'Expect pretty much anything' would be a good motto for a Beach Sprints Championships...and maybe more apt--given the quiet rollers in the Harbour here today--than the "Wave Maker" logo on the backs of the vests that the officials and vast multitude of volunteers are wearing.
Interestingly, the 'anything' list is not even topped by weather, though there was a good soaking rain to give visitors to Wales their money's worth today...and there will be lots more "money's worth" in the rain and wind department Saturday.
No, 'anything' includes hopping into a shared hull, bouncing on the surf, grabbing your handles from a coach or teammate, and then heading out on a course you've never really seen and trying to navigate buoys set maybe an hour before, in shifting currents you didn't get much practice in and--here in Saundersfoot--doing all of that as the tide recedes over a good 1000+ meters.
(Case in point: in the afternoon's post-tide-resetting session, the start line was well past the spot crews had raced out to and turned at just a few hours before.)
Given all of that, the most important attribute of the champs who will emerge here after two more days of racing might not be ergs scores or even the technical proficiency of their stroke, but rather their ability to roll with the challenges of the unpredictable...to ride the waves, as it were, both actual and circumstantial.
For Team USA, the result so far had the coaches feeling like the squad was in better shape than last year, with a similar number of crew advancing as last year in Portugal--the US fielded 8 crews last year, but this year is entered in all nine events--but doing so in a stronger positions overall.
By the end of the day, the only US rower with work to do in terms of moving on was Cassidy Norton, in the Women's Single, who can come through tomorrow's second-chance time trial to advance. The only US crew out of the running was the Mixed Double of Elizabeth Hinley and John Olbrys: penalized on a morning row that would have put them in a good spot to advance, the extra time added--10 seconds--dropped them into the 2nd Time Trial Round, which they did not get through. They took 9th where only the top 8 moved on, so their Sprints are done.
Going Straight On: CJW2x-1st, CM1x-1st, CJM2x-2nd, CMix4x+-4th - And an Interview with Annalise Hahl
There were outright round one wins in the opening Time Trials by the Junior Women's Double of Annalie Duncomb and Annalise Hahl, and by Beach Sprints veteran Christopher Bak in the Men's Single. The Junior Men's Double--Malachi Anderson and Gary Rought--took second in their first go against the clock, and all three earned spots direct to the next round of their event.
The win in the Junior Women's Double, which happened early in the morning session, was a good start for both the crew and the USA, which did not even enter the event last year. In addition, the crew had to be reformed after Trials when Britt Wotokovich, who won all three of the events she entered at Trials, made the determination that she would focus on the two events she raced last year.
Into the lineup stepped Annalise Hahl, a four-year flat water rower who is having a blast at this, her first beach rowing event. We spoke to her today about her new role in the crew (as well as about meeting Princess Anne when the Princess Royal, a member of the IOC, toured the venue today)--a visit you can read about here.
row2k:
Tell me a little bit about meeting the princess.
Annalise Hahl:
It was great. She's very kind. She talked, and is great at making small talk; we talked about how we all got into rowing.
row2k:
She's an Olympian herself so I would guess has an interest in sport. Tell me about your race this morning; could you tell it was going really well.
Hahl:
It started out a little hectic, with the sun right on the buoys it was a little challenging. I could not see the first buoy so I'm very thankful that our coach was there guiding us. We felt great. So that was my first coastal race ever so it went great for that, and we got in a really good race together.
row2k:
How long have you been rowing and what inspired you to try coastal?
Hahl:
I've been rowing for about four years, all flat water. Britt qualified all the boats but couldn't race all of them, so I was asked by my doubles partner, who had seen how I'd done in other flatwater. I was totally down because it's such a cool opportunity, and this sport is so much fun.
row2k:
What would you say was the hardest or craziest thing you had to learn making the switch?
