Connecticut's Sara Hendershot to Row for a Medal Early Wednesday Morning

Early Wednesday morning, Simsbury native Sara Hendershot and rowing partner Sarah Zelenka will participate in the Women's Pair final race for a shot at earning an Olympic medal. The race will take place at 11:50 a.m. in Great Britain, or 6:50 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Hendershot and Zelenka took a close second place finish in their heat on Saturday topped only by Great Britain to the surprise of the rowing world.

The pair's time of 6:59.29 earned them an automatic spot in the six-boat final on Wednesday. The British team of Helen Glover and Heather Stanning came in first with a time a 6:57:29, an Olympics best. The world record for the race is 6:53:80.

The pair will be competing in Wednesday's final event against British pair Helen Glover and Heather Stanning, Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown of Australia, Kate Hornsey and Sarah Tait of New Zealand, Kerstin Hartmann and Marlene Senig of Germany, and Georgeta Andrunache and Viorica Susanu of Romania.

The U.S. Olympic Rowing team left for London on July 16 and Hendershot and Zelenka have been practicing at Dorney Lake every day since.

Hendershot has been keeping friends, family, and supporters up to date by blogging about her Olympic experience.

Hendershot graduated from in 2006 and graduated from Princeton University, where she majored in psychology, in 2010.

The 24-year-old got her start in rowing on the Farmington River in Simsbury where she rowed for the Simsbury High School Crew team.

Hendershot and Zelenka earned a spot on the 2012 U.S. Olympic team when they won the women's pair event during the Olympic rowing trials at Mercer Lake in New Jersey in June.