Check out the photo galleries from the racing here
A week-long best-of-three trials to earn the right to attend a sudden death regatta in Poland is just part of the normal tapestry in an Olympic year, and such was the tableau that started this morning on Mercer Lake. Contestants in the only three events not already qualified for the Olympics for the United States - the men's single, and the light men's and women's doubles - were met with a garrulous, gusty crosswind that put a light chop on the water, probably felt worse than it made things appear, but did not make for terrible conditions.
The winners of these races will be eligible to compete in the final Olympic Qualification Regatta in Poznan, Poland on June 15-18. The top three men's single scullers, and the top two light men's and women's doubles, qualify to compete for their respective countries in the Olympic Games.
Of the three events, the men's single is likely to be the most wide open, and the light men's double the tightest, in particular due to the presence of the defending Olympic champion Polish double. At the World Championships last year in Munich, the stroke of the Polish double was injured on the first stroke of the semfinal race, and stopped rowing about 10 strokes later. Before last summer, the Poles were the World Record holders in the event, and won gold medals in each of the past two Olympics. Most handicappers throw one of the two remaining spots to the Poles, leaving one up for grab for the rest of the field.
As expected, the double of Renee Hykel and Jen Goldsack strengthened their position as prohibitive favorites this morning, posting the best time by over six seconds despite rowing the bulk of the race with a very generous patch of clear water on the field in their heat. The second heat featured closed water margins among the three Vesper entries until just before 500 to go, and was won by Hykel's former doubles partners Julia Nichols rowing with Libby Peters. These two crews advance directly to the Thursday morning final, with all others headed to the reps.
In the men's single, while James Dietz had a nice row in the second heat, Ken Jurkowski looked extremely comfortable in besting the field by several lengths against the clock. If Ken remains on this form, it may turn out to be difficult for Dietz or the rest of the field to match Jurkowski's efficient cruising speed this week. Both Dietz and Jurkowski advanced directly to Final 1 on Thursday.
The light men's double looks to be the event that could provide the most intrigue this week; with three heats of three, it is the only event requiring semifinals tomorrow, as well as a rep this afternoon. After several days of racing and weigh-ins, lightweight fields can tend to tighten up as the week goes on, making them the event most likely to go to a third final.
This morning, the California Rowing Club/Potomac A combo of Mike Aller and Gavin Frase posted the fastest time of the three heats, and looked pretty solid doing so; the (take a breath) USRowing Training Center/Undine BC/Bachelor's BC A double of (another breath) Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg and Cody Lowry took a little while to get away from the field in the second heat, but did so late in the race. The third heat dealt with more wind than the earlier races, I would say, but wasn't really quite up to the level of the two previous heats, so the rest of the field will have to up their game a bit to challenge. The presence in the race of Steve Tucker rowing with Alex Zosuls did not provide the possible fireworks that some might have looked for, and the duo rows in the reps this afternoon.
Racing continues this afternoon at 2:30 with a rep in only the light men's double; reps for the men's single and light women's double, and semis for the light men's double, start tomorrow morning at 8.
Results:
1 M1x Heat A/B (07:30:00) Official
Place Entry Lane Time
1 Unaffiliated .. (Ken Jurkowski) 3 07:21.875
2 California Rowing CLub A (Patrick O'hea) 2 07:29.550
3 Atlanta Rowing Club A (Jordan Smith) 4 07:34.690
#2 M1x Heat A/B (07:40:00) Official
Place Entry Lane Time
1 New York Athletic Club A (James Dietz) 4 07:32.411
2 Bantam Boat Club B (Peter Graves) 3 07:37.770
3 Penn A.C. Rowing Association I (Stephen Whelpley) 2 07:41.780
#3 LW2x Heat A/B (07:50:00) Official
Place Entry Lane Time
1 USRowing Training Center A (Jen Goldsack, Renee Hykel) 3 07:26.466
2 Pocock Rowing Center A (Michelle Trannel, Liz Patterson) 4 07:47.841
3 Austin/Union A (Lisa Culbertson, Claudia Wagner) 2 07:58.978
#4 LW2x Heat A/B (08:00:00) Official
Place Entry Lane Time
1 Vesper Boat Club A (Julia Nichols, Libby Peters) 5 07:32.965
2 Vesper Boat Club A (Carey Brezler, Wendy Tripician) 3 07:36.111
3 Vesper Boat Club A (Rebecca Smith, Hannah Moore) 4 07:39.591
4 Riverside Composite A (Melissa Rice, Heather Moon) 2 07:47.683
#5 LM2x Heat A/B/C (08:10:00) Official
Place Entry Lane Time
1 California Rowing Club/Potomac A (Mike Aller, Gavin Frase) 3 06:53.437
2 GMS Rowing Center A (Brian Deregt, Jonathan Winter) 2 06:57.123
3 Riverside/Augusta Rowing Club A (Rob Zechmann, Tim Larson) 4 07:01.451
#6 LM2x Heat A/B/C (08:20:00) Official
Place Entry Lane Time
1 USRowing Training Center/Undine BC/Bachelor's BC A (Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg, Cody Lowry) 2 06:56.970
2 Malta BC/Penn AC A (Bjorn Larsen, Richard Montgomery) 3 07:02.844
3 Union Boat Club A (Steve Tucker, Aleks Zosuls) 4 07:10.129
#7 LM2x Heat A/B/C (08:30:00) Official
Place Entry Lane Time
1 USRowing Training Center H (Andy Quinn, Shane Madden) 4 07:08.761
2 Bantam Boat Club A (Ben Hutz, Brian Tryon) 2 07:10.795
3 Vesper Boat Club A (Dan Scholz, Andrew Grzybowski) 3 07:14.889
Comments | Log in to comment |
There are no Comments yet
|
row2k's Olympics coverage is brought to you by:
row2k's Olympics coverage is brought to you by: