Three U.S. Crews to Compete in Semifinals on Thursday at Olympic Games

BEIJING - The U.S. lightweight women's double sculls, lightweight men's four and men's quadruple sculls crews will race for spots in the finals on Thursday as the second day of semifinals take place at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park. The top three finishers in each semifinal will advance to the finals.

The lightweight women's double sculls tandem of Jen Goldsack (Banstead, United Kingdom) and Renee Hykel (Haverford, Pa.) won its repechage, or second-chance race, on Tuesday to earn a spot in the semifinals. Racing in the second of two semis, the duo will take on China, Australia, Canada, Japan and Greece. China advanced to the race by winning its heat, while Australia advanced by finishing second in its heat, 0.09 seconds ahead of the U.S. boat.

Racing in the first of two semifinals, the lightweight men's four of Tom Paradiso (Blue Bell, Pa.), Will Daly (Vail, Colo.), Patrick Todd (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Mike Altman (Marin County, Calif.) will take on Denmark, France, Italy, Great Britain and Ireland. Denmark won its heat to advance to the semifinals, while France and Great Britain finished second in their heats. The U.S. reached the semis through the repechage.

The men's quadruple sculls crew of Scott Gault (Piedmont, Calif.), Jamie Schroeder (Wilmette, Ill.), Sam Stitt (McLean, Va.) and Matt Hughes (Ludington, Mich.) finished third in its heat on Sunday to advance to the semifinals. The boat will take on Ukraine, Italy, France, Estonia and Cuba in the second of two semis. Ukraine won its heat and enters the race as the top seed, while Italy and France finished second in their respective heats.

The U.S. will also have three crews racing in B finals to determine their final placement.

In the B final of the women's pair, Anna Cummins (Bellevue, Wash.) and Portia McGee (Seattle, Wash.) will take on Australia, Canada and France. The race will determine overall places 7-10.

In the men's single sculls, Ken Jurkowski (New Fairfield, Conn.) finished fifth in his semifinal and will take on scullers from Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Greece and Lithuania in the B final, which will determine overall places 7-12.

The men's four of Brett Newlin (Riverton, Wyo.), Giuseppe Lanzone (Annandale, Va.), Paul Teti (Upper Darby, Pa.) and David Banks (Potomac, Md.) finished fifth in its semifinal and will now race the B final for places 7-12. The crew will face Italy, Belarus, The Netherlands, New Zealand and Ireland.

The Olympic rowing competition features 548 rowers competing in 207 crews for 60 nations. Racing runs through Sunday, August 17. Finals will be held August 16-17. For complete results and heat sheets, please visit http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/Schedule/RO.shtml.

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