BELGRADE, Serbia – The first stage of the 2012 Samsung World Rowing Cup series is underway in Belgrade, Serbia. The U.S. came out strong Friday morning, with two crews winning their respective heats in the women’s pair event.

Racing in the first heat, Beijing gold medalists and National Selection Regatta I winners Eleanor Logan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine) and Erin Cafaro (Modesto, Calif.) clocked the fastest time of the women’s pair field.

Logan and Cafaro took an early lead over The Netherlands’ Glaudia Belderbos and Chantal Achterberg and continued to hold them off for a 7:06.20 win. The Dutch crossed second in 7:07.59 and also advanced the semifinals. Romania’s three-time defending Olympic gold medalists Georgeta Andrunache and Viorica Susanu finished third and will now race in the repechage, or second-chance race.

In the third heat of the women’s pair, the USA 2 entry of Taylor Ritzel (Larkspur, Colo.) and Caroline Lind (Greensboro, N.C.) also proved its strength. Like their teammates, Ritzel and Lind jumped out in front, and opened up a 4.35-second lead on The Netherlands’ second women’s pair entry of Carline Bouw and Annemiek de Haan by the 1,000-meter mark.

The U.S. continued to push over the second half of the course to win by open water in 7:07.94. The Netherlands also advanced to the semifinals in 7:14.13, along with Great Britain’s Helen Glover and Heather Stanning (7:06.94) and Romania’s second entry of Adelina Cojocariu and Irina Dorneanu (7:14.02) from the second heat.

In men's single sculls competition, New Fairfield, Conn. native Ken Jurkowski got a double dose of racing after his fourth-place finish in the morning heat. Jurkowski returned to win his afternoon repechage in one of the tightest races of the day that came down to the final stroke.

The U.S. sculler walked through Sweden’s Lassi Karonen in the last 250 meters to win by 0.2 seconds. Jurkowski clocked a 6:46.76 to Karonen’s 6:46.96. Both qualified for the semifinals, leaving Belgium’s Tim Maeyens out of the mix by a mere 0.02 seconds.

Representing the U.S. in the lightweight women’s double sculls is Julie Nichols (Livermore, Calif.) and Kristin Hedstrom (Concord, Mass.), the defending overall World Cup champions in the event. Racing in the second of two heats, Nichols and Hedstrom finished third and will now attempt to qualify for the final in Saturday’s repechage.

Great Britain’s Sophie Hosking and Katherine Copeland led from wire to wire, for a 6:55.39 win. The Netherlands’ Rianne Sigmond and Maaike Head finished second in 6:56.95, just ahead of the U.S. crew’s 6:58.44.

In the women’s quadruple sculls, the U.S. crew of Kate Bertko (Oakland, Calif.), Kara Kohler (Clayton, Calif.), Kady Glessner (Seattle, Wash.) and Stesha Carle (Long Beach, Calif.) finished second in its heat and will join the lightweight women’s double in repechage competition Saturday. Great Britain won the race in 6:17.35, with the U.S. crossing in 6:18.66. Ukraine advanced to the final from the first heat with a time of 6:19.21.

A total of 662 rowers from 43 nations are competing over the four-day event. With the exception of the women’s quad that qualified for London at last year’s world championships, U.S. crews are racing for a top-four finish to automatically qualify for a berth to the 2012 Olympic team.

For more information and a provisional timetable, visit www.worldrowing.com. During the regatta, race reports, live results and a dedicated photo gallery will be provided by World Rowing. The finals of each World Cup event will be video streamed live on Sunday, May 6 beginning at 4:43 a.m. EST. For direct links to the video streaming platforms, visit www.worldrowing.com/video.

About USRowing
USRowing is a nonprofit organization recognized by the United States Olympic Committee as the governing body for the sport of rowing in the United States. USRowing’s official suppliers include Boathouse Sports, Vespoli, WinTech, Filippi, Croker Oars, Rudy Project, Concept2, Nielsen Kellerman, PowerHTV and Ludus Tours. USRowing also receives generous support from the National Rowing Foundation and its corporate sponsors and partners ANXeBusiness Corp, Voxer, EZ Dock, EMCVenues, The Perfect SNAQUE and INDi. For more information, visit www.usrowing.org. USRowing has created The Row to London to engage sponsors leading up to the 2012 Olympic Games, with proceeds going to help ensure the U.S. team’s success. Opportunities also exist to partner with America Rows – supporting diversity initiatives and adaptive programs. For more information, please contact Beth Kohl at beth@usrowing.org.