In the first Paralympics to race the full 2000 meter course - note that the results show new Paralympic best times in every event, although racing at Worlds has been done at 2000m, so these are not necessary world's best times - Friday morning's heats predict intense battles for the medals on Sunday.
Despite some fairly broad margins overall, parsing the various heat times and strategies based on split times, and there is still a lot to be sorted out come finals time Sunday morning.
The rivalry between the US and GB para fours continues, and it might be one of the most unheralded rivalries in the sport, with the US chasing GB for the last couple quadrennials. Great Britain had the faster time today, although as noted above, neither crew was pushed too hard in their respective heats, so the A final on Sunday will be the first time we see their true speed.
(Quick reminder that Japan is 13 hours ahead of Eastern time, so Saturday morning is Friday night and Sunday morning is Saturday night in the US.)
"Great racing this morning by all crews," US four bow seat Allie Reilly told row2k after the racing. "Really psyched to be back on the starting line again after such a long time away. We got the job done today and are looking forward to some fast finals."
"I think it went well," three-seat Charley Nordin told USRowing after the racing. "It's a dream come true to have the opportunity to race at the Paralympics. There were a lot of fast crews out there and it was an honor to get to race against them and show our best.
"It's encouraging to go out and put good speed down. We're looking forward to the final. I think we're pretty happy with how things went and just going to stay focused, stay relaxed."
The GB crew mentioned the challenges of the cross headwind, and were clearly not holding back today.
“It was a tough one,” said GB stroke Ollie Stanhope, whose father Richard won Olympic silver in the stroke seat of the GB eight in Moscow 41 years ago. “In the crosswind it was a little bit tough but we dealt with it well and in the end we put a pretty good margin through the French to the ‘k’ and went from there.”
GB coxswain Erin Kennedy concurred.
“That was one of the hardest 2ks I’ve done in a couple of years, just because the crosswind was really challenging," she said. "The crew managed really well. We had each other’s backs all the way and put the performance down that we needed to do.”
James Fox, the GB crew's only Rio Paralympian, noted the long wait and uncertainty in the past year and a half.
“It’s incredible. At points this Olympiad we didn’t think we’d be here at all,” he said. “We hold ourselves to incredibly high standards, which means the last five years have been brutal, especially the last two. But I guess that’s why we do performances like we’ve just done and will hopefully do on Sunday.
The US mixed double of Laura Goodkind and Russell Gernaat led the field off the line, so are showing top end speed, but ultimately finished fifth.
"We had a plan to go out early and go to the bridge and see where everyone was sitting," Gernaat said after the racing. "We were in the heat with Great Britain, we knew that they're the fastest boat out there.
"We've got a big race tomorrow because we want to try and make the A final and we're looking forward to being able to do that--squeeze our way in there," Gernaat said.
US men's single sculler Blake Haxton - who will also compete next week in the Canoe Sprint Paralympics - placed fifth in his heat and will race in the reps tomorrow (tonight).
"It was tough heat and there was plenty of speed for sure," Haxton wrote to us after the race. "I wasn't thrilled with my row but all things considered it wasn't a bad race and I'm moving on to focus on the rep. Ultimately it was a fairly unremarkable race, just a tough result and the only thing to do is get up tomorrow and go after it."
In the women's single, US sculler Hallie Smith placed sixth overall and will row in the reps tomorrow.
"It was great to compete again after not racing for two years, especially given how difficult the last year and a half has been," Smith said.
The day was not without controversy:
Nor was it without some color and music:
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