Philadelphia. This quad was made up of two doubles that raced at World Cup II. JP and Kevin finished 8th, while Dom and Jacob were a few seconds behind them in 9th overall. These four jumped into the quad during our camp in Italy, and the semifinal on Saturday was their first race together.
Jacob Plihal, JP Kirkegaard, Kevin Cardno, and Dominique Williams
On Saturday, they faced off against the New Zealand 4x — a boat with an Olympic gold medallist from their 8+ and loads of other experience. The USA boat got down by a length off of the start, but found their rhythm after the first two minutes and confidently used the rest of the course to slowly walk their way through the Kiwis and into the final. There, they were outmatched by a Chinese crew that has won both World Cups so far this year, but only finishing 2 lengths down on them in such a new lineup was a promising result.
Double Sculls Challenge Cup - M2x - Zach and Jasper
Zach and Jasper coming down the course
Without any lightweight events at Henley, our duo still lined up to race the double against the elite open field. In the opening round on Friday, Zach and Jasper faced off against a Leander boat on their home water. Similar to the quad’s race the day after, the TRC double fell down a length in the first two minutes but kept their composure and rhythm and slowly rowed through the Leander boat until they had a length of open water with 500 meters to go. They held on to the lead and were on to the semifinals on Saturday.
There, our lightweights, who had to average 70kg between them two weeks ago at World Cup, lined up next to the British heavyweight double, 5th place finishers from the first World Cup this year. In a headwind, with an average crew weight of almost 100kg and clean rowing, the GB double took the lead early and kept walking. We kept the rate high and kept pushing down the course, but did not gain any ground on the Brits, and we were on the sidelines to cheer on Sunday.
Princess Grace Challenge Cup - W4x - Sophia
Sophia found herself in the 4x this past week as well due to the shuffling of lineups after World Cup. The women’s quad contained Sophia, Emily Kalfelz, Emily Delleman, and Maggie Fellows. Hailing from four different clubs, Kalfelz and Delleman were the USA2 2x at World Cup II, and Fellows raced in the W1x.
To add to the lineup mixing, the quad raced with a spare for their first matchup on Friday — Kristi Wagner subbed in for Kalfelz. Despite all of the mishmash, they still prevailed, winning by over two lengths and moving on the face Australia’s 4x in the semifinals. On Saturday, though, the Aussies pulled out in front of our new US crew in the first half of the race. The American quad started to build some rhythm and power back and walk into the Australians, but the choppy Henley water halted those attempts — any momentum can be lost in just one or two bad strokes. They finished two lengths back.
Four TRC athletes named to 2022 national team
Some other exciting news was confirmed late last week: the women’s and lightweight men’s doubles from TRC accepted their spots on the 2022 national team! Due to their results at World Cup II, the doubles of Kara Kohler/Sophia Vitas and Zach Heese/Jasper Liu earned the right to represent the USA at the World Championships this fall.
Kevin and JP will head to a USRowing selection camp for the second half of July to compete for remaining seats on the team. They will most likely keep their focus on the 4x, but seats in the 4- and 8+ (sweep boats) could also come from those camps. If the speed in those boats isn’t up to snuff, there is still an opportunity for them to re-qualify the 2x at Trials II in August. However, given their result in the 4x this week, the coaches and athletes are optimistic about the potential speed in that boat class.
Next up: Jimmy races US Trials in the LM1x
Coming up this week is Jimmy’s chance to earn a spot on the 2022 National Team. He will be racing the lightweight men’s single in Mercer, NJ this week. We anticipate that his stiffest competition will come from Sam Melvin, who bested Jimmy by 0.3 seconds at the first Speed Order event back in March. Jimmy is confident, though, given the past few months of training and the race experience he took from the Poznan World Cup! Peter is flying to the east coast to support Jimmy, and the rest of the team will be cheering him on from back home.
