24 Jun 2025
June 2025: Jacob Plihal
ROWER OF THE MONTH – Last summer, Jacob Plihal became the first men’s single sculler to race for the USA at an Olympic Games since Kenneth Jurkowski in 2012, eventually finishing 13th overall. He started the 2025 season in the same good form, winning silver at the 2025 World Rowing Cup in Varese. He is the Rower of the Month.
How did you get into rowing?
I used to do baseball, basketball, soccer. Those were kind of my things. I was doing baseball my second year of high school, went to swing the bat, my back foot didn’t pivot as the hips came around, and I dislocated my knee.
I had to go and get surgery to get that repaired, a lot of rehab. The surgeon connected me with a physical therapist in my home town, I went to see her, and she recommended that I get into rowing. She was on the masters team at the local club.
I was like ‘no, it’s a stupid sport, I don’t want to go splash around in boats and wear spandex, I want to get better for basketball season, I’m tall, I’ll be good’. But there was structural damage in the knee so I had to limp around on the basketball court and realise maybe there’s something else to try.
I had some friends on the team as well and we had a pretty good heritage of junior national teamers and what-not. So I joined up after basketball season my third year, junior year. And from February 2013 on I’ve been rowing.
Did you enjoy rowing when you finally got into it?
By then basketball was fun, but a little bit lacklustre. I’m someone who enjoys being outside more, so the moment I set foot in a boat and started rowing it was a great experience and tons of fun, and I was hooked. From day one I really fell in love with it, and there was a great group of kids and great coaching.
As a collegiate rower at Northeastern you raced eights, but internationally you’ve always sculled. What do you enjoy about sculling?
The club I started at in juniors was mostly sculling-based, so that’s what I grew up on. I found that I really enjoyed that a lot more. University was fun, getting in eights and the kind of ‘rah-rah’ mentality you get with that. It was a lot of fun and I appreciated it, but always in the summers I wanted to get back into small boats, just change of pace, it’s a little bit quieter and more on yourself and your teammate or a smaller group.
I tried out for the U23 selection camp in sweep in 2016, didn’t make it, and then I was like I’ll try for sculling for the US. We didn’t have a very good track record at the U23 in quads, which I went and did a couple of times, and that was a bit disappointing, but I’m a bit stubborn at times. I was like ‘I think I can do this, I’m just going to keep pushing towards it’. It’s been a long process but getting better every day.
You had to go through the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne to make it to Paris. What did it feel like crossing the line in a spot that booked your Olympic ticket?

It was all a bit surreal. I had tried to make the US men’s eight the year prior in 2023, and I was one of the last guys cut from that squad. We knew that Ben (Davison) and Soryn (Koszyk) were going to be pretty fast in the double; they had a pretty tough Worlds but were quite likely to qualify.
Trying to put a quad together, that was my initial plan. I went and did the quad selection and had a pretty bad camp – I was the first guy cut. Then I hopped around in the pair a couple of times with a couple of people, a couple of those were good. The guy I was going to row with, Billy Bender, he opted to row with Oliver Bubb.
So I was like ‘great, the single, here we go’. I wasn’t expecting much. I thought that if I could win the trials that would be a good step, and then based on seeing where I was at the Pan-Am Games the year prior in the single, the people who were there and at the worlds, I thought I could be in the mix for the A-final in Lucerne.
The mantra was the final’s always free, so hopefully I can get there and we’ll see what I can do. I had a pretty good regatta and was able to make it to the final and have enough juice left. Crossing the line in a tight almost photofinish with Mihai (Chiruta) of Romania was pretty surreal. I thought my dream was over getting cut from the quad.
What was Paris like for you?
It just felt like icing on the cake going to Paris. Not having the pressure of this is a priority crew and you have to medal – that’s the goal obviously, but I didn’t quite expect to be there in the first place. Obviously there’s nerves and stuff, it’s the Olympics, but I felt for the most part like I was just going to see how fast I can go.
Unfortunately had a bit of a tough break in the quarterfinal but was able to bounce back and have a decent C/D semi, and C-final which I think has the American record now. So silver linings and things to build on.
It’s been exciting to race the single this year and kind of have a full-circle moment and build on what I started last year.
What have you learned?
Just being more honest in my training and using the training zones, and being really rigid with that, and trying to focus all of my training into what’s going to make the boat go faster versus this is something we just do in rowing because it’s what we do. It’s been restructuring my mentality about how to approach training.
And then just the confidence that I’ve done a 6:41 in a single, I’ve set that standard for myself. It seemed like it was so far away timewise, but now it’s like if there’s good water and a good wind why can’t I be doing that and go faster. It’s just unlocking and opening that door and changing the standard you hold yourself to.
What is your favourite session – on or off the water?
I guess I’d be inclined for a steady state. I really like racing, and race-pace stuff is fun, but I enjoy one race. So especially if there’s somewhere super-scenic just to be able to go row for a really long time and get into a groove and see some beautiful scenery or nature, that’s great.
I grew up in a place where you’d see porpoises sometimes when you’re out rowing, or seals would follow you around, so definitely pretty spoiled with that.
Where is your favourite place to row?
Lucerne’s up there.
Vashon Island, Washington, it’s where I’m from. We have a cool harbour and when the wind’s really calm you can go and row around and there’s all these pine trees and little houses and buoys and boats and things. It’s a maritime environment.
My coach back home would make little fun races and obstacle courses out of it. It’s a super-special spot and a lot of natural beauty there.
What’s on the erg playlist?
Usually more chill. For interval sessions, something more upbeat, but people who go German bass or heavy rap or whatever on a steady state, it’s a bit too much for me. I want to keep it nice and relaxed, so alternative indie music, or classics, disco, instrumental music.
Who has inspired you?
A lot of people through the career. I can remember back in high school watching a lot of Mahe Drysdale, and then in college I had Croatian roommates, and they were like the Sinkovic brothers and Damir Martin. They’ve been inspiration to me, they have great training camp videos.
Then for single sculling I’d say (Ondrej) Synek or Kim Brennan – Kim Crow. She rows phenomenally and rows the single really well, and has a great technical model.
If you weren’t a rower, what would you have been?
I studied architecture at University and I think I’d have found something in that field – or design-related. It’s a hobby I have.
What’s the best piece of advice anyone has ever given you?
Last year one thing that was a bit profound was that the place I train, the Craftsbury Green Racing project in Vermont, my coach Steve is from there and he rowed with John Graves who was another single sculler for the US. He went to Lucerne in 2021 before Tokyo, and I was asking him last year ‘what did you learn from this process?’
The long and short of it was don’t take anything for granted. Nothing you do in training is going to guarantee you a place on the podium or whatever it is on race day. He told me ‘I was getting really good numbers in training leading up to it, and I couldn’t get it done when I needed to’.
I think just being able to respect that race day’s different, and people find an extra gear. Nothing you do ahead of time guarantees anything you do on the day. Keeping that in perspective and always going out and giving it your all.