PHOTO AND STORY COURTESY USROWING
USRowing is pleased to announce the PR3 mixed double sculls, PR3 four with coxswain, PR1 men’s single sculls, and PR2 mixed double sculls boats that will represent the U.S. at the 2023 World Rowing Championships September 3-10 in Belgrade, Serbia.
The two PR3 crews were selected through the PR3 selection camp held on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J., which just wrapped up this past week. The PR1 men’s single sculls and PR2 mixed double sculls solidified their spots on the team following the Gavirate International Para Regatta held earlier this month in Italy.
This year’s PR3 mixed double sculls crew will be made up of Gemma Wollenschlaeger (St. Augustine Beach, Fla./Temple University) and Todd Vogt (Rochester, N.Y. /Portland Boat Club). Wollenschlaeger, a first-time national team member, just completed her sophomore season at Temple University, while Vogt is a two-time national team member who finished fifth in the event at the 2022 World Rowing Championships.
The PR3 mixed four with coxswain will include Saige Harper (Easthampton, Mass./Sacred Heart University), Alex Flynn (Wilmington, Mass./Tufts University), and coxswain Emilie Eldracher (Andover, Mass./Massachusetts Institute of Technology), who all return from last year’s boat that finished fifth at the world championships. They will be joined by national team newcomers Ben Washburne (Madison, Conn./Williams College), who just finished his senior year at Williams College, and Skylar Dahl (Minneapolis, Minn./University of Virginia), who just completed her sophomore year at Virginia.
“This year’s squad is a strong combination of experienced veterans and very promising newcomers,” said Para High Performance Director Ellen Minzner. “I am excited to see how they will evolve over the next couple of months and through next year in the lead-up to the Paralympic Games.”
In the PR1 men’s single sculls, Andrew Mangan (Buffalo, N.Y./Stanford University/West Side Rowing Club) will be representing the U.S. for the second time, having finished 10th in the event at the 2022 World Rowing Championships. Mangan made the B final earlier this month at World Rowing Cup 2 in Varese, Italy, and reached Saturday’s A final in Gavirate.
In the PR2 mixed double sculls, Russell Gernaat (Redwood City, Calif./Lake Casitas Rowing Club) and Madison Eberhard (Buffalo, N.Y./ West Side Rowing Club) are a new combination this year. Gernaat and Eberhard won the NSR in April and earned a bronze medal in Sunday’s final in Gavirate. A four-time national team member, Gernaat raced the event at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, while Eberhard will be competing on her second national team, having raced in the PR2 women’s single sculls in 2019.
The PR3 crews will get their first international test July 8-9 at the 2023 Para Rowing Regatta to Paris on the Olympic/Paralympic course in Vaires-sur-Marne, France.
The 2023 World Rowing Championships run September 3-10 in Belgrade and are the first opportunity for countries to qualify boats for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
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