Cinnaminson Olympic Rower in Medal Contention

The Olympics started out with a first-place finish for Cinnaminson rower Steve Kasprzyk, whose eight-man crew remains in medal contention for rowing.

The Americans handily won their preliminary heat on Saturday, logging a 5:30.72 finish over competitors Australia (5:32.43), Poland (5:35.64) and Ukraine (5:38.02).

NBC Olympics has Kasprzyk’s race available to view online.

Men’s eight crews had two heats on Saturday. Germany outpaced the U.S. in its heat (5:25.52), putting them in first and the U.S. in second heading into the finals. Germany hasn’t lost this event on an international stage since 2009, according to U.S. Rowing.

While Germany and the U.S. have an automatic ticket to the final, Great Britain, Australia, the Netherlands, Poland, Canada and Ukraine will compete in repechage races to determine who else will vie for a medal.

The repechages are scheduled for July 30, with the finals on Aug. 1 at 10:30 a.m. (that’s 5:30 a.m. locally). You can set an alert for the race through NBC’s Olympic site.

Rowing events are taking place at Eton Dorney Lake in Buckinghamshire, about 45 minutes outside of London.

and a graduate of Holy Cross High School. He’s one of at the London Games.