San Diego Athletics

After a long and decorated tenure on the US Women's National Team, four-time Olympian Megan Kalmoe has joined the Women's Rowing staff at USD. Now in her second season coaching with the Toreros, Kalmoe brings a wealth of athletic experience to the USD program, having herself used Mission Bay as a training base for a portion of her athletic career. 

Kalmoe started her career as a walk-on at the University of Washington, where she went on to become an All American and Captain for the Huskies in the 2005-2006 season. She made her first US Team in 2005, capturing a gold medal in the BW4- at the inaugural U23 World Championships in Amsterdam. Following graduation, Kalmoe made the move to Princeton, New Jersey to train with the US National Team, and began the longest tenure at the USRowing Training Center in team history, during which time she rowed on twelve senior National Teams. 

Kalmoe made her first Senior team in 2008 in the W2X finishing 5th at the Beijing Olympic Games. She went on to compete in the W2X in 2009, and then moved to the W4X for the next four years, winning a silver medal at the 2011 World Championships in Bled, Slovenia and an Olympic Bronze Medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London--the first ever Olympic medal for the United States in that event. In 2014, Kalmoe made her international sweep debut in the W2- winning a silver medal in Amsterdam and setting an American record. She returned to the W4X in 2015 and won World Championship gold in Aiguebelette, France--another first for the US in that boat class. For her efforts and versatility in the 2014 and 2015 seasons, Kalmoe was awarded the USRowing Athlete of the Year award in back to back seasons as voted by her teammates and coaches, along with the USRowing Woman of the Year Award in 2015. 

Kalmoe returned to the W4X in 2016 and finished 5th at the Rio Olympic Games. Kalmoe finished her international career rowing in the W2- for the duration of the Tokyo Olympic quadrennium, finishing with a World Silver medal in 2017 in Sarasota, Florida, and finishing 4th in 2019 in Linz, Austria. She placed 10th overall in the W2- at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021. Wrapping up her career in Tokyo, Kalmoe became the first American rower (male or female) to compete in four Olympic Games. 

Since retiring from elite sport, Kalmoe originally resisted the call to coaching, instead looking for other ways to stay connected with the sport. She spent two years working with the San Diego Crew Classic -- a beloved local rowing regatta held on Mission Bay that is a cornerstone event of the Torero spring racing season. She also travels the country providing professional rowing commentary for premier collegiate rowing events including the Sarasota 2k, the Jefferson Dad Vail, Longhorn Invite, Rocky Top Invite, Big 10 Championships, Big 12 Championships, Women's Sprints, EARC Sprints, and the IRA National Championships. She also provided expert rowing commentary for the 2024 Paris Paralympics. 

Now that she has taken a seat behind the megaphone, Kalmoe hopes to create pathways for more female athletes to pursue personal and competitive greatness through their time as collegians at USD. "It has been a dream of mine to find ways to contribute to the community that has given so much to me as an athlete," says Kalmoe. "Rowing found me as a walk-on with absolutely no idea how much the sport would or could change my life; I want future generations of women to have access to experiences like the ones I've had. It's also really important to me that women who have the opportunity to coach, do it. I was so lucky to have female coaches throughout my NCAA and elite careers, and not all female athletes do. USD offers an incredible professional opportunity for athletes to work with an entirely female staff, and as a coach that's pretty cool too." 

A native of St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, Kalmoe earned BAs in English and Latin from the University of Washington in 2006. She lives in San Diego and enjoys hiking, paddle boarding, cycling, knitting, doing the NYT Crossword, and letter-writing in her spare time. She has two cats, Cormac and Seamus.