Rowing | 9/1/2019 10:51:00 AM

OTTENSHEIM, Austria. -- Three Buccaneers represented their home countries at the 2019 World Rowing Championships this week in Ottensheim, Austria. Sophomore Janika Koelblin won a bronze medal in the lightweight pair for Germany while sophomore Alejandra Alonso competed in the women's single sculls for Paraguay. Former Buccaneer rower, Virginia Díaz Rivas finished fifth in the pair for Spain, securing automatic qualification to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
 
Koelblin sat bow seat in the Germany lightweight pair behind partner Marie-Christine Gerhardt. The crew took third in the preliminary before taking home the bronze medal in the A Final with a time of 7:37.72 behind the United States (7:32.64) and Italy (7:34.20). This year marked Koelblin's first time competing at the World Championships, having earned a silver medal in the same event at last year's Under 23 World Championships in Poznan, Poland.
 
Alonso represented Paraguay in the single sculls, competing against 36 other countries – the second-highest entry number of any event this year. She finished fourth in both her heat and repechage, then third in the semifinal to advance to Final F. She took second in her final with a time of 7:58.21, finishing 32^nd worldwide.
  
Díaz rowed from stroke seat of the Spain pair with Aina Cid, winning the heat with a time of 7:13.12 to advance directly to quarterfinals where they took second in 7:13.08. They finished third in their semifinal (7:03.16) behind Australia and Canada to secure their spot in Final A. They finished fifth in their grand final (7:38.14) behind New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United States, securing automatic qualification for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.