Alex Karwoski '12 (left) and Tracy Eisser '12 (right) are the first two Cornellians to compete in the 2016 Rio games.

August 8, 2016

Karwoski ’12 to Race in Repechage; Eisser ’12 Advances to Quadruple Sculls Finals

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The 2016 Summer Olympics are finally underway and Cornellians have been on the forefront of competition.

Tracy Eisser ’12 and the United States’ women’s quadruple sculls team placed third in its heat on Saturday morning, the first day of competition. However, the team’s time of 6:40.78 was not good enough to immediately qualify for the finals.

Although the boat’s time did not garner it an immediate spot in the finals, it did qualify the team for the Repechage event on Monday, facing the Netherlands, Poland, Australia and China. A high level finish in this race would give the team another chance to reach the finals.

In the race — a 2-kilometer contest in a Rio lake — the women finished fourth behind China, Poland and the Netherlands, but just in front of Australia. This was a solid enough performance for them to squeak by into the finals. Australia was left the lone team that did not qualify.

Eisser’s classmate and fellow rower Alex Karwoski ’12 and Team USA men’s coxed eight team placed second in their heat in the first day of competition in this event on Monday morning.

Like Eisser’s squad, their time of 5:40.16 was not sufficiently elite to immediately qualify them for the finals. Also like the women’s boat, Team USA’s finish was good enough to qualify them for the Repechage — which will be held on Wednesday.

The women’s quadruple sculls final takes place on Wednesday at 9:34 a.m., just following the men’s coxed eight Repechage event. Eisser and her team will attempt to improve on Team USA women’s quadruple sculls’ third place finish in London in 2012.

Karwoski will hope to help his coxed eight team reach the finals and improve on the team’s fourth place finish in London.

Team USA men’s coxed eight program has sixteen medals over the event’s long history, 12 of them gold, while the women’s quadruple sculls program has just two medals total. These two Cornellians will look to add to an already decorated Team USA at these Rio games.