West Bend native Nick Rusher found himself on the podium Saturday morning in France after he won a bronze medal with Team USA in the men’s eights rowing competition. It’s USA’s first medal in the discipline since 2008.
The group took bronze with a time of 5:25.28 to reach the podium along with Great Britain (gold, 5:22.88) and the Netherlands (silver, 5:23.92) at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium. Only one of the eight competitors had previous Olympic experience, with Rusher among the newbies.
At the 1,500-meter mark, the US and Netherlands were virtually even in second place, but the Dutch were able to extend their lead in the final stretch of the 2,000-meter race.
Other members of the team include Clark Dean (who missed the podium in Tokyo), Henry Hollingsworth, Christian Tabash, Chris Carlson, Peter Chatain, Evan Olson, Pieter Quinton and coxswain Rielly Milne.
Rusher, 25, attended high school in New Hampshire and then rowed at Yale University, but he considers West Bend home. His parents rowed in the 1988 and 1992 Olympics and met while they were on the national team. His sister, Alie, rowed in the Tokyo Olympics.
He’s the first native Wisconsinite to win a medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Alev Kelter, who attended the University of Wisconsin, won bronze with Team USA in rugby sevens.
— Chase Goodbread contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: West Bend’s Nick Rusher wins bronze medal with USA rowing
