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New Canaan rower Andrew Campbell got the United States off to a good start Sunday at the World Rowing Championships, winning his heat in the lightweight mens single sculls in Bled, Slovenia.
Campbell, a 19-year-old sophomore-to-be at Harvard, advanced to Thursdays semifinals. The result also spared him an extra race on the way to the final.
When I crossed the line I thought that I had just gotten second. And I looked up at the (finish line) screen and saw that they were showing video of me. ... I thought, Why would they show video of the second-place boat? Campbell told USRowing. They usually show video of the winner. And then they showed the replay of us coming across the line, and I thought, Oh, thats me.' I just nipped that guy on the far side. It was so many lanes over, you cant exactly see.
Campbell finished the 2,000-meter course in 7:04.01, just ahead of Italys Pietro Ruta, who took second in 7:04.31.
The mens eight with Norwalks Dan Walsh also advanced to the semifinals with a second-place finish. The double sculls team of Brian de Regt of Rowayton and Jon Winter finished second behind Italy and also advanced to Wednesdays semifinals.
The U.S. Adaptive Crew, which includes Stamfords Alex Stein and Greenwichs Andrew Johnson, was scheduled to race Monday. Complete information is available on the USRowing website.
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