Olympic qualification a ‘big relief’ for Grosse Pointe South grad Sorin Koszyk

GROSSE POINTE PARK — For Grosse Pointe Park native Sorin Koszyk, an Olympic qualification was more of a ‘when’ rather than an ‘if.’

Teamed up with Florida native Ben Davison, who rowed collegiately at Washington University, Koszyk knew an Olympic bid was at the edge of their oars.

A 13th place finish at the 2023 World Championships, two spots shy of an Olympic qualification, may have been a cloud over the duo’s head for a moment, but it set the table for a photo finish at the 2024 World Rowing Final Olympic & Paralympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Motivated by the missed opportunity months ago, Koszyk and Davison placed first in the men’s double sculls final to punch their ticket to the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

“I think we were just pretty relieved that we qualified,” Koszyk said. “We missed the qualification mark at Worlds in September, so we’ve just had that sitting over our heads for the past however many months. Just to get that and solidify that is a big relief.”

Koszyk and Davison have been partners together for over a year now after Koszyk’s partner retired and Davison was tearing up the singles scene at California Rowing Club, where both train in Oakland, Calif.

Both would continuously finish top-2 in singles for the club, and Koszyk said they figured they might as well give a doubles partnership a shot.

It’s always a roll of the dice anytime you team up with someone, especially when it’s two heavyweights in their respective sports, but Koszyk said it was a positive impact immediately for the two.

“We’re just pretty much on the same page with how we approach training and our mentality when it comes to how you prepare, how you race, and how you approach the sport,” Koszyk said. “I think we’re pretty aligned there, so it makes it pretty easy to work together.”

A 2016 Grosse Pointe South graduate, Koszyk was dominant as a junior rower, winning six Club National Championships with Detroit Boat Club, three Midwest Championship titles (two in 2014 and one in 2016), and winning various gold medals in the process.

Picking up the sport in 2013, Koszyk knew he had a passion for the sport immediately, but in regard to his talent, longtime rowing coach and founder of Detroit Waterfront Rowing Association Renee Adams said his talent was clear as day.

“He was very, very determined, and he’s also very quiet,” Adams said. “He’s deliberate with what he says, but he’s very sincere in what he says. He’s very, very focused. From the very beginning, I could see national team and Olympics for him. That’s what he wanted and that was his goal, and he wasn’t going to be deterred.”

Koszyk’s rowing career took him to Cornell University where he was a two-time Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Champion, two-time IRA Crew of the Year member, First Team All-Ivy, and Ivy League champion before graduating in 2020.

Hoping to elevate his rowing career, Koszyk moved out to Oakland, California, and joined the California Rowing Club, a high-level rowing club that offers the ability to train year-round with the California weather, and Koszyk credits the move for where his career is today.

“I definitely think going out to CRC in Oakland was probably the biggest development step for me just being with all the top male athletes in the sport out there and just training with that group shows you what the level is and then you can train to that level and compare yourself to the best people in the country,” Koszyk said. “It helps knowing where you’re stacking up and where you need to go.”

With the Olympics a little over a week away, Koszyk is currently training in Italy before departing for Paris on July 22. The men’s doubles sculls heat is currently slated to compete on July 27.

Before then, it’s been all about training for Koszyk.

“Every week, it’s around 250,000 meters per week, so that’s like 1,000-1,200 minutes of actual moving exercise per week, and you just do that all year basically,” Koszyk said. “You don’t have any periods off. You get a couple weeks after the World Championships to not train and then you have to do it every day, twice a day, or sometimes three times if you have a weight session. It’s a lot of mileage you row in the morning with an hour and a half to an hour and 40 (minutes) of moving time, and you’ll get about 20,000-24,000 meters. The afternoon is usually on land, so we’ll do another 90 minutes on the indoor rowing machine, and that’s 20 to 24k. We’ll do two to three lifts a week on top of that, so it’s pretty much a full-time job. You’re probably spending two hours in the morning and two to three hours in the afternoon.”