3 October 2018

The day after USRowing announced that Clark Dean and Francesca Raggi had been selected as the inaugural winners of the USRowing Under 19 Male and Female Athletes of the Year, the organisation announced in another press release that Andrew Gaard and Emily Kallfelz have been selected as the inaugural winners of the USRowing Under 23 Male and Female Athletes of the Year, respectively.

Selected by the athletes and coaches of the team that competed at the 2018 World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Poznan, Poland, Gaard and Kallfelz will be honored at the 2018 Golden Oars Gala on Thursday, 15 November, at the New York Athletic Club’s Manhattan location.

Gaard stroked the men’s eight to the gold medal in Poznan, setting an Under 23 World Championships’ Best Time in the process. The Madison, Wisconsin, native also stroked the eight to a fourth-place finish against senior competition at the 2018 World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne, Switzerland.

‘It’s a great honor to be nominated and voted on by my teammates,’ Gaard said upon notification of his award. ‘Everyone had a huge role this summer in bringing the team up to a higher standard. It was a massive team effort, and I think it serves as a great stepping point to developing the next generation of U.S. rowers.’

Now a senior at the University of Washington, Gaard won a silver medal in the Huskies’ varsity eight at the 2018 Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Championships. Gaard previously competed for the national team as a junior rower, winning a silver medal in the eight at the 2015 World Rowing Junior Championships.

Kallfelz, a five-time national team member, won the silver medal in the women’s single sculls in Poznan, improving on her bronze-medal finish in 2017. During the collegiate season, Kallfelz helped Princeton University’s varsity eight win the Ivy League championship and reach the final at the 2018 NCAA Championships.

‘It’s really nice of people to think that I’m worthy of such recognition,’ Kallfelz said. ‘There are a lot of people who were definitely worthy of nominations, so I’m very grateful for that. It’s really nice to be recognized. I appreciate it.’

In addition to her two medal-winning performances on the under 23 team, Kallfelz finished fourth in the under 23 double sculls in 2016 and raced in the quadruple sculls at the World Rowing Junior Championships in 2014 and 2015, winning a bronze medal in 2015.