Seattle – Washington Rowing, along with Windermere Real Estate, will welcome the Italian national team and the University of Wisconsin men’s and women’s crews to the 38th annual Windermere Cup, scheduled for Saturday, May 4, 2024.
The Italian men’s team will be participating in the Windermere Cup/Opening Day Regatta for the third time. In 1989, the third year of the Windermere Cup, Italy won the men’s race, beating second-place UW, as well as teams from New Zealand and California. In 2004, the Italian Men’s Eight finished third behind UW and Navy.
Italian women have only competed once in Seattle, in 2004, when they finished second behind UW and ahead of UCLA in a highly anticipated race. Wisconsin will be making its first appearance in the Windermere Cup.
“With the recent release of the film “Boys in the Boat,” we hope to get Italy into this year’s Windermere Cup and set the stage for a rematch of the 1936 Olympics, where the Huskies and Italy fought for the gold medal. We thought it would be interesting to have a silver and a silver, respectively,” said Jacobi, an alumnus and president of Windermere Real Estate. “We can’t wait to celebrate the iconic matchup between these teams and the University of Wisconsin and our championship tradition.”
Italy won its first Olympic medal in rowing at the 1920 Olympics and has been a regular in the upper echelons of international rowing ever since. At the 1936 Berlin Games, he won the gold medal for the United States in a thrilling men’s best-of-eight final depicted in the book and film The Boys in the Boat, and UW his team followed with a silver medal. It was the Italians who won the. The Italians narrowly defeated the hosts, Germany, who finished in third place.
Although the two programs have had a long relationship, this is the first time the Wisconsin men and women will compete in the Windermere Cup. The Badgers’ men’s varsity team has won seven Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) national championships and the James Ten Eyck Memorial Trophy (overall points) 15 times, second only to Washington’s 17. There are many
The Wisconsin women’s team has qualified for the NCAA Championship 17 times, most notably in Washington, where Huskies head coach Yasmin Farouq is a former Badgers captain. He coached the U.S. women’s top eight in his 1992 and his 1996 Olympics and is also a member of the Wisconsin Track and Field Hall of Fame.
”of course My dream is for the two UWs to meet in Montlake.” Said Washington women’s head coach Yasmin Farooq. ”Yes, IThis is a preview of our future together big tenbut it’s deeper than that. Wisconsin coach Vicki Opitz is a fellow Olympian. washington and wisconsin women They were teammates on eight Olympic gold medals in 1984.There’s a lot of history between these program, can’t wait to welcome them To the Windermere Cup.”
“The University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin have a long history of competing against each other,” said University of Wisconsin men’s head coach Michael Callahan. “In fact, this year’s race gives the Huskies and Badgers the opportunity to compete for the ‘W’ trophy once again, as we have done for many years.
There are only two Italians on Wisconsin State’s current roster. Giulio Acernese is his two-time gold medalist at the Under-23 World Rowing Championships. This is newcomer Matteo Bergeri, the 2022 Under-19 World Rowing Championship gold medalist. Among several other Italian men who rowed at UW are two-time Olympian (men’s 8th place in 1992 and 1996) Roberto Branda.
In recent years, several Italians have played key roles in Washington’s women’s program. Chiara Rooster, a 2020 Olympian, finished eighth in strokes on the Huskies’ 2017 NCAA champion varsity team. Carmela Pappalardo and Valentina Iseppi have both won multiple NCAA gold medals, and both made it to the Varsity 8, where they came from sixth place to win the 2019 NCAA Grand Finals. Iseppi finished fourth in the women’s quad at the Tokyo Olympics and is training for Paris.
The annual spring boating event at the Montlake Cut is held in conjunction with the Seattle Yacht Club’s Opening Day Parade, which marks the start of Seattle’s boating season. The entire event is a joint venture between Washington Rowing, Seattle Yacht Club and Windermere Real Estate, with Windermere serving as the title sponsor of the major racing event.
“The film The Boys in the Boat has reignited interest in the 1936 Blues team and it’s great to be able to take the Italian team to the Windermere Cup this year. ,” Callahan said. “Italian rowers have a reputation for their mental strength and grit, and Italy is one of the countries most committed to the success of its national rowing programme.”
“Over the years, we have been fortunate to have some excellent Italian all-female players on our team,” Farouk said. “All of them were excellent racers who knew how to “throw it all out” over 2,000 meters.. Women’s rowing in Italy is on the rise. MMore Italian women are competing at world championship level every Year. we will be pRepaird For an epic raceAnd we’re thrilled that Husky Nation will be lining both sides of the cut to cheer on the Dawgs!”
On the Friday night before the opening day regatta, all Windermere Cup crews compete in the annual Twilight Sprint, a race from the traditional Montlake Cut finish line to the east end of the Montlake Cut.
The Washington women’s team placed second at last season’s NCAA Championships and finished in the top five at the national championships for the eighth year in a row. The men’s team also placed second at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships, which they won the title two seasons ago.
Further information will be announced regarding other opening dates and Windermere Cup-related events, including the annual ‘Party at the Cut’ on Friday night.
Windermere Cup history and information
The Windermere Cup began 37 years ago in 1987 when Windermere Real Estate founder John Jacobi partnered with the University of Washington to create the annual rowing event. They wanted to bring the best team in the world to Seattle’s Montlake Cut (then in the Soviet Union). The event was one of the few athletic competitions for the Soviet Union in the United States in the 25 years since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis strained relations between the two countries. The Soviet Union entered both male and female crews and won both races convincingly. A precedent was set for this event, which subsequently became one of the world’s premier rowers and a staple of Seattle’s rowing community.
The University of Washington men’s team has won the Windermere Cup in 27 of 36 attempts, and the University of Wisconsin women’s team has won 26 of 36.
This year’s event marks the 53rd running of the opening regatta, which has included the Windermere Cup for the past 37 years. The 2024 event will feature a number of events in his week leading up to race day. Seattle Yacht Club’s opening day parade through the Montlake Cut takes place immediately after the races. Details will be announced at a later date. For more information, please visit www.windermerecup.com.