U.S. Olympic Rowing Trials: Meet the five athletes named to Team USA
At Tokyo 2020, for the first time ever, U.S. Rowing walked away without a single piece of hardware.
This year, they’re looking to bring the heat.
From 2-7 April, the best rowers from across the nation came together for the 2024 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Team Trials at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Florida with the goal of securing their spot on Team USA.
Five athletes were named to the team, including Kara Kohler, William Bender, Oliver Bub, Jessica Thoennes and Azja Czajkowski.
In addition,16 additional athletes won their seven respective classes, keeping their Paris dreams alive, but they will have to obtain official Olympic quotas at the World Rowing Final Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta to be held from 19 to 21 May in Lucerne, Switzerland.
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Women’s single sculls - Kara Kohler
Two-time Olympian Kara Kohler secured her spot on Team USA in the women’s single sculls and has been named to the team for Paris for what would be her third Olympic Games.
The California native made her Olympic debut at London 2012 in the women’s quadruple sculls, where her boat claimed the bronze medal. She returned to the Games in Tokyo and placed ninth in a single after taking a bronze medal in the same boat at the 2019 World Championships, as well as a silver at the 2021 World Rowing Cup II.
Kholer’s Olympic dreams were born when she began swimming at a young age, but according to a post on her Instagram, she thought they "[were] dead because [she] wasn’t fast enough,” until she took up rowing in college, and 14 years later, she’s on the cusp of becoming a three-time Team USA Olympian.
In Sarasota, she cruised to a win, six seconds ahead of second place, with a 2,000m time of 8:04.01.
Kara Kohler of the United States in action at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on 23 July, 2021
Men’s pair - William Bender and Oliver Bub
To place a bet on pair partners William (Bill) Bender and Oliver Bub in the first 500m of the 2 km race would have been a risky one, but the California Rowing Club teammates stepped on the gas in the second half to finish in first place, nearly three seconds ahead of second. They also beat Olympic veterans Anders Weiss and Alexander Richards, who took an early lead but ultimately finished third.
Bub graduated from Dartmouth College in 2020, where Bender is wrapping up his senior year. The pair are yet to land on the podium at a senior international event, but between their strategy, strength and youth, Paris could be their time to shine.
Oliver Bub and Billy Bender at the 2024 U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Rowing Team Trials at Nathan Benderson Park.
Women’s pair - Jessica Thoennes and Azja Czajkowski
The pair of 28-year-old Jessica Thoennes and 23-year-old Azja Czajkowski finished seven seconds ahead of second place to dominate the women’s pair and secure their spot on Team USA's Olympic team.
Theonnes raced in the women’s eight at Tokyo 2020, where the boat narrowly missed the podium and finished in fourth, less than two seconds behind the bronze medalists. Most recently, she took second in the U.S. women’s eight at the 2023 World Rowing Championships, but has now paired up with the 23-year-old California native. Czajkowski is newer to the senior team, having only served as an alternate at the 2023 World Rowing Championships. She took silver in the eight at the 2018 World Rowing Junior Championships.
“I don’t think it’s fully processed for me yet,” Czajkowski said to U.S. Rowing.
“[I’m] hugely relieved and very excited. We had a very strong middle 1,000 [meters], and the last 500, for me, you're going so hard that you're on the verge of blacking out. It's just a lot of happy emotions and a lot of lactic acid."
World Rowing Final Qualification Regatta
The 16 additional rowers who made strides towards their Paris dreams include the winners of the men’s double sculls, men’s single sculls, lightweight men’s double sculls, men’s and women’s quadruple sculls, PR1 men’s single sculls and PR2 mixed double sculls.
The pair of Ben Davison and Sorin Koszyk headlined over the weekend, as they took the men’s double sculls to win with a 35-second lead over the second-place finishers.
All of these athletes will head to Lucerne, Switzerland, from 19 to 21 May, where they will compete in the World Rowing Final Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta and attempt to obtain Olympic quotas for their boats in Paris.