US Women's Olympic LW2x
About the campaign
Please consider helping the USA Women's Olympic Lightweight 2x not only get to Tokyo but be in a position to compete for the medal podium! These women have shown a tremendous resolve. Their individual stories are awesome and as they have teamed together and their journey with Coach Casey Galvanek of Sarasota Crew is one that can make the entire country proud to have them represent us. A recent article from Rowing News shares a bit about their magical story. Please also read a little about their most recent experience racing in Switzerland where they punched their final official ticket to Tokyo (with a emphatic win we must add!):
Our trip to the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne was a success! Thank you so much to everyone who supported us as we trained and raced for a chance to compete in Tokyo. Despite a weather-condensed racing schedule, we kept our focus on rowing "one stroke at a time" and won each round of racing on the Rotsee.
Michelle reflected that the final "was a really hard race. It was great with the amount of competition – people launching sprints – because when the Olympics are on the line, everyone just throws everything they can. It was really awesome to feel the power of our boat respond immediately to the attacks the field was launching without any sort of nervousness or hesitation." Molly agreed, adding that "this is why I row – moments like this, races like this."
With this amazing race experience behind us, and our tickets to Tokyo in hand, we are now focused back on training and getting ready for the Olympics in July. We have returned to Florida and will keep training in Sarasota with coach Casey Galvanek until we all head to the Olympic training center in Chula Vista, CA in mid-June for final preparations.
We are extremely thankful for the support you've given us along this long road to Tokyo. It takes a massive network of friends, family, and supporters to achieve dreams this big. Contributions to this campaign will directly help us offset the costs of travel and our pre-Olympic training camp at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center.
Thank you for being with us on this journey to the Olympics
**4/12-15 Update** 4/12-15 we headed up to Princeton, NJ to race the open weight W2X Olympic Trials to test out our speed against the fastest scullers in the USA before heading out to race in Lucerne, Switzerland. After 5 hard-fought races over 4 days, we placed 2nd out of 16 boats; finishing in a close 2nd place to 10-time National team and 3-time Olympian, Genevra Stone, and her partner Kristi Wagner. This race experience was invaluable to us as we move into our final 3 weeks of training before the Olympic Qualification Regatta.
It was fantastic to receive so many cheers and notes of encouragement throughout the race week from our Sarasota Crew community. Your direct support through the LW2X fundraiser will help offset costs incurred for travel, accommodations, and equipment. Thank you! Go Crew!
We are so grateful for everything that the Sarasota Crew community has done for us. Training in Sarasota was the ideal environment to get us ready for trials: we had gracious host families, friends and training partners to push us, a beautiful 2k course, and a wonderful city to call home-away-from-home. We are excited to keep training under Casey Galvanek's coaching and getting faster! 
As we probably don’t have to tell you, the support of the Sarasota Crew community was critical to our success to date. We look forward to proudly representing you and the USA as we engage competitors from around the world at the Olympics in Tokyo. We’d very much appreciate any financial assistance that you can provide.
Thank you,
Michelle and Molly
