Women’s National Team Head Coach Tom Terhaar will send three pairs to compete in Austria. Anna Mickelson (Bellevue, Wash.) and Megan Cooke (Los Gatos, Calif.) won the pair at the 2006 Rowing World Cup event in Lucerne, Switzerland, and finished fourth at last year’s world championships in Eton, England. The duo started its season off in strong fashion in late April by winning USRowing’s second national selection regatta. Caroline Lind (Greensboro, N.C.) and Susan Francia (Abington, Pa.) will race together in another pair, while Anna Goodale (Camden, Maine) and Lindsay Shoop (Charlottesville, Va.) will make up the third boat. All four women, as well as Mickelson and Cooke, were part of the women’s eight that won the gold medal and set a world’s best time at the 2006 World Championships. In total, 28 women’s pairs are entered in the event.

Michelle Guerette (Bristol, Conn.) is one of 28 scullers entered in the women’s single sculls. A bronze medalist in the event at the 2005 World Championships, Guerette finished fifth at two world cup stops and the world championships last season. She is looking to get back on the medal stand in 2007. The field racing in Linz is deep and includes all six finalists from last year’s world championships.

In the women’s double sculls, Ala Piotrowski (Manchester, N.H.) and Jennifer Kaido (West Leyden, N.Y.) will take on 18 other crews. Piotrowski and Kaido, who represented the U.S. in the women’s quadruple sculls at the 2006 World Championships, teamed up to win the double sculls at the second national selection regatta in April.

The lightweight men’s four of Matt Muffelman (Mathews, Va.), Patrick Todd (Cincinnati, Ohio), Tom Paradiso (Blue Bell, Pa.), and Colin Farrell (Oaklyn, N.J.) will take on 20 crews. Muffelman, Paradiso and Farrell made up three-quarters of the lightweight four that raced at the 2006 World Championships. Todd, a 2004 Olympian in the event, is returning to competition after taking the past two seasons off.

More than 880 athletes from 46 nations will be competing in Austria. Germany leads the way in number of entries with 37 boats scheduled to race, while China has 27 boats scheduled to compete. Racing begins on Friday, June 1, with heats, repechages (second-chance races), and quarterfinals. The remaining repechages and semifinals will take place Saturday, with the finals being held on Sunday. The event will be streamed live in the United States on the World Championship Sports Network Web site at www.wcsn.com. Complete entry lists, heat sheets and results can be accessed at www.worldrowing.com.

The Rowing World Cup series was launched in 1997 and includes all 14 Olympic boat classes. The overall Rowing World Cup champions are determined after a series of three regattas. The remaining two stages will be held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (June 22-24), and Lucerne (July 13-15).

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