Senkute Earns Bronze at 2024 Paris Olympics

ORLANDO – UCF history was made on the water at the 2024 Paris Olympics, as a tandem of Varsity Knights competed in the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad. UCF rowing’s duo of Viktorija Senkute ’18, competing for Lithuania, and Julie Poulsen ’20, teaming up with Denmark, can now boast a title that very few can wield. They will forever be known as Olympians.

Our Olympians ❤️💚 #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/b2Y6dV92fm

— UCF Rowing (@UCF_Rowing) August 3, 2024

Senkute, competing for Lithuania, earned a bronze medal for her performance in women’s single sculls, marking the first Olympic medal by an individual athlete that played a sport at UCF. It is the second medal performance by a Varsity Knight, joining Michelle Akers ’89, who won a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta with the United States’ women’s soccer team. Overall, Senkute was the third Knight to win a medal, joining Phil Dalhausser ’02, who earned a gold medal in beach volleyball at the 2008 Beijing games. Dalhausser attended UCF but did not play a UCF sponsored sport in his time in Orlando.

UCF was one of 13 NCAA rowing programs to have multiple Olympians in Paris this summer and one of 23 schools to be represented on the water. Overall, 50 former NCAA rowing athletes competed in Olympic regattas this year.

Senkute started her Olympics in the best way possible, recording the fastest time out of all 32 competitors in the women’s single sculls heats with a time of 7:30:01. That momentum carried over into the quarterfinal where she again finished first to advance to the semifinals. The Lithuanian finished second out of six in the semifinal race, qualifying her for a shot at a medal.

The medal race saw Senkute jostling for position on the podium. Through the first half of the race, she was trailing third place by about two seconds and sitting in fifth of six scullers. At the 1500m mark, she was just one second behind a medal spot. The final 500 meters saw her crank up the pace, finishing with a time of 7:20.85 to earn the bronze.

Senkute is one of just 27 Lithuanians to ever medal at the Olympics and is the only one in Paris so far to earn hardware.

Poulsen now boasts a trifecta of outstanding accomplishments, earning All-American nods, an Order of Pegasus award and now can say she is an Olympian after competing at this summer’s games. She was a part of Denmark’s women’s four crew in Paris, who finished fifth in their heat, sending them to the repechage round. The boat nearly qualified for the medal round, missing the cut by just over two seconds. In their final race of the Olympics, Denmark’s coxless four finished second in the Final B race, posting a time of 6:36.43.

One of the most decorated Knights in school history!

⚔️ All-American
⚔️ Order of Pegasus
⚔️ Olympian

So proud of you, Julie! #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/ORbnPCurFJ

— UCF Rowing (@UCF_Rowing) August 2, 2024

Senkute and Poulsen were teammates at one point at UCF, overlapping during the 2017 and 2018 seasons. The duo rowed in the same boat, powering UCF’s Varsity Eight to back-to-back first place finishes at the American Athletic Conference Championship. The Knights’ run of five straight AAC rowing championships from 2015 to 2019 had at least one of the two Olympians on the roster.

The UCF rowing duo are two of three total Varsity Knights who participated in the 2024 Paris games, with women’s soccer’s Sarai Linder competing for Germany in women’s soccer. A total of six Olympians or Paralympians in this summer’s events are from UCF; more details can be found here.