Hahl:
For me, it's just the chaos of the race. The fast paces and how many different aspects there are to it instead of just rowing a straight line as fast as possible. You've got the sprint to the boat on land, you've got the transition into the boat, and then the turning. Especially the turns, I practiced for about a week on just turning the boat.
row2k:
And you do the finish sprint, right?
Hahl:
Yes, I bow the boat. I like bowing the boat - I like being in charge of turning - but it did take me a long time to figure out how to get out of the boat efficiently. I did fall on my face once during practices, but we figured our way out of the boat.
Where a top time trial result advances you depends on the number of entries: the doubles earned a trip straight to the quarterfinals, while Bak "just" gets a really good seed for the next round in his event: a 16-sculler bracket that will set the 8-man quarter-finals
Bak's win in the single--a gritty charge in a downpour--was his second good go of the day: in the morning, he rowed bow in the new-look USA Mixed Coxed Quad as they put up the fourth fastest time to earn a spot in the Quarter Finals. As the bow man, Bak was on 'jump out and sprint' duty in that race as well, and he got the biggest US crew off to a good start with both the row and the run--taking the baton, as it were, from Peter Choi, the coxswain who takes his own beach sprinting--and footing--pretty seriously to get his crew off the beach and into the race.
In the Quarters tomorrow, the USA will face Eqypt, who got through the Repechage round with a win over strong Germany that had some "anything" happen at the start (see above) and never recovered (for that story, see our Notes from the Beach below)
On Through The Reps: CJW1x, CJM1x, CJMix2x
Britt Wotokovich and Brian O'Leary added to their "most experienced US coastal juniors" resumes today: after solid rows in their singles and together in the Junior Mixed Double, they had to work through the Repechage round to book quarterfinal spots in all three events. That saw each of them rack up the meters today, with four races apiece, which is a busy day considering that their Quarter, Semi, and Medal Finals in the Singles are all scheduled--in a row--tomorrow. Both are just two day events here at Beach Sprints, while the Mixed Double final rounds are set for Sunday.
(By the way, that quarter final through to the medals gauntlet is no joke here: in less than an hour, all eight races will go through, one after the other: four Quarters to set the final 4, two Semis to set the finals and then an A Final for gold and silver, and a B Final matchup to determine the Bronze, whew!)
To get through, both Wotokovich and O'Leary needed all of their savvy as beach sprinters and returning medalists.
Afterwards, as he looked back over the day after Wotokovich and O'Leary came through in the singles against Canada and Portugal, USRowing's Dan Garbutt said he was impressed by the USA's youth rowers here. "Very seasoned," he said, "and their skill level is showing through."
Notes From The Beach
Calling the Plays - The US coaches have laminated "quarterback sleeves" on their arms so they have--at a glance--all the info they need to quickly set the feet and any other adjustments each athlete needs in the quick turnaround between the crews sharing the hulls in a given event.
Got your Seat Bag - we mentioned it yesterday, but having your own seat is a thing, and we saw one team with a whole bag of them on the beach today.
Slalom, Literally - When they say slalom, they mean it: we saw more than a few crews straight up murdering the knockdown buoys. The Swedes, in particular, attacked them like they were skiing a downhill slalom.
Hold My Beer, Coastal-Style - In a close Mixed Quad race with the Swedes, the Italian coxswain took one look at the margin coming into the beach, did some quick calculations about the footspeed of his bow man, and opted to jump out himself for the sprint. He caught his own bow man and made it close, but Sweden still took the win.
And, About That German Quad... - So, what is the German Word for "Forgot to Move the Trolley" anyway? The Germans, who even have a word for internal boat strife, as we learned at the Racice Worlds when the Men's Double withdrew for Bootsinterner Differenzen (see notes here for more on that), might need one for what happened to their Mixed Quad today. When the coxswain jumped in, the crew and boat handlers realized the trolley was still under the shell, which careened of course to free itself and had to the wrestled back onto its line with some epic and heads-up steering. The bonus turns though, likely cost them their close race against Egypt, who advanced and will face the USA in Saturday Quarterfinal.
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