Last Updated: 24.Aug.2014

Racing has begun in Amsterdam at the 2014 World Rowing Championships, with two boats representing the US and Craftsbury coming to the line in the heats. Craftsbury is representing the US with Josh Konieczny in the men's lightweight double, Kyle Lafferty in the men's lightweight quad, and coach Dan Roock overseeing the men's heavyweight quad of Ben Dann, John Graves, Steve Whelpley and Peter Graves.

Josh Konieczny is back in action with Austin Meyer in the lightweight men's double after winning the Holland Beker regatta at the same course and taking fourth place at the second World Cup in France. The lightweight double is one of only two Olympic-class boats for the lightweight men so competition is very tight, with a full progression of heats, repechages, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals in an event as widely contested as at the World Championships. Josh and Austin had to place in the top four of their heat to advance to the quarterfinals. While in third place off the line the duo quickly chased down a fading Spanish crew and maintained a 2nd place position for the remainder of the race, finishing 2 seconds behind the winning Great Britain crew. Josh and Austin will next race in the quarters on Wednesday.

The men's heavyweight quad of entirely GRP rowers was next to the line, looking to build off their impressive third-place finish at the third World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland. The crew was second off the line through the first 500m, but would fall into third place behind a strong Russian crew and a surging entry from the Chinese who would win in a time of 5:39.6, ahead of Russia in 5:40 and the US in 5:46. Neither of these countries were at the third World Cup and could prove to be strong competition. The quad has a chance to regroup in Tuesday's repechage and continue on to the A/B semifinals. 

Racing continues tomorrow, with Kyle Lafferty racing in the men's lightweight quad that has been training out of Boston. Find full results for all of the World Championship racing here, and be sure to check the Craftsbury website, facebook page and twitter feed for more info as well. Go Green and go USA!

Also, a bonus video of the heavyweight quad training from Steve Whelpley here.