Gevvie Stone '07 will race for OIympic gold Saturday morning after a second-place finish in her semifinal. Photo courtesy of Ed Hewitt, Row2K.com.
Photo by: Ed Hewitt, Row2K.com
Rio Recap, Day 10: Stone Reaches Gold Medal Final; Bertko Takes 10th; Matheson and Canada Soccer Advance
August 12, 2016 | General, Women's Rowing - Open, Women's Soccer
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Gevvie Stone '07 wanted to beat her finish from the London Games, and she wanted to end up on the medal stand in Rio.
Mission #1 accomplished. Mission #2 is less than 24 hours away.
Stone, a member of Princeton's undefeated 2006 NCAA champion varsity eight, placed second in a dramatic semifinal to clinch her spot in Saturday's A final. Part of the drama came within the first 400 meters of the race, as 2012 Olympic silver medalist Fie Udby Erichsen of Denmark caught a crab and went the lead pack to well behind the five rowers. Stone, who was in the lane next to Erichsen for the semifinal, took advantage and moved into second place by the 1000-meter mark of the race.
The second half of the race turned into a four-rower competition for the three qualifying spots, and Stone made a strong move over the final 400 meters to assure herself a spot in her first A final. China's Jingli Duan took the win by less than a second, but Stone was never in danger over the final few strokes. Her final time of 7:44.56 was about three seconds ahead of the fourth-place finisher, which was enough to move her into Saturday's gold medal final.
In the 2012 London Games, Stone missed out on the final and finished seventh overall. This year, she can finish no worse than sixth, although she has far higher goals in mind.
Stone will be one of three Princeton alumni who will row for gold Saturday morning. NBC is scheduled to go live at 10 am Saturday, so it's possible they will show the two eights finals live, but you can see all three via video stream on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app as well.
Meanwhile, Kate Bertko '06 concluded her Olympic debut with a 10th place finish in the LW2x Friday morning. She and teammate Devery Karz rallied over the final 1000 meters to surpass the German crew and clinch a Top 10 finish in Rio. Their time of 7:29.96 was less than three seconds behind Denmark for ninth overall.
While Stone assured herself a chance to compete for an Olympic medal, Diana Matheson '08 helped Canada do the same Friday night in a 1-0 win over France in the women's soccer quarterfinal. Matheson, who started and was subbed out in the 69th minute, left the field with Canada up 1-0 on an impressive Sophie Schmidt goal in the 56th minute. Janine Beckie served a ball Schmidt's way across the six-yard box, and Schmidt redirected it mid-air inside the far post.
The win was a rematch of the 2012 bronze medal game in London in which Matheson scored the game's only goal in added time to get Canada its first Olympic women's soccer medal. Now, the Canadians will at least have the chance to play for that same medal, but a gold or silver is a possibility if Canada can duplicate its feat from the final group-stage game this past Tuesday and defeat the world's No. 2- ranked team from Germany. The semifinal is set for Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET in Belo Horizonte and will be televised on the NBC Sports Network.
Saturday, along with the three rowing alums in finals, rising senior Ashleigh Johnson will aim for a 3-0 group-stage record with the U.S. women's water polo team at noon against Hungary on NBC, and Katie Reinprecht '13, Julia Reinprecht '14, Kat Sharkey '13 and the unbeaten U.S. field hockey team will face Great Britain for the group title at 5 p.m. on CNBC before the knockout stage begins Monday.
Gevvie Stone '07 wanted to beat her finish from the London Games, and she wanted to end up on the medal stand in Rio.
Mission #1 accomplished. Mission #2 is less than 24 hours away.
Stone, a member of Princeton's undefeated 2006 NCAA champion varsity eight, placed second in a dramatic semifinal to clinch her spot in Saturday's A final. Part of the drama came within the first 400 meters of the race, as 2012 Olympic silver medalist Fie Udby Erichsen of Denmark caught a crab and went the lead pack to well behind the five rowers. Stone, who was in the lane next to Erichsen for the semifinal, took advantage and moved into second place by the 1000-meter mark of the race.
The second half of the race turned into a four-rower competition for the three qualifying spots, and Stone made a strong move over the final 400 meters to assure herself a spot in her first A final. China's Jingli Duan took the win by less than a second, but Stone was never in danger over the final few strokes. Her final time of 7:44.56 was about three seconds ahead of the fourth-place finisher, which was enough to move her into Saturday's gold medal final.
In the 2012 London Games, Stone missed out on the final and finished seventh overall. This year, she can finish no worse than sixth, although she has far higher goals in mind.
Stone will be one of three Princeton alumni who will row for gold Saturday morning. NBC is scheduled to go live at 10 am Saturday, so it's possible they will show the two eights finals live, but you can see all three via video stream on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app as well.
| Rower | Boat | Time (ET) | Lane |
| Gevvie Stone '07 | W1x | 9:45 am | 2 |
| Lauren Wilkinson '11 | W8+ | 10:06 am | 5 |
| Glenn Ochal '08 | M8+ | 10:27 am | 5 |
Meanwhile, Kate Bertko '06 concluded her Olympic debut with a 10th place finish in the LW2x Friday morning. She and teammate Devery Karz rallied over the final 1000 meters to surpass the German crew and clinch a Top 10 finish in Rio. Their time of 7:29.96 was less than three seconds behind Denmark for ninth overall.
While Stone assured herself a chance to compete for an Olympic medal, Diana Matheson '08 helped Canada do the same Friday night in a 1-0 win over France in the women's soccer quarterfinal. Matheson, who started and was subbed out in the 69th minute, left the field with Canada up 1-0 on an impressive Sophie Schmidt goal in the 56th minute. Janine Beckie served a ball Schmidt's way across the six-yard box, and Schmidt redirected it mid-air inside the far post.
I think we'll stick around another week... on to the semis!!! #CanWNT #AFTA https://t.co/XcmO4L2ulG
— Diana Matheson (@dmatheson8) August 13, 2016
The win was a rematch of the 2012 bronze medal game in London in which Matheson scored the game's only goal in added time to get Canada its first Olympic women's soccer medal. Now, the Canadians will at least have the chance to play for that same medal, but a gold or silver is a possibility if Canada can duplicate its feat from the final group-stage game this past Tuesday and defeat the world's No. 2- ranked team from Germany. The semifinal is set for Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET in Belo Horizonte and will be televised on the NBC Sports Network.
Saturday, along with the three rowing alums in finals, rising senior Ashleigh Johnson will aim for a 3-0 group-stage record with the U.S. women's water polo team at noon against Hungary on NBC, and Katie Reinprecht '13, Julia Reinprecht '14, Kat Sharkey '13 and the unbeaten U.S. field hockey team will face Great Britain for the group title at 5 p.m. on CNBC before the knockout stage begins Monday.
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