Bradford Woods product Michael Grady is headed toward a spot on next year’s U.S. Olympic rowing team.
Grady, 23, is one of 24 candidates for 14 spots among the eight, four and pair that will compete next summer in Tokyo, USRowing men’s coach Mike Teti said.
The team will be announced in June.
Alex Miklasevich, of Forest Hills, a former Central Catholic teammate of Grady, also is a candidate.
Grady and Miklasevich have been practicing at the USRowing Training Center-Oakland in California.
“Both are doing well (and) will have many opportunities to make one of these boats,” Teti said.
Teti said USRowing will send a group to the FISA World Cup Regatta in May in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Grady, in the first seat, and Miklasevich, in the fifth, were on the training center boat that won in men’s championship eights (13 minutes, 32.283 seconds) at the Head of the Charles Regatta on Oct. 20 in Cambridge, Mass. The regatta, raced on a 3-mile course, is the world’s largest two-day rowing event.
The boat edged a training-center entry whose lineup included seven senior national team members (13:32.350) for the title.
“It’s always fun to win, but our coach (Teti) noted that the boats were supposed to be even,” Grady said. “(A margin of 0:00.067) is as close as it can be.”
The 6-foot-5 Grady, a gold medalist in men’s eight at the 2018 World Rowing Under 23 Championships, has always wanted to make an Olympic team.
“It has been a goal since I started racing for the United States national team affiliates,” said Grady, a two-time junior national team member and former Cornell rower.
He enjoyed racing with Miklasevich, a member of two junior national teams and an ex-Brown rower.
“It’s so much fun (hopping) back into a boat again with a fellow Central Catholic Viking,” Grady said. “Every day is a competition leading up to the national team selection date.”
Grady, a 2019 Intercollegiate Rowing Association All-Academic Team heavyweight honoree as a senior at Cornell, plans a career in business.
