While most of the focus is on the gold-medal aspirations of former Huskies at the Olympics, one former member of the women’s crew team earned a gold of her own with the US Under-23 National Team at the World Championships in Bredenburg, Germany last month.

Senior Katherine Glessner worked her way back from a right shoulder injury that caused her to miss all of the 2007-08 season to compete with the under-23 team. The United States rowed a 6:35.98 time to finish ahead of Poland by 3.71 seconds. Germany finished third, 5.75 seconds behind the lead time.

Glessner said she was surprised she was able to work her way back into form in time for the World Championships.

“I thought I was just going to see how I stacked up,” she said. “I had been training on my own all year, but not with the same intensity as at camp.”

Glessner rowed in the seven seat for the team en route to winning her second career gold medal at the Under-23 Championships. She had previously won with the US team in 2006.

She credited the training she underwent at the US camp for bringing her back to her established level, and said it was one of the most intense training camps she had ever taken part of.

“Camp was the most exhausting experience of my life,” she said. “It put me back into shape. It was great.”

Glessner also said that once she was back in shape, she quickly shook off the rust. She said it was easy to transition back into competitively rowing.

“I’m really competitive, I love racing more than anything,” she said. “Yeah, it was World Championships, but it was still just like any other day. It’s kind of like a bike – you never really forget how to ride.”

Glessner made two first team All-New England squads in 2006 and 2007 in her career at Northeastern, and made it as a second-teamer in 2005. She was also an All-American in 2006 and 2007, and was voted Outstanding Varsity Oarsman in 2006 and team MVP in 2007. She said she plans to row at the Princeton Training Center next year.