Francia goes for second straight gold

 

Penn rowing alum and 2004 grad Susan Francia and the U.S. women's eight will look to defend their gold medal Thursday afternoon in the 2,000-meter final at the Eton Dorney Rowing Centre in Buckinghamshire, England. The race will go off at 12:30 p.m. local time, or 7:30 a.m. EST.

The Americans qualified for the final by coming in first place in their heat on July 29, beating out Australia by more than six seconds. The biggest threat to the boat defending its title will likely be Canada, the Netherlands and Romania.

The Dutch and Romanians finished won the silver and bronze, respectively, in Beijing in 2008. Francia's boat was the lone American shell to win gold four years ago.

Francia, who first took up rowing at Penn, will row second seat. She is one of six returning rowers, in addition to Erin Cafaro, Elle Logan, Caroline Lind, Caryn Davies and Mary Whipple, the coxswain.

Comments powered by Disqus
Most Read