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Fall 2025
Teal Cohen Claims Rowing Gold for USA
World Rowing Championships, Shanghai, China - September 21st to 28th
The post-Olympics year in rowing, or the first year of the new Olympic cycle, always seems to start slowly, but the speed and the racing certainly end up hot. The 2025 season was no exception and the NYAC Rowing program was proud to send five rowers to Shanghai, China to represent the United States at the world championships, taking place from September 21st to 28th. The five athletes were Charlotte Buck in the women’s eight, Chris Carlson in the men’s quadruple sculls, Teal Cohen in the women’s four, Alina Hagstrom in the women’s quadruple sculls and Sam Melvin in the men’s double sculls. This year also saw the debut of two new events in Shanghai - the mixed eight and the mixed double sculls. Teal Cohen and Chris Carlson doubled into the mixed eight for one of the final events of the week.
The highlight for the United States, and the NYAC, was the gold medal performance by the women’s four, with Club Olympian Teal Cohen in the three-seat. The crew clocked the fastest time of the field in the heat, but in a closely contested race with a strong line-up from Romania. The re-match in the final was hotly anticipated and certainly did not disappoint as several crews got off to very fast starts, joining the favorites at the front. Keeping their cool, the USA four took the lead by the halfway point at 1000 meters and, in the closing portion of the race, held off a fierce sprint from the Romanians, claiming World Championships gold with a time of 6:27.71. In the other highlighted events, the women’s eight placed fifth, the men’s quadruple sculls placed fourth, the women’s quadruple sculls took 10th, and the men’s double sculls won the C final to take 13th overall. Finally, in the mixed eight, the new combination in the new event just missed the podium, finishing fourth.
Finally, the NYAC’s Coral Kasden, the 2023 world champion coxswain for the mixed quadruple sculls, returned to the same event this year at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals, and led her crew to a second World Championship, this time in Antalya, Türkiye, November 6-9.
Summer 2025
The summer season is peaking time in post-scholastic rowing, and the summer of 2025 was no different. With a full international calendar and high levels of activity across domestic championships and selection events for the US national team, the NYAC rowing team was busy, and successful, at all levels of competition. One of the most prestigious rowing competitions in the world is the Henley Royal Regatta, held annually in the town of Henley-on Thames, 40 miles up the river from London. First held in 1839, Henley is now filled with events showcasing the best rowers in the world, from juniors, through collegiate and club levels, to national team and Olympic rowers competing in the Premier Events. The format is also unique, with single elimination brackets of dual racing until champions are crowned. NYAC Olympians Claire Collins and Madeleine Wanamaker dominated the field in the Hambleden Pairs Challenge Cup, the premier women’s pairs event at Henley, only the second Henley Championship in Club history and the first since Don Spero’s legendary win in the Diamond Challenge Sculls in 1965. Notably, in 2022 Collins and Wanamaker had claimed a pairs bronze medal at the world championships.
Meanwhile, back in the United States, the Travers Island boathouse was abuzz with activity as the NYAC team, spearheaded by coaches Angelo Rubbo, Reid Cucci, Magdalene Baert and John Tomsen, prepared for the USRowing Summer National Championships. As part of their preparations, the team traveled to Philadelphia over the Fourth of July weekend for the Independence Day Regatta, at which they won an unprecedented eight events, including titles in the women’s eight, men’s and women’s coxed fours, and the men’s and women’s lightweight singles, plus an additional six hard fought silvers, suggesting strong potential for the national championships, coming up less than two weeks later in Ann Arbor, MI.
Taking place over the weekend of July 12th 13th, the NYAC team made the trip prepared for stiff competition and a packed racing calendar. The schedule of heats and finals was intense, as was the weather, with the athletes and coaches having to cope with intense heat and then delays from summer storms. Despite the surprise adversity, the team performed spectacularly, securing six national titles in the open events, the most since 2022, and several silver and bronze medals. Congratulations to the national champions in the women’s lightweight single (Jasmin Schons, 9:18.65), men’s lightweight double (Matt Ptucha and Brendan Behrens, 7:51.93), men’s lightweight pair (Dillon Cumming and Adam Levin, 7:43.09), men’s lightweight quad (Matt Ptucha, Brendan Behrens, Dillon Cumming, Adam Levin, 6:38.90), men’s coxed four (Finn Conlon, Philip Umeadi, Philip Granitto, Caiti Levin, Adam Levin, 6:35.26), and the women’s coxed four (Mariya Sergeeva, Riva Zellars, Estee Goel, Eliza Collins, 8:27.34). Following the nationals, the team returned to Travers Island to train for the final continental regatta of the summer, the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, held annually in Saint Catherines, Ontario, and this year scheduled for August 5th-10th.