Pieter Quinton brings home bronze for Portland with US men's eight rowing team

The U.S. men’s eight rowing team is coming back home with a bronze medal from the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, a group that includes Grant High School alumnus Pieter Quinton.

The Americans advanced straight to the final out of the qualification heats when they posted the top time of all heats at 5 minutes, 29.94 seconds.

In the final, the U.S. was able to improve that time to a 5:25.28, but the issue was Great Britain and the Netherlands improved by more.

The Brits crossed the line in first with a time of 5:22.88 and held the lead for most of the race after them and the Dutch were even through the first quarter of the race. The Netherlands held on at the end for silver with a time of 5:23.92.

While it’s not the gold medal Quinton and his crew came to Paris hoping to win, bronze is still an important step for the men’s eight. It’s the first podium finish for the men’s eight since a bronze medal in the 2008 Beijing Games.

Quinton, 26, at his first ever Games is bringing home a bronze for Portland though, and now he’ll bring some always important experience to the next four years to try and turn that bronze into gold when Los Angeles hosts the Games in 2028.