SARASOTA, Florida – Nine Golden Bears, both past and present will be competing against the world's best when the 2017 World Rowing Senior Championships begin on Sunday in Sarasota, Florida. Current student-athletes Joachim Sutton (Denmark 4-), Ferdinand Querfeld (Austrian 4-), Christoph Seifriedsberger (Austrian 4-), Rudolph Querfeld (Austrian 4-), and Natan Wegrzycki-Szymczyk (Poland 1X) will be competing for their respective countries alongside alumni Niki van Sprang '16  (Netherlands 2x), Marko Marjanovic '06 (Serbia 1X), Jordan Vanderstoep '16 (United States 8+), and Julian Venonsky '16 (United States 8+). Rounding out the Cal contingent is Golden Bears' head coach Mike Teti, who will be coaching the United States' Men's 8+.

The premier event of the 2017 international rowing calendar, the World Championships will be held from September 24 – October 1 at Nathan Benderson Park Lake in Sarasota, Florida. This is the first time since 1994 that the World Rowing Championships have be held in the United States.

Video streaming, audio commentary, and live race trackers are available on www.worldrowing.com. The single sculls and the men's four begin heats on Sunday morning with the double sculls beginning preliminary heats on Monday. Heats for the men's 8+ start on Tuesday.

Sutton, a junior from Denmark, will be racing in the men's four. A regular on the Danish national team, Sutton has competed in the Bears' varsity eight each of the last two seasons, helping the Bears  to an IRA title 2016. Sutton was named the Pac-12 Men's Rowing Newcomer of the Year after the completion of the 2016 season.

Senior oarsman Wegrzycki-Szymczyk will once again compete for Poland in the single sculls, an event in which he has had success at the international level. After winning the IRA Championship in 2016, Wegrzycki-Szymczyk competed in the single sculls at the Rio Olympics, winning the petite final to place seventh overall. Wegrzycki-Szymczyk was named the Pac-12 Men's Rowing Newcomer of the Year in 2015 and earned Pac-12 Men's Rowing Athlete of the Year honors in both 2016 and 2017.

The Golden Bear trio of Ferdinand Querfeld, Rudolph Querfeld, and Christoph Seifriedsberger will be competing for Austria in the four. Ferdinand Querfeld and Seifriedsberger competed in the Bears' varsity eight in 2017 and won gold together in the four at the 2016 U23 World Championships. Rudolph Querfeld is a freshman for the Golden Bears.

Van Sprang, a member of Cal's Class of 2016, will be competing in the double sculls for the Netherlands. A member of the Bears' 2016 National Champion varsity eight, van Sprang won silver in the quad sculls at the World Rowing Cup II earlier this summer in Poland, setting a new Dutch record in the process.
 
Marjanovic, who graduated from Cal in 2006, will also race in the single sculls for Serbia.  Marjanovic was a member of the 2006 Cal Varsity 8+ that won the Pac12 and IRA National Championships and has gone on to a long and successful international rowing career.  He raced at the 2012 Olympics in Row and then captured bronze in the first World Cup regatta this year in his home town of Belgrade, Serbia.

Two other 2016 graduates will also be competing at the World Championships as members of the U.S. men's 8+.  Venonsky will cox the red, white, and blue after coxing Cal's varsity eight to victory in the 2016 Varsity Challenge Cup at the IRA National Championships. A Pac-12 Champion and All-Conference selection that same season, Venonsky also guided the Golden Bears' second varsity eight to a first place finish at IRAs in 2014.

"Bering a Bear is the reason I am where I am today," said Venonsky. "I owe all of my success to my coaches and friends at Cal and I am beyond excited and proud to be a Bear representing the United States at the World Championships."

Vanderstoep brings a history of international success to the U.S. 8+, having captured silver in the eight at the 2015 Under-23 World Championships and winning the men's pair at the 2014 U-23 World Championship Trials. During his time at Cal, the Soquel, California product teamed up with Venonsky to capture gold in the second varsity eight at the IRA Championships as well as the Ladies' Challenge Plate at the Henley Royal Regatta in 2014.

Vanderstoep and Venonsky have had a familiar face guiding them, with Teti coaching the U.S. 8+. The first person inducted into the National Rowing Hall of Fame as both a coach and an athlete, Teti was a World Champion and three-time Olympian as a rower, and has served on the U.S. coaching staff at the World Championships and Olympic Games regularly since 1996. Teti will be back in Berkeley later this fall for his 10^th season at the helm of the Golden Bear program, having led Cal to a pair of Pac-12 and IRA championships in his tenure.

For results and more information on the Bears throughout the season, follow the team on Twitter (@CalMRowing), Instagram (@CalMRowing), and Facebook (Facebook.com/CalMRowing).