Shortly before the women's pair semis at the world championships in Amsterdam last year, I was having a casual conversation with Charley Butt, and as we broke it off he said "I'm heading over to watch the best crew in the world." He was talking about the British women's pair of Helen Glover and Heather Stanning, a crew that has not lost since 2011.
In the semis, the US crew of Felice Mueller and Elle Logan posted a nearly identical time to the GB pair, and despite having only a few month together instead of a few years, the crew went out today to give it a go.
The British definitely got the memo, though, and put together a blistering first 500 to soar out into the lead, chased by the US and New Zealand. The Kiwi pair won bronze last year, and were able to sneak through to grab silver this year, with the US just behind for bronze. US stroke Elle Logan was well aware of the quality of the field, and reveled in being part of it.
"You have to work so hard every day when you can’t see the competition, and even at home when we’re competing with some of the best in the world on our team," she said. "That’s why it’s been so exciting (to row the pair). We both love it so much, and we’re so happy that we have the opportunity to race in it."
"We worked on sticking to what we have been working on, and we've made some really good steps forward in the past couple months, and that's really exciting," Elle Logan said. "I love rowing with Felice and getting better as individual rowers and as a boat. Sometimes you have to try different things to get better, and I'm proud of us for doing that. We made such good improvements in a short time, and that’s really exciting for us. Sometimes it doesn’t always show, but all that matters is that we know it."
Mueller also relishes racing the pair.
"This event is my favorite event," she said. "I’m so excited to be here. I’ve raced in this boat quite a few times but to be here for the best women in the world and having Elle as my partner, it’s just an unbelievable experience. "
The US women are pretty accomplished in pairs, having sent fleets of them to World Cup races in the past, and I asked if the crew what it was like having to race against their teammates all the time.
"We're definitely not always the fastest," Logan said with a smile. "I think there are quite a number of boats that could be here in the final from the USA. right now, in combinations that probably haven’t even been tried yet."
It sounds like that might be hard to handle?
"No, it's the most fun part of it," she said.
Editor's note: an earlier version of this story referred to the NZ W2- winning silver at the 2014 Worlds; NZ actually won bronze, and the USA W2- of Simmonds/Kalmoe captured silver. We regret the error.
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