Davison Wins First Selection Regatta, CRC Athletes Place 4 in Top 8 in Men’s 1x
Ben Davison’s first place finish and World Cup-qualifying effort at the 2022 National Selection Regatta in Sarasota, Florida highlighted a banner weekend for California Rowing Club athletes, who captured four of the top eight spots in the singles sculls competition.
CRC’s Sorin Koszyk, a Michigan native, finished in fourth in the race, coming in at a time of 6:58.96 and teammate Michael Knippen of Wisconsin placed fifth with a time of 7:02.07. In the B Final, CRC’s Andrew Gaard captured the second spot, finishing at 7:11.28, meaning the club’s rowers accounted for half of the competition’s top eight fastest scullers.
“We are pleased with how our guys competed this past weekend,” said CRC Coach Mike Teti. “We brought four rowers down here and all of them had solid finishes. This is a testament to the work and commitment they’ve put in during the past few months.”
Davison is a Florida resident and University of Washington graduate that has been training at California Rowing Club since coming home from the Tokyo Olympics last summer. He won the Men’s Single sculls event by nearly five seconds, capturing the title in a time of 6:53.98. By virtue of his victory, Davison has qualified for the Rowing World Cup in Poland this June. If he secures a top-six finish in that race, he’ll automatically earn a spot in the 2022 World Rowing Championships in Czech Republic this September.
"It was good," Davison told US Rowing after the race. "We had some good conditions (today), so it was really nice to see what the speed was like in neutral, flat conditions. I was happy enough with it. I really enjoyed the week, just getting to come out here and race a couple of times was a lot of fun. It's great to be back in the single, and I'm looking forward to training. We have a great group of guys (at CRC). Training has been going really well. There's been a lot of development with guys who haven't spent a lot of time sculling."
The National Selection Regatta in Sarasota represented the first step in the lengthy qualifying process for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The next step of that journey will take place from May 3 – May 6 at the second National Selection Regatta in New Jersey. The entire roster of CRC athletes will now shift their focus to that competition where they will race in pairs and doubles.
“We are really looking forward to getting the athletes ready for this second selection event,” said CRC coach Nathanael Kielt. “I think everyone is gaining confidence based on how we competed in Sarasota. Our main goal is to continue to see some progress over the next five weeks as we test our speed in team boats.”