July 11, 2011

USRowing Release

STANFORD, Calif. - A trio of Stanford men's rowing alumni completed competition with U.S. crews at the 2011 Samsung World Cup Sunday in Lucerne, Switzerland. Alex Osborne '08 finished fourth with the U.S. Eight while David Banks '05 and Silas Stafford '09 were part of the U.S. Four that finished third in the "B" Final.

Osborne and the U.S. Eight held the second position, behind defending world champion Germany, nearly the entire length of the course in Sunday's championship final. But over the final 500-meter sprint, the United States failed to hold off the charging Dutch and British crews, which edged ahead and crossed the line less than a bow ball in front.

Germany won the gold medal in 5:43.52. Silver went to The Netherlands, who crossed just 0.02 seconds ahead of Great Britain's 5:45.35 in a 5:45.31, and 0.22 seconds ahead of the United States (5:45.55).

In the "B" Final of the men's four competition, the U.S. 2 crew, of which Banks and Stafford were a part, moved up through the field over the middle 1,000 meters of the course after falling behind early. A strong final 500 pulled the boat within striking distance of second-place France, but the U.S. effort came up just short, 0.11 of a second behind the French crew.