ST. CATHARINES, Ontario – The University of Pennsylvania had five rowers earn medals at the 2024 World Rowing Under 23 Championships, which concluded Friday in Canada.

Rising seniors Sam Sullivan, Jason Kennedy and Matt Davis were silver medalists as a part of USRowing’s Men’s Eight at the event. Racing in Friday’s six-boat final, the last race of the Championships, the U.S. held a lead at the midpoint of the 2,000-meter race but was overtaken in the third 500 and ultimately fell to Great Britain by a little less than three seconds. The Brits won in 5:24.73 while Team USA was second in 5:27.50, about two seconds ahead of third-place Australia.

Sullivan was in the stroke seat for USRowing, while Kennedy rowed in the seven seat and Davis was in the four seat.

“The race was good; I think we left it all out there,” Sullivan told USRowing following the race. “I think it’s just one of those days. We showed we had the speed last Sunday, but it just didn’t happen today. We did what we could.

“It’s just amazing,” Sullivan told USRowing of the experience of rowing at the Championships. “I never saw myself here, it’s just unbelievable. I’m so happy with the result.”

The lightweight pair of rising seniors Harrison Azrak and George Drago also won silver at the event, clocking 6:53.65 in Thursday’s final and losing to a pair representing Chile by a little more than a second. Azrak and Drago were coached at the event by Penn men’s heavyweight assistant coach Fergal Barry.

“After the preliminary race, we had a race plan of going out swinging in the first 1K and I think we did that,” Drago told USRowing after the final. “They had a better sprint, though. It really came down to the line, and that’s just lightweight racing. We had our fair share of close racing in the main season, and this wasn’t any different.”

 

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