Brief | Donald sisters take third place at Worlds

Penn rowing’s twin stars, Elizabeth and Rebecca Donald, will return home from their trip to Belarus with some bronze to show for it.

The rising seniors’ long summer’s work culminated in a third-place finish Sunday at the World Rowing Under-23 Championship, which began last Thursday.

Germany took the gold medal in the Donalds’ event, the women’s double sculls, with a time of 7:03.47, while Belarus placed second.

The sisters withstood a surge from a duo from Romania, who attempted to chase down the Americans over the final 1000 meters of the 2000-meter event.

“We just drove our legs as hard as we could and didn’t look out,” Rebecca told USRowing.org.

The Donalds qualified for the event with a victory at the trials in New Jersey a month ago. The Massachusettes natives departed for Belarus on July 15 after weeks of training in the U.S.

This past weekend’s event marked the sisters’ first international event. Last year, they won two titles at the USRowing Club Nationals.

Both have also been mainstays on the Quakers’ varsity eight boat since they arrived as freshmen in 2007.

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