The U.S. had three crews racing in the semifinals of the women’s pair, and two were able to advance to Sunday’s final. Racing in the second semifinal, the USA1 entry of Anna Mickelson (Bellevue, Wash.) and Megan Cooke (Los Gatos, Calif.) defeated teammates Caroline Lind (Greensboro, N.C.) and Susan Francia (Abington, Pa.) to win the race. Mickelson and Cooke led the entire way down the course, crossing the finish line with a time of 7:12.96. Lind and Francia sat in third position for much of the race before they passed Great Britain in the final 500 meters to finish second with a time of 7:15.19. Great Britain finished third to also advance to the final. In the first semifinal, Anna Goodale (Camden, Maine) and Lindsay Shoop (Charlottesville, Va.) just missed advancing to the final after finishing fourth. The duo held the third position until the final few strokes, finishing 0.20 seconds behind Australia 2. Canada’s Darcy Marquardt and Jane Rumball, the defending world champions, won the race in a 7:14.48. Australia’s fourth entry of Kim Crow and Sarah Cook finished second in a 7:15.27, followed by Australia’s Robyn Selby Smith and Natalie Bale in a 7:19.09. Goodale and Shoop finished with a time of 7:19.29.

Ala Piotrowski (Manchester, N.H.) and Jennifer Kaido (West Leyden, N.Y.) finished second in their semifinal of the women’s double sculls and advanced to the final. The duo battled China the entire way down the course, holding a lead at the midway point of the race before China inched away during the second 1,000 meters. Piotrowski and Kaido crossed the finish line with a time of 7:09.32, 2.66 behind China. Italy finished third just 0.60 seconds behind the Americans. In the other race, two German crews and Hungary advanced to the final.

Racing in the first semifinal of the women’s single sculls, Michelle Guerette (Bristol, Conn.) took third place to earn a spot in tomorrow’s final. Guerette started off in fifth position but slowly worked her way into third during the middle of the race. Guerette crossed the finish line with a time of 7:38.12, more than six seconds ahead of Sweden’s Frida Svensson, the defending world championships bronze medalist, who finished in fourth. Two-time defending world champion Ekaterina Karsten won the race in a 7:31.99, while France’s Sophie Balmary finished second in a 7:35.46. Two-time world’s silver medalist Mirka Knapkova from the Czech Republic won the other semifinal by clocking a 7:30.95. China’s Xiuyun Zhang and Poland’s Julia Michalska also advanced to the final.

The lightweight men’s four of Tom Paradiso (Blue Bell, Pa.), Patrick Todd (Cincinnati, Ohio), Colin Farrell (Oaklyn, N.J.) and Andrew Bolton (Old Lyme, Conn.) advanced to Sunday’s final by placing third in the second of two semifinals. In what was an extremely close race, the American crew edged out Poland and France for the last qualifying spot. The crew sat in fourth position through the 1,000-meter mark but had dropped to sixth with just 500 meters to go. However, the U.S. responded with a strong last quarter of the race to finish with a time of 6:11.38, 0.23 seconds behind the second-place Italian crew and 0.24 seconds ahead of fourth-place Poland. France finished fifth in a 6:11.83. Great Britain won the race with a time of 6:09.82. Italy, China and the Netherlands advanced from the first semifinal.

More than 880 athletes from 46 nations are competing in Austria. The finals 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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