The reps and semis today finished the business of whittling the (in some cases sizable) fields down to the six crews that will contest the finals tomorrow for the Olympic berths at this Final Olympic Qualifier. The pressure and emotion of attempting to get to the Olympics was palpable, and many crews whose regattas ended in their reps or semis paddled back from the finish line visibly distraught.
Only two US Crews were in action today, the Men's Double and the Men's Quad. Both took care of business and advanced to tomorrow's all-important final. Read on for all the action!
MEN'S QUAD
With five crews vying for four spots in the final, the repechage of the men's quad literally came down to the line... it was BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP as the top four crews crossed the line at a dead sprint. On the tape, it was China by 0.03 seconds over the USA for the win, with Italy and Canada snagging the final two spots, and all four of the qualifiers within 6/10s of a second.
"That was down to whoever took the last stroke," said coach Larry Gluckman. "We rowed our boatrace, we were at the rate we wanted to be, and it appeared that they sprinted pretty well. They led, and we knew it was going to be a couple of seats. We didn't want to be third or fourth, because we didn't want to be on the edges tomorrow. First or second was the goal today. We're ready now, we've had two good, competitive races, and we'll see what happens tomorrow. I'll take second tomorrow!"
The crew has proved their racing mettle here for sure (and they've definitely gotten their wish for "bowball-to-bowball racing"), and seem confident going into the deciding race tomorrow. "We're just looking to keep it internal," said three-seat Ben Dann.
MEN'S DOUBLE
The rep of the men's double, in which the US duo of Willie Cowles and Stephen Whelpley needed to finish in the top two in order to advance, worked out in reverse of the men's quad; the PA call had the US crew down early, but a strong, patient middle 1000 meters put them in advancing position behind Argentina, from where they held off the Ukraine in their sprint to clinch their finals berth.
"I did take a look out of the boat at one point there, but definitely not in the first 1000," said stroke Willie Cowles. "Around the 500 we were in third, but it felt like it was three boats across, and from there we just chipped out a lead on the Ukraine that we felt pretty comfortable with."
Looking toward the finals, Cowles believes that he and Whelpley can put it all together. "We talk about individual ownership of different parts of the race," said Cowles. "My phsyiology tends to be more geared towards flatlining it, I tend to have a decent third 500, and not as strong of a first 500. If I'm down in the first 500 meters of a race, it's not going to shake me up, then Steve brings a lot to the last 500, he's got a lot of power."
Coach Reilly Dampeer was relieved, and was looking ahead to the final. "I think they were able to keep their stroke rate higher for longer today, and that was really important," said Dampeer. "They had a few things they needed to improve from their heat, and they got into a good groove and were able to go from there. I'm excited!"
"Each of these pieces has hurt, but they've hurt for everybody," said Cowles. "Knowing that at this point there are six boats out there, and any two of them can qualify, so we're just going to try to make that us."
Tomorrow, the US now has Men's Eight, Men's Quad, and Men's Double in the game; top two in each of those events will qualify.
ODDS & ENDS
With the exception of the Women's Single and women's pair, in which four Olympic spots are available, and the men's pair with three, only the top two in each of the remaining 11 Olympic events will qualify for Rio.
Another wrinkle, which may affect a few teams this weekend, is that the Men's & Women's Singles and both Lightweight Doubles are essentially in a separate regatta, the European Continental Qualifier, which is affected by so-called continental qualification rules; these say, in essence, that any national team can only qualify one EACH of a men's event and a women's event. Thus, if two crews from the same gender qualify, the national federation would be forced to pick just one.
This might come into play tomorrow, as both Denmark and Belgium have boats in the finals in the Men's Single and the Men's Lightweight Double (the Danish LM2x are actually the reigning Olympic champs). If both boats qualify for either country, those federations would need to choose just one for Rio, and the remaining Olympic berth in whichever boat class that country doesn't take would roll down to the next highest finisher here.
So, sometimes even when you win, you lose, whew.
The other 10 events are being run as the "Final Olympic Qualification," which is not restricted; countries can qualify as many crews as they are able, irrespective of the crews' genders. For the US, this means that should the US qualify all three crews tomorrow, they would not be forced to make any decisions as to which boats they would send to Rio.
The results have already determined one brutal statistic, however: no Australian lightweights will compete in Rio.
It's fairly rare to see gnarly or mismatched gear at a regatta at this level, but there were a few today; the Austrian Lightweight Men's Four rowed with angle-measurement brackets on each oarlock, while the Russian Women's Quad rowed with two sets of C2s, one set of Crokers and one set of Empacher sculls. The Russian crew qualified for the final today, the Austrian did not.
It was rainy and cold in Lucerne today, with temps in the low 50s and a steady light rain throughout. Definitely not "lightweight" weather!
Given the weather, it's nice to see that friendship within crews knows no bounds, even if that means lending your Washington jacket to your buddy who rowed at Princeton.
You could also tell who was who in the media area by the weather today; the Danish media guy showed up in shorts, while his Italian counterpart was practically dressed for an Arctic expedition.
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: