The Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta got underway in earnest today, with heats in 12 events, and one-off, preliminary "races for lanes" in the Men's and Women's Eights. Folks are clearly not leaving stuff to chance, as we saw crews that were ripped on ready on the starting line.
From a US perspective, it was a mixed day; the USA Men's Eight took their "race for lanes" cleanly today, with a half-second win ahead of Italy. The Men's Quad found themselves in a blazing race, and came short of the win (and direct advancement to the final) by .14 seconds. The Men's Double will also race in the rep tomorrow, while Olympic Trials winner Ken Jurkowski found himself on the wrong end of a rough day of racing in the Men's Single, and was eliminated.
MEN'S EIGHT
The US Men's Eight was all business today, starting strongly and holding off the field for a win in their preliminary heat. Though pleased, neither the athletes nor US men's sweep coach Luke McGee were overvaluing today's result.
"The goal was just to get out there and compete," said coxswain Sam Osjerkis. "That's how this boat was assembled, and that's what we're best at. It's a nice break from training, it's racing. I thought our mentality was really good today, of coming out there with some intent. We're always trying to get faster, and that always brings some nerves to it, but at the end of the day you have to trust what you've been doing, and luckily today it worked out well and we're going to keep improving it for Tuesday."
Coach Luke McGee had a similar view. "I'm sure the other competitors were not showing their full hands in a race for lanes. It was a good first race, I think they were all just excited to finally line up next to somebody after a long time of racing themselves twice a week for the whole year," said McGee. "They know what's at stake, and the message that we gave the guys today was just 'Let's race, it's time.'"
"They certainly get along well with each other," continued McGee. "They have a good rapport. Steve Kasprzyk has been there before, Glenn Ochal has a lot of experience, he's got an Olympic medal in there. Then you've got some good youth in there, some new faces. They're all seasoned competitors, even if they're young in years."
McGee acknowledged the tightrope walk that coaches have at events like this, trying to balance between allowing the athletes to execute, while still keeping in mind that the crew was seeking a very specific result at the regatta. "We all know what's on the line," said McGee. "You don't have to repeat it to those guys, or wind them up and make them nervous about it, they know it. It's more about keeping them relaxed and on point, and I think they did a pretty good job of that. I am sure that there are one or two things we'll want to work on and improve on. It'll be more of the same in the final, we'll be looking to have the best possible race we can, and trust in the fact that if we do that, we'll be on the right side of things."
MEN'S QUAD
The USA Men's Quad laid down a cracking race today, leading the field down the lake until the final few meters before bowing to a sprint from New Zealand and finishing .14 seconds out of first and the direct spot in Tuesday's final. Still, both the athletes and coach Larry Gluckman took positives away from the race, in which the NZ and USA boats posted the fastest time in the event here.
"We were happy with the way we rowed, and kudos to New Zealand for having a great last 500, but that's what we're here for, fast racing, bowball to bowball," said bow seat Peter Graves. "We'd done several 2ks in flat conditions, so we knew we could go fast, but we were pushed hard at the end."
For this crew, both Gluckman and Graves agreed that a trip through the reps was not necessarily a bad thing. "We have plenty of rest for tomorrow evening," said Graves. "We all thought we would be in the game, but we were really happy to have that reinforced today. We're all excited, we've just got to uncork it two days in a row."
"You're never happy when you have a lead and you lose it in the last few strokes," said Gluckman. "There are some things that the guys identified that they'd like to work on. This was our first international race. We would have liked a day off, but on the other hand, another race, if we can manage it well, I think we'll be fine. Both crews [USA and NZ] negative split the second half of the race, and both quads rowed faster than some of the eights in the last 500 meters. You can't be mad about that. We're really excited about knowing that we're in the hunt."
MEN'S DOUBLE
A fourth-place finish in the heat is not the end of the World for the US Men's Double of Willie Cowles and Steven Whelpley, who will race in tomorrow's rep for a shot at the final.
"We did a lot of what we wanted to do today, but not all of it," said stroke seat Willie Cowles. "I thought we rowed a good piece, we took the types of strokes we wanted to take. We could row a little higher, and finish a little stronger, but I thought we had a good middle 1000."
Cowles was realistic about what's next for the crew in tomorrow's rep. "We need to do whatever we have to do. We're not trying to get the best placement we can get, we're trying to get first or second. There's really no difference between third and 11th. If we get to the 1250 in and we're not in that position, we need to go for it."
"They feel like they've got a little more to give, and they're ready to do it," added coach Reilly Dampeer.
MEN'S SINGLE
Olympic Trials winner Ken Jurkowski simply could not get tracked today, following up an "off" row in the heats with a hard-fought rep that still came up short of advancing to the semi, ending Ken's Olympic campaign in the toughest way possible this afternoon.
Ken Jurkowski had been down this road before, specifically in 2008, when he qualified for his first Olympics here, via the Qualifier. Ken specifically declined to subscribe to the view that the Qualifier is the "Regatta of Death," preferring instead to call it the "Regatta of Opportunity."
The Men's Single here at the qualifier is the biggest field in the regatta, with 18 athletes racing for just two qualifying spots.
OTHER EVENTS
The Women's Single is loaded; with 2014 World Champion Emma Twigg, and two time Olympic champion Ekaterina Karsten both seeking qualification here this week. Twigg posted the fastest time of the event in winning her three-to-advance heat, while Karsten advanced comfortably, finishing third in her heat. The semis in this event are going to be brutal.
Along the same lines, the top 9 finishers in the Men's Lightweight Double were all within 7 seconds of each other, yeesh.
Even a solid pedigree in an event isn't a sure thing; The two most recent Olympic champion nations in the Women's Quad met in their heat here in the qualifier, with China (Olympic champs in 2008) taking the win ahead of Ukraine (2012 Olympic champs). New Zealand won the other W4x heat.
In the fours, France and South Africa won their heats to advance directly to Tuesday's finals, while Germany and Greece also punched their tickets in the Light Men's four. China posted the fastest time in the Women's Pair, while Russia is in pole position in the Men's Pair. All of these events will have reps or semifinals tomorrow.
The Men's and Women's Singles, the Light Men's Double and the Men's Pair all ran their reps this afternoon, marking the end of Olympic dreams for the nine crews were eliminated on the first day of the regatta.
There are a number of crews here for the World Cup that begins on Friday, so you have the pre-qualified crews sharing the lake with the not-yet-qualified crews. During practice yesterday, the name of the game on the launching docks was "selfies with Mahe," whew.
Finally, we're at a regatta in Switzerland, which means only one thing in the last 250 meters: more cowbell!
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