Two-time Paralympic medalist Dani Hansen won the PR3 Women's single at the Fall Speed Order, and we caught up with her after the racing.
Hansen, who has made seven national teams and won eight medals, took some time away from international flat water rowing after winning her second Paralympic silver in the PR3 Mixed Four in Tokyo, but has been staying on the water through her job at Hydrow and by racing at the 2022 Coastal Worlds. She and her Tokyo boatmates also did a reunion row at the Charles against the 2023 Para Four this fall, and she tell us that racing the Speed Order was very much a move to get back in the mix for her third Paralympic team.
You can watch row2k video here of Hansen racing the time trial.
row2k: Racing a single at Speed Order has not been part of the selection process for you and the teams you have been on, so what did you think of this opportunity being included for Para athletes this year?
Dani Hansen
The last time I tried out for the flatwater team was for Tokyo and there was some sculling involved. We had some seat racing that was done in doubles. But I do think that the program has been including more sculling because there's been a history where the abilities of para athletes have been underestimated, and I think that raising the standard by including sculling has actually been really positive for the team development overall.
row2k: How did you prepare for racing the single now that it is a part of the process?
Dani Hansen
I have a lot of resources, because I work for Hydrow, so I have co-workers and teammates who are used to being in the single regularly. So I was crowdsourcing information, asking, how do you prepare? What do you think about? What's the thing I should have in mind during the warm ups? Basically collecting information that I have from my resources was really helpful.
It was my first-ever 2k race and a single so that was a bit daunting for me personally, but I think I felt confident because I do spend a lot of time in that boat. So I felt confident in handling the boat but it was definitely a very new feeling for me to be racing 2k in a single. Even the polling of the boats at the start was new. I raced the Head of the Charles in the champ single in 2018, but that's very different, a different vibe. But the [Speed Order] was really fun. It was definitely daunting. I was definitely nervous, but it was a healthy nervous. It's good to be a little stressed out.
row2k: And how did the races go for you down the track?
Dani Hansen
The first day it was pretty windy for time trials. We were one of the last races of the day, so we had some of the worst wind of the day. I think everyone struggled with the conditions at least a little bit, but it did get worse throughout the day. So that was tough.
Then, keeping everyone's different disabilities in mind, depending on your disability, the cold weather, the wind, and the chop in the water can definitely affect the way we have to adapt to sculling specifically. I have Erb's Palsy, so it's really hard for my arm and my hand in cold weather and in wind and a chop. So the combination of the three was definitely tough to navigate, but I stuck to believing in myself: I will be able to figure this out instinctively, if something happens I know I can take care of it right away. You can't plan for everything out there, especially in that kind of weather, so you just have to trust yourself. That was a test and I liked that test, for sure. I think that all the athletes, able bodied and para, did a really good job handling those conditions.
Then on Sunday, I was the first race of the day so conditions flip-flopped for me and I was really excited about that. It was 33 degrees, very light five mile per hour wind, flat water. I was super happy to see the flat water, and I was able to keep the rate a lot higher for that race. I definitely know that I can increase my power which I'm excited about. I have long COVID as well, so my lungs were definitely impacted. There was a question of whether or not I could actually show up this weekend according to my doctor, but we were able to figure that out and I'm just glad I was able to race, honestly.
row2k: What would you say you learned from racing the single this weekend?
Dani Hansen
[Racing the single] was really good. I am a big team person. My favorite thing about rowing in a boat is being on a team and figuring out where you fit in and how you can add to the speed of the team based off of what you're bringing into the boat personally. Being in a single is such a vulnerable position to be in, and I don't think I had a full awareness of that before. I had raced the single once at the Charles, but that's such a large event that you don't feel like you're in any type of a spotlight.
At the Speed Order, you feel like a lot more exposed, a lot more vulnerable. This is literally all on me. Obviously you have people that helped you get there and people that help train you, but when it comes down to the race, every part of that result is a reflection on you. I like that a lot because it's just very challenging. I was so nervous before the race but that's really healthy. It was a really good thing to go through as an athlete: you think you've touched every part of the sport, and then something new appears and it just makes your body and your mind react in a different way. It's another obstacle, another challenge, another puzzle to figure out.
I love Kara Kohler. I think she's one of the coolest people in the sport, maybe the coolest, and I really look up to her. I think I now have another level of healthy respect for Kara as an athlete and the fact that she [races the single] on the highest stage ever, and Gevvie Stone, too. That's incredible to me. So to all the single scullers who are out there doing 2k races on a regular basis, keep going, because there's no one more capable or stronger than you.
row2k: Lastly, what have you been up to since Tokyo, and what got you thinking about coming back to try for a spot in Paris next year?
Dani Hansen
After Tokyo, I think my body needed a little break so that was the main reason for taking a few years off. I did do the World Championships for coastal rowing in 2022, and that was really fun, to see a different side of the sport. There's such a mental aspect that's necessary in coastal rowing, and when I did that, I realized that I don't think I'm done. It's just too fun to be on the water and to be racing. The chaos of coastal rowing really made me miss the flat water a little bit, too. I do love coastal rowing and I absolutely want to continue doing that as much as I can. But when I thought about Paris, I realized that I work at Hydrow, I have a boat, I have oars, I have a company that's supportive of me training, which is not common. I just thought, if I have these resources and I'm able to utilize them and try out again, I don't see why I wouldn't.
Then seeing this Para four that came out of Worlds last year: They're really fast. They're really awesome. And I honestly think that would be a really cool team to be on. I love all the teams I've been on before but if I could be on that team I would really like to be. I think the four that's going to come out of selection camp for Paris is going to be super fast, and if I can add to that, I really want to.
I think just having such an ambitious coach, like Tom Siddall, who takes his team's results personally, is really important, and Ellen (Minzner) is driving the program as fast, as efficiently and as effectively as possible. That's really important. And I think just the athletes who have come in these past two years have a really close understanding of that and that's definitely adding to the speed, giving the athletes responsibility for that speed, and I think that is really cool.
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