ITHACA, N.Y. — Nick Potter '21 and Solveig Imsdahl '13 spent their college careers rowing the sheltered waters of Cayuga Inlet. This weekend, they will take on the waves of the Yellow Sea off China's east coast, racing for the United States at the 2026 World Rowing Coastal Championships in Qingdao beginning Sunday, Oct. 11.

Imsdahl, a former world championship silver medalist in the lightweight pair, is entered in two events: the women's double sculls (W2x) and the women's coxed quadruple sculls (W4x+). Potter, making his World Rowing debut, will race the mixed double sculls (Mix2x) with Tasha Mae for Next Level Rowing.

Both arrived in Qingdao on Thursday, Oct. 8, after a pre-championship training camp in Iwami, a coastal town in Japan's Tottori Prefecture.

Racing will take place at Golden Beach in Qingdao, a port city roughly halfway between Beijing and Shanghai. It is the first World Rowing Coastal Championships held on the Chinese mainland; the event began in 2007 in Cannes, France, and Hong Kong hosted in 2019.

Coastal rowing is raced on open sea or lake water in boats built for waves, and is one of the sport's fastest-growing disciplines. The endurance races cover at least 4,000 meters and include turns around buoys, with qualifying heats determining which crews advance to the 'A' and 'B' finals.

Six months ago, Potter had never raced a coastal boat. His introduction came at a demonstration during the San Diego Crew Classic this spring. He raced his first beach sprint event in Boston in late July and attended U.S. trials in early August.

Potter did not qualify for the Beach Sprint Finals, but he was eligible for the coastal endurance championships and ramped up his training for Qingdao. He and Mae are one of six U.S. entries in the mixed double sculls (CMix2x), and one of four racing for Next Level Rowing.

"This opportunity feels like a celebration of years of racing and training from the Charles to Cayuga Lake and beyond," Potter said. "I am glad to have the opportunity to represent the USA in international competition."

Potter competed against Mae at beach sprint trials in Boston. Mae represented Malaysia at the 2026 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, and she proposed the pairing as the two organized visas and flights for China.

A member of the Big Red heavyweight team from 2017-21, Potter kept rowing after graduation with Cornell alumni crews at the Head of the Charles and the Heineken Roeivierkamp in Amsterdam. He began training regularly again in mid-2025 with the Olympic Club in San Francisco, where he has logged 20 to 25 hours a week across 11 to 15 sessions over six days. He balances that load with his work at a real estate investment startup.

He has found an unexpected advantage on the open water. Potter grew up sailing on Boston's North Shore.

"Coastal rowing has opened up a whole new dimension of rowing for me," Potter said. "I now get the opportunity to apply my ability to read and ride waves and predict wind gusts and shifts to the sport of rowing."

Potter said the endurance races, which can take half an hour, call for a patient, paced approach and knowing "how one's body behaves at 2K when there might still be 4K left to go." He credited Cornell's fall head racing with preparing him for that.

"Fortunately, the fitness demands and training for coastal 4Ks and 6Ks are much the same as training for flat water 5Ks and 6Ks, which we raced in our fall seasons at Cornell," he said.

The camp in Iwami was organized by Next Level Rowing's Marc Oria in collaboration with the Japanese national team, which shared its equipment, facilities and water. Athletes have trained alongside Japan's beach sprint team and worked with coach Patricio Rojas Aznar on navigating crowded buoy turns.

"Training alongside so many talented rowers is a privilege which I will always be grateful for," Potter said of his time at Cornell. "The approach to training at school, and the requirement to train over the summer without as much formal guidance, taught me to be diligent about my training and, at the same time, to be curious."

Potter's goal in Qingdao is to advance from the qualifying race to the 'A' final and place as high as he can. With beach sprints added to the LA 2028 Olympic program, he is training with those Games in mind.

Imsdahl brings more than a decade of international experience to Qingdao. She will race the women's double sculls (CW2x) with Emma Tierney as one of four U.S. entries. She will also row in the No. 3 seat of the women's coxed quadruple sculls (CW4x+), one of two U.S. entries, with Jacqueline Carr at bow, Madeleine Focht at No. 2, Morgan Zahner at stroke and coxswain Natalie Cleri.

Imsdahl tried coastal rowing for the first time a year ago, drawn by a race in Boston that let her compete in a mixed double with her younger brother, Olav Imsdahl '17, a former member of the Big Red lightweight rowing team. Racing together had long been a dream of theirs.

"I love coastal because it combines all of my joys: rowing, beaches, adventure and unpredictability," Imsdahl said. "I enjoy the feeling of being able to prepare just like you would for a flat water race while also having to improvise and adapt on the spot. It makes me feel alive."

An American who grew up in Germany, Imsdahl was recruited to Cornell and rowed for the Big Red from 2009-13. The summer after her sophomore year, she attended a U23 camp because she loved sculling, and she made the team. She represented the U.S. at the 2011 World Rowing Under-23 Championships in the lightweight quadruple sculls and at the 2012 U23 Championships in the lightweight double sculls.

She returned to the international stage a decade later in the lightweight pair, winning silver with Elaine Tierney, the sister of her current double partner, at the 2022 World Rowing Championships and racing again with Elaine at the 2023 World Championships.

"I remember taking a moment at the finish line to be completely present and savor the feeling, because I knew it was a moment that couldn't be replicated," Imsdahl said. "That experience made me realize how important the story and journey is. It's not the medal or the race itself, but rather the community, acts of kindness and emotions that make a goal meaningful."

Imsdahl trains with the high-performance team at Penn Athletic Club Rowing Association in Philadelphia, mostly on flat water. Through Oria and Next Level Rowing, she attended coastal camps in Argentina last fall and in Colombia and Peru this spring. Away from the water, she runs a piano-lesson business for children, works as an artist and is a part-time project manager for a biotech company.

She recently learned to surf, which has helped her read swells in a coastal boat.

"It's important to know how to feel the ocean, observe carefully and always remember that we can't control or fight the ocean," Imsdahl said. "It's a very humbling interaction with nature."

Imsdahl's schedule in Qingdao is demanding. Her CW4x+ heats come Sunday and her CW2x heats Monday, and if both crews reach the 'A' finals, she will race twice Tuesday about 75 minutes apart.

"We'd like to be the first U.S. women's quad to medal," Imsdahl said of the W4x+.

"As I've gotten older, my goals have evolved from being purely results-based to more having to do with teamwork," she said. "Seeing a team operate in flow, with efficiency, clear communication and at max capacity is a fulfilling experience. It makes me feel like I'm part of something bigger than what I'm capable of as an individual."

"It was my first time being part of such a big group of women all training for the same seats in a boat," Imsdahl said of her time at Cornell. "It taught me how to work hard and push myself, and I learned how important teammates are in helping me push beyond my own limits."

Her advice to current Big Red rowers thinking about competing after college is simple.

"If you're thinking about it, then do it!" she said. "It's normal to feel pressure to follow traditional paths, but I can tell you from experience that paving your own path is very fulfilling and empowering."

After Qingdao, the two alumni will again share a boat stateside when Potter and Imsdahl race in the Directors' Challenge Mixed Doubles at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 17. They will be competing for Cambridge/Penn AC.

As of Friday morning, they have the fourth-youngest average age among the event's 50 entries, whose crews' average ages range from 18 to 74. Earlier that day, Potter will race for the San Francisco-based Olympic Club in the Men's Club Fours at 12:45 p.m.

"I am very glad to be at this camp with Solveig," Potter said. "She has been an inspiration as we forge through some heavy training, and I am excited to row together at the Head of the Charles!"