Multiple Big Green Connections Punch Ticket to Summer Olympics in Paris

HANOVER, N.H. — On Sunday morning, current senior William Bender of the men's heavyweight rowing team, along with Dartmouth alum Oliver Bub '20, qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France by winning the men's pair at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Team Trials held in Sarasota, Florida. They join women's rowing alum Molly Reckford '15 who is headed back to the Olympics for the second time in the lightweight women's double sculls.

Additionally, recent men's lightweight alum Cooper Tuckerman '23 won this weekend's Olympic trials in the lightweight men's double sculls and will now shift focus to the qualification regatta May 19-21 in Lucerne, Switzerland, with the chance to move on to Paris.

Reckford will be reunited with Michelle Sechser for Paris after finishing fifth in the event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. They also won silver at the 2022 World Rowing Championships. Reckford will be competing on her fifth national team.

At the midway point of Sunday's men's pair final, Bender and Bub stood fourth, but they surged ahead over the final 1,000 meters, finishing with a time of 6:54.64 — almost three seconds ahead of second place (6:57.37). This past summer, Bender and his pair partner Evan Olson finished fifth at the World Rowing Championships to qualify the boat for the Olympics, allowing Bender and Bub to qualify directly for Paris with Sunday's victory. Bub was on the men's eight that competed in last summer's world championships.

Meanwhile, Tuckerman and his partner Sam Melvin took an early lead and wouldn't look back. They led by 2.6 seconds 500 meters into the race and four seconds at the midway point. Their final time was 6:48.50, to earn a trip to Switzerland in just over a month and the opportunity to move onto Paris.

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