Alameda resident Rebecca Stelmach and her Team USA women’s coxed four rowing team earned a gold medal at the 2023 World Junior Rowing Under-19 Championships last weekend in Paris, France.

The Women’s Coxed Four race took place on Saturday, Aug. 5. A coxed-four team has five members. Two rowers on the stroke side (rower's right-hand side), two on the bow side (rower's left-hand side), and the cox is seated in the back and steers the boat using a rudder.

Stelmach, 16, and the U.S. team completed the 2,000-meter race with a time of 7:07.97. Team Italy finished in second place with a time of 7:10, while team Australia finished third with a time of 7:17.53. Just three teams competed in the final race.

Team USA, who raced in the center lane, took a slight lead at the 250-meter mark. They held a full-boat length lead by the 1,500-meter mark. It looked like they were going to win easily, but Team Italy used a late surge to close the gap. However, Team USA held off Team Italy’s late rally to win the gold medal.

“It feels crazy. I’m glad that our hard work paid off,” said Stelmach, a rising senior at Alameda High School. “The highlight for me was hearing all the cheering from the crowd near the end of the race.”

The team came together from all over the country. Coxswain Lucy Herrick hails from Chicago, Ill. and is a member of the Chicago Rowing Foundation. Carly Brown, who was seated in the stern is from Grosse Pointe, Mich. and is a member of the Detroit Boat Club. Rosie Lundberg, seated in the third seat, is from Westport, Conn. and is a Saugatuck Rowing Club member. Lastly, Ella Wheeler, who was in the bow, is from South Orange, N.J. and is a member of the Northfield-Mount Hermon team. Stelmach, a member of the Oakland Strokes racing team, was in the second seat. The Alameda resident and her teammates had only been racing together for a month-and-a-half before the final race.

“We did a lot of boat bonding in and out of the water,” said Stelmach, who began rowing in the ninth grade. “We all had the same goal of winning the race. We wanted what was best for the team not the individual.”

The U.S. women’s coxed four team was the only U.S. team to win a gold medal at the event.

“I was happy to be a part of this experience,” said Stelmach. “It was interesting seeing all the different countries and hearing all the different languages.”

Stelmach was not the only Alamedan to compete at the 2023 World Junior Rowing Under-19 Championship. Alameda residents Jack Hume, Cosmo Hondrogen, and Mattis Hevin competed for Team USA in the Men’s Four race — there is no coxswain in a straight-four competition — along with their teammate McKeane McBrearty of Oakland. Hume and Hondrogen attend St. Joseph Notre Dame. All four rowers are members of the Oakland Strokes.

The team began the event with a second-place finish in the third heat. Their time qualified them for the first of two semifinal races. Each team needed a top-three finish in a semifinal race to advance to the championship final.

In semifinal number one semifinal number one, Team USA was in third place for most of the race, but around the 1,700-meter mark they were passed by the Hungarian team. Team Hungary held on to the third spot with a time of 6:17.89, just 48 seconds ahead of Team USA. Team USA finished fourth out of six teams with a time of 6:18.37. What made it more heartbreaking is Team USA’s time would have qualified them for the championship final if they competed in the second semifinal race.

“The semifinal was a tough one,” said Hondrogen, a rising senior at SJND. “Honestly it was our best race. We had a good start and going into the last 500 meters of the race we were in third place, primed to make the A final. In the last 250 meters of the race, we made a few mistakes and at this level, those are unforgivable.”

Team USA went on to compete in the B final. They finished second behind Croatia by 0.02 seconds. Team USA finished the race with a time of 6:28.23, while Team Croatia finished at 6:28.21. Overall, the U.S. team finished eighth in the Men’s Four competition out of 13 teams.

“All four of us are just extremely grateful for all the support we have received from Oakland Strokes, the Alameda community and our teammates,” said Hondrogen.

More than 615 athletes from 53 nations all over the world competed at the World Rowing Under 19 Championships. Team USA was well represented with 53 athletes at the event. Seven of the 53 Americans that competed are members of the Oakland Strokes Rowing Club, the most of any American rowing club. To learn more about the Oakland Strokes Rowing Club, visit www.oaklandstrokes.org.