After Oliver Bub was named to the USRowing Men's Senior National Team, where was his next destination?
Hanover, New Hampshire.
Only fitting for the 2020 Dartmouth alum.
Bub was named a member of the United States' eight on July 16 and by the end of the month, the crew was in Bub's old stomping grounds training for three weeks ahead of the World Rowing Championships, which are set for Sept. 3-10 in Belgrade, Serbia.
"I was pretty excited when I found out that we were coming up here," said Bub. "It's great weather and a special place. The rowing community is pretty big in the Upper Valley, so when we rowed by people on the water, they'd wave.
"I think the community was excited to have us up here too," he continued. "Everything about it was great."
After Oliver Bub was named to the @usrowing Men's Senior National steam, where was his next destination? Hanover, N.H. Only fitting for the 2020 @dartmouth alum.
Bub's road to this point has featured important steps along the way, which has led to breaking through in 2023.
"Post Dartmouth, I've always had ambitions to race at this level," he said.
It takes quite a commitment to race at Bub's level. Since junior year of high school, Bub thought getting to this point was a possibility. Over the winter, he teamed with rising Big Green senior Billy Bender '24 in the pair at Speed Order in Sarasota, Florida.
The duo finished third and with it, an invitation to the first men's selection camp.
Billy Bender (left) and Oliver Bub (right)
"We were in Chula Vista for that camp pretty much the whole month of May," said Bub.
"I performed well enough in selection camp one to get the invite to Italy, then raced in a pair, which was a great experience," said Bub. "The pair was a really deep field, getting to race against top-tier guys. We placed seventh and won the B final, which I thought was a good showing. We had three races and built on top of each.
"It was my first international experience since I raced in juniors in 2015," Bub continued. "It was a big step for me."
Now that he is a member of the U.S. team, one of the biggest goals for Bub and his crew is to qualify the United States eight for the Olympics.
"We have to get top five in order to qualify the boat and if we don't do that, then we'll have to go down another route," he said. "Obviously, there are exceptions and people have qualified in the year and done well at the Olympics, but generally, it's a harder path you have to go down."
Bub is excited, but also focused.
"It was initially excitement [to make the team], but pretty quickly, you realize there's a bigger task ahead," he said. "Now, all my focus is on heading out to Serbia and having a good result there."
The Olympics have been on Bub's mind, helping drive him to this point.
"After graduation, I went out to Oakland and have been training out there ever since," he said. "I was in the group vying for a spot on the Tokyo team, ultimately bounced around a little bit, missed it, was officially out of contention in April and then got back to training pretty quickly."
All along, Bub knew Paris in 2024 was a more realistic goal than Tokyo anyway.
Even though he has now made a men's national team crew, he never takes anything for granted.
"In sport and all things in life, you always have to prove your worth," said Bub. "You're only as good as your last performance. It's going to get thrown back to square one in the fall and we're going to pretty much do it again starting in January."
Bub brings a lot to the table now, and always has going back to his time at Dartmouth.
"I would hope my power and rowing technique are my top two strengths," he said. "Beyond that, I try to be a good teammate. I feel that's pretty important over a three-week selection camp. Everyone's good, everyone's strong, everyone rows well, but sometimes, I really think in the dog days of selection camp, being a high-energy guy and being someone people like to row with brings a lot to the table and ends up showing up in later stages of selection."
Dartmouth played a significant role on Bub's growth and development into the rower, and person, he is today.
"At Dartmouth, we have a really good culture in the boathouse," he said. "Guys really like to come down and work hard."
The culture Bub experienced was an increasingly strong one under Wyatt Allen, Betsy and Mark Gates 1959 Head Coach of Men's Heavyweight Rowing.
"The team wasn't in a great place before Wyatt got here," said Bub. "Hadn't really been performing well and Wyatt came in and a lot of alumni stepped up with boathouse renovations, which were completed my senior year.
Oliver Bub (left) with Dartmouth head coach Wyatt Allen (right)
"It was great to see the program grow, and I was able to grow with it," Bub continued. "Towards the end there, we had a really good culture and you could see everyone who visited from other teams, or if recruits came in, they were impressed with what we had built here."
Bub played an important role in the Big Green's growth as a program.
"Oliver was one of the first higher-profile recruits we landed here in my time a Dartmouth," said Allen. "He took a real leap of faith on us. More importantly, he was a leader in a class that moved the team forward in significant ways in their four years and set new standards for classes that have followed. I am incredibly grateful to Oliver for all that he's invested in the program."
Bub's college career was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"A lot of the guys on the team, including myself, were in denial," he said. "We didn't want to believe the season, and in some cases careers, were actually over.
"I came into Dartmouth knowing it was going to be a bit of a rebuilding project," Bub continued. "I wanted to achieve more than we did in the end, in terms of results and placing at Eastern Sprints or IRAs, so I felt like I missed an opportunity to show what we could have done our senior year, especially my senior class.
"I felt like the program had a lot of momentum heading into the spring."
Despite that momentum being thwarted from the pandemic, both Bub and the Big Green have rebounded in a strong way. While Bub is headed to the world championships, the Dartmouth men's heavyweight program has enjoyed consistent success over time, constantly in or around the top five nationally.
"It was good to see how the program held strong through the pandemic and obviously, the results immediately after were historic from the program," said Bub. "It showed that the program was in a good place when we left and that culture allowed it to stay strong through the pandemic."
It all came full circle for Bub this summer, as he found himself back at Dartmouth.
"Oliver is a grinder when it comes to training and it's always been clear that he loves rowing," said Allen. "It's been great to watch him leverage these qualities to make such big strides in the three years since he graduated.
"He has earned every bit of his success."
"It was awesome to be back," said Bub. "I really don't think there's a better place to train in the country for rowing, especially in the summer, than Dartmouth."
Men's Heavyweight Rowing at Eastern Sprints Post Race 5-18-25Men's Heavyweight Rowing at Eastern Sprints Post Race 5-18-25
Wednesday, May 21
Men's Heavyweight Rowing Lake Morey Invitational Post Regatta Interviews 4-27-25Men's Heavyweight Rowing Lake Morey Invitational Post Regatta Interviews 4-27-25
Sunday, April 27
Big Green to Paris: Billy Bender and Oliver BubBig Green to Paris: Billy Bender and Oliver Bub
