PARIS — Sorin Koszyk '20, one of two Cornell rowing alums participating at this year's 2024 Olympic Games, earned a spot in the semifinals of the men's double sculls after placing third in the first of three heats on Saturday morning at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.

Koszyk and his crewmate Ben Davison finished behind tandems from the Netherlands and New Zealand, who also qualified for Tuesday's semifinal races. The Dutch duo registered a wire-to-wire victory behind its time of 6:14.13, while the New Zealand crew (6:16.41) edged the Americans (6:16.48) by seven-hundredths of a second.

"It's good to get racing under our belt," Koszyk told USRowing. "We've only raced internationally at World Cup and World Championships, so it's another chance to go down the course with the noise and distractions and stress. We'll definitely use it to our advantage.

"Things have been going well. We have been able to put in a lot of good training, a lot of miles between the qualifier and now," Davison added. "We kind of saw today as our last training day. We needed to qualify today and go fast on Tuesday. That's going to be a tough semifinal."

The American duo got off to a slow start in the opening 500 meters, posting a time of 1:32.49, which was fourth out of the five crews in the heat.

Despite its slow start, the Americans used a strong surge in the next 1000 meters to go from fourth to second place heading into the final 500 meters, jumping ahead of Serbia and New Zealand.

In the race's final quadrant, the Americans relinquished second place to New Zealand, who rowed a time of 1:34.01 that was the best of all five crews. Koszyk and Davison finished 88-hundredths of a second ahead of the Serbian pair to solidify the automatic bid to Tuesday's semifinal.

MEN'S DOUBLE SCULLS — HEAT ONE RESULTS
1. Netherlands (Melvin Twellaar and Stef Broenink) — 6:14.13
2. New Zealand (Robbie Manson and Jordan Parry) — 6:16.41
3. United States (Sorin Koszyk and Ben Davison) — 6:16.48
4. Serbia (Martin Mačković and Nikolay Pimenov) — 6:17.36
5. China (Liu Zhiyu and Sulitan Adilijiang) — 6:29.70

UP NEXT
Koszyk and Davison will race on Tuesday in one of the two semifinals in the men's double sculls. Races are scheduled for 5:10 a.m. ET (11:10 a.m. CET) and 5:20 a.m. ET (11:20 a.m. CET).

Lane assignments will be determined following the conclusion of Sunday's repechages, as the top three crews will also advance to Tuesday's semifinals to determine the 12-crew field.

MEN'S DOUBLE SCULLS SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Sunday, July 28
Repechages — 10:20 a.m. CET (4:20 a.m. ET)

Tuesday, July 30
Semifinals A/B — 11:10 a.m. CET (5:10 a.m. ET) and 11:20 a.m. CET (5:20 a.m. ET)

Thursday, Aug. 1
Finals — 10:42 a.m. CET (4:42 a.m. ET)

CORNELL ROWING AT 2024 OLYMPICS SCHEDULE
Sunday, July 28
Michael Grady '20 - Men's Four Heat — 1:00 p.m. CET (7:00 a.m. ET)

Tuesday, July 30
Koszyk — Men's Double Sculls Semifinals — 11:10 a.m. CET (5:10 a.m. ET) OR 11:20 a.m. CET (5:20 a.m. ET)
Grady — Men's Four Repechages — 11:40 a.m. CET (5:40 a.m. ET)

Thursday, Aug. 1
Koszyk — Men's Double Sculls Final — 10:42 a.m. CET (4:42 a.m. ET)
Grady — Men's Four Final — 11:06 a.m. CET (5:06 a.m. ET)