WEST WINDSOR, N.J. -- Tracy Eisser qualified for her second straight Olympic Games with a dominant showing in the pairs race with Megan Kalmoe of Washington, winning Saturday's finals by more than six seconds on Mercer Lake.

Eisser competed in the quadruple sculls in 2016 for Team USA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She becomes the fourth Cornellian and second rower to qualify for next month's 2020 games in Tokyo, Japan.

Eisser and Kalmoe won by open water after being pushed in the first half of the race and crossed the line in a time of 7:06.27. It is Kalmoe's fourth Olympic appearance. The duo were part of the same quadruple sculls boat in 2016. 

"Knowing that there's no guarantee that we were going to get there – to me it felt worth it because it's the thing I'm most passionate about," said Eisser about focusing on the pair. "I knew going in, pursuing this 100 percent, no matter what happens, I would be okay with the outcome if we won or if we didn't. Obviously, if we didn't win, I would be sad, but I made the choice knowing what the risk was and just saying, 'Okay, this is what I really want to do. This is where my heart is, and I'm just going to go after it."
 
The duo is no stranger to the pair, having won a silver medal in the event at the 2017 World Rowing Championships and then finishing fourth at the 2019 World Rowing Championships, qualifying the boat for the U.S. for Tokyo. Today's victory allowed them to claim the spots they secured for Team USA nearly two years ago.

Eisser joins wrestler Kyle Dake '13, triathlete Taylor Knibb '20 and rower Michael Grady '19 as Olympic participants for 2020.

* Portions of this release taken from USRowing.org