SARASOTA, Fla. - The summer of medal-winning performances continued for the Navy Crew program as heavyweight rower Andrew Knoll (Greenback, Tenn.) raced to a silver medal at the 2019 World Rowing Under-23 Championships. Competing as a member of the United States' men's eight boat, Knoll and his American teammates battled their way to a second-place finish behind Great Britain in the Championship Final of their respective event.

Part of a five-day World Rowing Under-23 Championships at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota-Bradenton, July 24-28, Knoll suited up in the bow seat for the Americans alongside Justin Best (Drexel), Chris Carlson (Univ. of Washington), William Creedon (Univ. of California), Madison Molitor (Univ. of Washington), Sam Halbert (Univ. of Washington), Daniel Miklasevich (Brown Univ.) and Andrew Gaard (Univ. of Washington). Woods Connell (Yale). served as the coxswain of the U.S. M8+ crew during the championships. 

One of nine countries competing in the event, the United States started off strong with qualifying heat victory on July 25. Matched up against the Netherlands, Canada and Hungary, the Americans won their heat with ease with a time of 5:44.400, over four seconds ahead of the Dutch at 5:48.970. Canada and Hungary rounded out the contest with respective times of 5:54.760 and 5:59.060.

Automatically advanced into the Championship A-Final on July 28, the United States' boat broke out early as part of a fast pack of three. The crews from Great Britain (1:21.300) and Romania (1:23.330) held slight advantages over the Americans at the 500-meter mark as the United States finished the first quarter of the race at 1:23.410. Over the next 500 meters, the United States (2:46.910) overtook Romania (2:48.580) and settled into second place by the halfway point. Trailing the British crew by 1.94 seconds at that checkpoint of the race, the two boats kept that similar margin down the stretch over the final 1,000 meters as Great Britain held off the United States by 1.91 seconds, 5:34.300 to 5:36.210. The Netherlands surpassed Romania over the second half of the race to finish third with a time of 5:36.360.

Knoll is a three-year varsity letterwinner with the Midshipmen and has been a member of the team's first varsity eight boat during all three of his years rowing for the Naval Academy. A veteran of the international rowing scene, Knoll raced at the 2018 World Rowing Under-23 Championships in Poznan, Poland as part of the United States M4- crew.

Results
Under-23 Men's Eight Championship Final
Great Britain - 5:34.300
United States - 5:36.210
Netherlands - 5:36.360
Romania - 5:40.190
Germany - 5:46.570
Australia - 5:49.910