PLOVDIV, Bulgaria – The Navy rowing program was well represented this past week at the 2023 World Rowing Under-23 Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. With three current and former Midshipmen in action over two events, Navy rowers came away with gold medal-winning performances from the men's lightweight pair of Mason Banks (Westport, Conn.) and Jackson Fuller (Winter Park, Fla.), and Lauren Day (Seattle, Wash.), who earned gold as part of the women's eight event.

Fuller graduated this past May after four standout seasons with Navy's first varsity eight lightweight crew, while Banks has joined him the past two years with the lights' top boat. Day has been a staple of Navy women's first varsity eight crew for three seasons.

Competing in a four-team final for the lightweight pairs division on Saturday, the American duo of Banks and Fuller broke out fast with an initial 500-meter time of 1:38.17 to lead Italy (1:38.95) and Serbia (1:39.20) at the checkpoint. Over the ensuing 500 meters, the U.S. pairing made a significant move away from the pack and crossed the midway point 3.51 seconds clear of the second-place Italians, 3:16.21 to 3:19.72. The margin between the two front-runners stayed in the 3.0 to 4.0-second range for the remaining 1,000 meters as Banks and Fuller cruised to a 3.8-second victory with a final time of 6:36.37, while Team Italy's pairing of Stefano Pinsone and Francesco Bardelli clocked in at 6:40.17.



Day and the women's eight crew rounded out the competition on Sunday with a near wire-to-wire victory in the grand finals. Racing from lane three, the Americans started the 2,000-meter contest stroke-for-stroke with Team Germany as both crews posted matching 1:32.03 split times after 500 meters. Similar to the above-mention lightweight pairs race, Team USA staked its claim to first place with a strong second quarter of the race and pulled ahead of Germany by 2.25 seconds by the halfway point, 3:04.34 to 3:06.59. Pacing the six-boat field, Day and her American teammates continued to stretch their lead out over the second half of the race and breezed across the finish line, 4.2 seconds the Germans, 6:09.14 to 6:13.34.

Day rowed from the second seat in the women's eight crew alongside Megan Lee (Duke), Hannah Heideveld (Rutgers), Mia Levy (Yale), Evan Park (Oregon State), Lale Edil (Oklahoma), Dahlia Levine (Brown), Olivia Vavasour (Brown) and coxswain Victoria Grieder (Rutgers).



In total, the U.S. won five medals over the weekend including two golds, one silver, and two bronze medals. The U.S. finished in a tie for third in total medals. This year's World Rowing Under 23 Championships featured more than 750 athletes from 51 nations.
 
Results
Lightweight Men's Pair Final (Banks/Fuller)
United States – 6:36.37
Italy – 6:40.17
Serbia – 6:48.26
Germany – 6:58.97

Results
Women's Eight (Day)
United States – 6:09.14
Germany - 6:13.34
Canada - 6:16.99
Great Britain - 6:17.05
Netherlands - 6:20.94
Italy - 6:25.48