Three young women from the Quad Cities traveled to Tokyo, Japan to compete at the World Rowing Jr Championships. Taylor English, Delaney Evans, and Brenna Morely (all of Pleasant Valley) were members on the United States team along with other rowers from across the country.
English and Evans represented the US as the only Double Sculls team. In the repechage race on Friday, August 9, the ladies had a very close finish, only 0.05 seconds behind the Russian team and edged out the Australian team to secure the second qualifying spot going into the semifinals on Saturday. During the finals on Sunday, August 11, the doubles team finished 9th overall.
Evans spoke of how they were disappointed in their first race, but came out strong during the repechage heat to qualify for the semifinals. “We knew we wanted to make it through to the semis, and we knew what we had to do. We picked out some technical things to work on, some steering things, and we adjusted for the wind conditions. We went out there with a goal to make it through.”
Morely competed on the US Jrs Quadruples Sculls team with three other ladies from California, Florida, and Pennsylvania. They placed third in their repechage heat which also qualified them for the semifinals on Saturday. This Quad Sculls team finished 12th overall during the finals on Sunday.
Rowers battled extreme heat in Tokyo. The heat index reached 102 degrees during the Semifinal and Finals.
The World Rowing Jr Championship event was held at the newly constructed Sea Forest Waterway, the same venue to be used at the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.