2023 Rowing World Championships: Meet the US men in the boat
Already looking strong in the preliminary heats, the USA have assembled 22 boats stacked with their strongest and fastest athletes for the first opportunity to secure spots to Paris.
Rowing
It’s the first of three opportunities for nations to secure quotas to the Paris 2024 Olympics, and the US is starting off strong with the men’s four already finishing in first ahead of Australia in their preliminary heat. The 2023 World Rowing Championships began on Sunday, September 3rd and will wrap up one week later, on Sunday September 10 with the men's eight A final.
With a blend of Olympians, veterans and senior national team newcomers, meet the men in the US eight and four who are attempting to win gold in Belgrade.
Men's eight
Similar to the women’s eight, the US men’s eight narrowly missed the podium in two major events, coming in fourth at the 2022 World Championships and Tokyo 2020 Olympics. They will race nine other boats in attempts to bring home hardware and secure spots to Paris. Will they break the barrier in Belgrade?
At the time of writing, this boat finished second in their heat, just over two and a half seconds behind Australia. Last year, it was Australia that knocked the US off of the podium after they finished in third, ahead by just one and a half seconds. Divisions between the A and B finals are still yet to be determined but will be held on the morning of 10 September.
Jimmy Catalano (coxswain)
Chosen as the coxswain in the eight for the second consecutive year at World Championships, Jimmy Catalano raced on the senior national team for the first time just months after his final season at the University of Wisconsin. In 2022, he won the Head of the Charles in the eight, also setting a course record with his crew. Last year, he coxed the team to fourth and is back for another shot at landing on the podium.
Henry Hollingsworth
After competing in last year's World Championships in the four, Henry Hollingsworth is back this year with the aim of landing the eight on the podium. In 2022, he was crew in the boat that took the Head of the Charles by storm, winning the race and setting a new course record. The crew team captain at Brown University, Hollingsworth graduated after being named Second Team All-America, Second Team All-Ivy and with All-Ivy honors.
Pieter Quinton
Along with E. Carlson and Catalano, Pieter Quinton was also in the fourth-place eight at the 2022 World Championships. He narrowly missed the podium at the 2023 World Rowing Cup II, finishing in fourth in the pair. Named to the All-Academic Team during his undergrad at Harvard University, Quinton completed a graduate year at the University of Washington where he was named second-team All-America after winning the Pac-12 Championship and IRA National Championship in the varsity eight in 2021.
Chris Carlson
As an alternate for the 2022 World Rowing Championships, Chris Carlson ended up racing in the eight that crossed the finish line in fourth place. He has hardware from the 2022 World Rowing Cup II and 2019 World Rowing U23 Championships, where he finished in third and second, respectively. In 2018, he won gold in the varsity eight at the 2018 PAC-12 Championships, where he raced with University of Washington. The same year, he was named Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year.
Alexander Hedge
As one of two first-time World Championships team members in the eight, Alexander Hedge recently earned his spot in the big leagues with a gold medal in the pair at the 2023 Pan American Games Qualification Regatta, earning himself a qualification spot to this year's Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. He graduated from Columbia University in the spring of 2019 and then won gold at the 2022 Head of the Charles where he set a course record alongside Hollingsworth and Catalano. He has a rich life beyond the boat, as according to USRowing, he is an “avid outdoorsman and amateur chef” who has won multiple speed eating competitions.
Clark Dean
A Harvard grad and Sarasota native, Clark Dean raced in the US men’s four at the 2020 Olympics. He is a six-time national team member and made his debut in 2014 at the USRowing Youth National Championships, finishing in fifth in the lightweight eight. Since then, he has won five golds at major regattas, including in the single sculls at the 2017 and 2018 World Junior Championships and in the eight at the 2018 Youth National Championships. This will be his second time on the senior national team at the World Championships.
Oliver Bub
A recent Dartmouth grad in the class of 2020, Oliver Bub will be attending his first World Championships in a boat after serving as an alternate last year. His gold medals include the 2021 Head of the Charles in the four and the 2021 USRowing Summer National Championships in the pair, also having brought the coxed four to a third place finish in the 2018 Head of the Charles. He was awarded Dartmouth College’s Freshman of the Year in 2016-2017.
Peter Chatain
A first-time senior national team member, Peter Chatain finished his graduate year at Stanford University in 2022 with college accolades including All-America First Team, Pac-12 Rowing Athlete of the Year, All-Pac-12 first team and two-time National Scholar Athlete. Most recently, he won silver in the eight at the 2021 World Rowing U23 Championships and according to USRowing, he enjoys artificial intelligence ethics and studied computer science while at Stanford.
Ezra Carlson
Having recently won gold in the pair with Alexander Hedge at the 2023, Carlson doubled up at the 2023 Pan American Games Qualification Regatta where he also finished fourth in the four, missing the podium but still earning a qualification spot for this year’s Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile in both boats. In 2022, he won the pair at the Pan American Games trials, as well as in the single sculls and eight at the Head of the Charles.
Men's four
In a lineup of 17 boats, the United States’ men’s four is a well-oiled machine made up of all Olympians and men returning for their second consecutive World Championships. With a new line-up, the athletes will see if they can land on the podium ahead of last year’s medalists, Great Britain (gold), Australia and Netherlands.
At the time of writing, this boat finished first in their heat, over two seconds ahead of Australia. Their next race will be the semifinals on the morning of 7 September.
Liam Corrigan
A Tokyo 2020 Olympian and third-place finisher in the four at the 2023 World Rowing Cup II, Liam Corrigan is a seven-time senior national team member. He graduated from Harvard University in 2019, where he was named to the 2019 All-Academic team and studied physics and astrophysics. In Tokyo, he narrowly missed the podium as part of the men’s eight that finished in fourth place.
Justin Best
A six time national team member, this will be Justin Best’s second consecutive World Championships. Last year, he raced in the pair and finished in seventh. Along with Corrigan and Meade, he was also in the eight that finished in fourth at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics**.** Among his list of achievements, he has two major gold medal performances; one at the 2018 World Rowing U23 Championships and another at the U23 2017 Canadian Henley.
Nick Mead
A Tokyo 2020 Olympian and bronze medalist in the four at the 2023 World Rowing Cup II with Corrigan and Grady, Nicholas Mead is an eight-time senior national team member. He is the only member of the boat that raced in the four at the 2022 World Championships, where the US finished in 10th. With the recent bronze medal finish in Italy earlier this summer, the podium looks promising.
Michael Grady
Also in the four with Mead and Corrigan, Michael Grady clocked a third-place finish in Italy earlier this summer at the 2023 World Rowing Cup II. Also a Tokyo 2020 Olympian, Grady is the only man in the boat to have raced in the four, rather than the eight in Tokyo. The four finished in fifth place at the 2020 Games. Along with a gold at the 2018 U23 Rowing Championships. Grady enjoys hobbies including beekeeping and solving Rubix Cubes.
On top of the four and eight, other US men’s boats racing at the 2023 World Rowing Championships include:
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Single sculls
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Single lightweight sculls
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Double sculls
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Lightweight double sculls
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Quadruple Sculls
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Lightweight quadruple sculls
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Pair