At the end of the 2016 season, Megan Kalmoe was a three-time Olympian who had a London bronze medal and 2015 World Championship to go with a basket of other international podium appearances.
Over the last nine seasons, Kalmoe had done enough on the United States women's team that she should have been able leave the sport feeling content with her accomplishments. She didn't. Her final race in the women's quad, a fifth place finish in the Rio final, just wasn't enough.
"Coming off Rio, the result was pretty disappointing for me personally and for everyone in the boat, and I didn't feel satisfied," Kalmoe said. "I didn't feel like I had closure after that and I thought of what my options were."
One option would have been to get right back into training and to see how see she felt by December, to see if maybe she wanted to keep going. "I thought, I'm not out of shape yet. I'm still relatively healthy for my age and the miles that I have put on my body; I might just start training and see how things go.
"I thought if by December I'm miserable, I can always stop and not be too far down the road that I had to commit to anything." She was anything but miserable, and on Monday morning 10 months later, Kalmoe and pair partner Tracy Eisser won their opening heat of the 2017 World Rowing Championship to advance directly into the final.
As a bonus, the pair was able to race the heat in front of a home crowd for the first time in either of their international careers.
"It was really exciting coming down the course and hearing the grandstands," Kalmoe said. "That was maybe the first heat in a world championships that I could actually hear the grandstands, and it was pretty awesome."
Kalmoe and Eisser were one of seven US crews to begin competition in their events on Monday, including the women's pair of Ellen Tomek and Meghan O'Leary, who won their heat in the women's double and advanced to the semifinal.
The lightweight men's and women's quads, the women's four, the women's quad, the men's double, and Felice Mueller, rowing in the women's single for the first time in a World Championships, did not advance from their heats and will have to race in the reps to move on.
"That was intense," said Jillian Zieff, who was stroking the light women's quad. "It's all of our first time at world championships. It's surreal. But, first race down. Now, we've got to do what we've got to do to be in the final," she said.
"We've been in this boat for about eight weeks. Every day we had a strong game plan for sure, I think we just had a little too many extra nerves going on. It's good to get it out of the way."
In the men's single, Michael Clougher won his repechage and moved into the quarterfinals.
As it was for Sunday's opening day, the weather in Sarasota was challenging. The bright Florida sun, temperatures in the 90s, and stifling humidity levels made for uncomfortable racing conditions. Most crews came off the water and headed right to ice baths in a corner of the venue.
Women's Pair
The US pair of Kalmoe and Eisser have had a solid season in the women's pair, having won the event at the National Selection Regatta and placing second in two World Cup events. Off the start and through the first thousand meters, they raced behind Denmark, trailing by as much as a small patch of open water before grinding back in the third quarter to take the lead, finishing with a nearly three second advantage.
Coming into the last quarter of the race, Kalmoe and Eisser were greeted by several busloads of local elementary school kids who were enthusiastically cheering them on.
"It was really exciting and a lot of fun to line up and know that we're in our home country," Eisser said. "That makes it feel different from previous years. We could hear the crowd in the last five hundred, thinking they were cheering for us, even if they not all cheering for us.
"We're really happy that we were able to execute the race that we wanted and it got us into the position that we wanted, but we always take the approach of just trying to have our best race, and if we get to move on, that's great and if not, we get to race again. More practice is not necessarily a bad thing."
Women's Four
Another of the US training center's new crews, the women's four led the field through most the heat, but fell short in the last 500-meters and finished second to Australia. With only one crew getting through to the final, the US will have another chance to advance Wednesday.
"I thought it was a good start of our time here," said Molly Bruggeman. "We've been working a lot on the rhythm, but we haven't been together long so it was a great first piece. We have a lot to build on off of that, and we look to have a great rep and a great final."
Men's Double
Ben Davison and John Graves won senior trials, but that was the first time they have raced together, and Monday was their first international race in the double. They raced in third place the length of the course and missed qualifying for the semifinal. They will race again in the Thursday rep.
Davison grew up in Inverness, FL, and raced in on the Sarasota course through high school and again at Olympic Trials last year. But even he was struck by how hot it was.
"It's really just a bit of a shock to your system, because the minute you come outside you're just uncomfortable and your body just doesn't cool down. There is no really getting used to it.
We did a lot of things well in the race," he said. "There were definitely some things to improve on, but it was nice to get that first one out of the way to see where you stand and where you could improve. We ended up third, just out of second. It was tight, but we know where we can switch the profile of the race to get faster."
Women's Double
This is the fifth year that Ellen Tomek and Meghan O'Leary have represented the US in the double, and is their fourth World Championships. Their highest finish together has been sixth place in both 2014 and 2016 in the Rio Olympics. So far in 2017, they finished sixth place at World Cup III in Lucerne.
Monday, Tomek and O'Leary raced from third into first and won with the fastest time of all three heats.
"This is our fifth year together, and we've made so many steps and so much progress individually and as a crew that I think we are putting everything together this year," O'Leary said. "It's felt like we have turned the corner, and we're excited to put that to racing.
"We've found our stride, a really good stroke, and we're just converting that and being relaxed and doing what we know we are capable of doing. We're proud of the way we executed. Everyone in the field is going hard and fast, and we'll look to bring the same kind of relaxation and focus for the semifinals."
Women's Single
Felice Mueller is racing the single for the first time in her career, having switched out of sweeping following a fourth-place finish in the pair in Rio last season. She raced in Lucerne at World Cup III where she finished fourth and then came home to take the US Senior Trial in August. Mueller finished third Monday, and with only one sculler advancing, she will race in the Wednesday reps and aim for a place in the semifinal.
"I don't think I had a great race, but I think there are some good parts of it that I can build on," she said. "I've got reps on Wednesday and there are some really great people going to the reps, so that is going to be a big and exciting and fun race to try and take down."
Notes from the Course
Shortly before racing started, one of the announcers was doing air guitar to A/DC; you've been…
The ref crew seems to be doing static refereeing at this regatta, with a referee's launch stationed at each 500 meter mark that enters the course as the crews go past, slowly crosses the course to survey each crew in its lane, and then heads back to its original post.
The kids cheering for the USA burst into cheers and applause at every mention and every appearance on the Jumbotron of US crews, but with a slight and charming lag; for example, as the US women's pair edged into the lead, the kids were watching the Jumbotron closely, but it wasn't until the split times were posted with the US in the lead that they burst out in cheers. It wasn't only US crews that the kids were cheering on, however; when races weren't on, they were cheering on everyone who rowed past. Rowing doesn't get enough of that, and it was great to see.
Each day, attendees can qualify for a prize drawing at the end of the day; today's prize was a shirt signed by the US women's pair of Tracy Eisser and Megan Kalmoe – good thing they won! Conditions were decent. For sure.
There was a three-boat lightweight men's race on the schedule, characterized as a "Test Race;" in the end, only two boats showed up. However, there are six boats entered in the light men's four, so the Test Race is apparently a voluntary race for these final-only crews, which only two of the six chose to row. We asked FISA about it, and even they didn't really know what it was all about; hopefully there wasn't also a "voluntary" weigh-in involved as well.
Speaking of weigh-ins, the athlete erg area is super-air-conditioned, and has signs on the doors that say "do not take ergs outside" - it's like the opposite of "Don't feed the lightweights." If the athletes in the ice baths aren't sure the water is cold enough, they have rubber ducky thermometers that show the water temp; most were around 48 degrees.
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