Over a five day regatta, racing every day is not necessarily ideal, especially when the stakes are as high as they are at the Olympic trials. However, a few athletes we spoke to made the best of their trip through the reps by using the extra race to refine their approach.
With the reps done, the Men's & Women's Singles and the Men's Double and Lightweight Women's Double are down to their final eight competitors, while the Light Men's Double has all four A-finalists set.
Women's Single
As we explained yesterday, athletes competing in the women's single at the trials are gunning not just for the top spot, but for consideration for quad selection camp, and today's racing bore it out.
"I definitely have big picture goals past the semifinals tomorrow, but right now it’s one day at a time, one race at a time," said rep winner Maggie Fellows. "My plan today was to stay very focused on what was in my control and put the pieces together that I have been working on in practice. I’m excited for the opportunity to advance and looking forward to racing hard."
Fellows, who represented the US in the W2x and W4x at the Pan Am Games in 2019, credited her training with the Boston Rowing Federation (which includes Gevvie Stone, Cicely Madden, and others) for her performance.
"Training with the Boston Rowing Federation group is pretty incredible," she said. "We hold each other to high standards and it’s been a great opportunity to keep learning from everyone on a daily basis. I trust that the work we have put in together over the past few months will help us to reach our goals."
Jen Forbes, another 2019 Pan Am team alum (W1x), also credited the depth of women's sculling in the US for the tight racing.
"The field of women’s scullers in the US is formidable," said Forbes. "Each day I’ve come to the course with both excitement that we are actually here at Olympic Trials , and respect for my competition. Everyone that is here has undoubtedly done a tremendous amount of work to be here, and I’m so excited to finally get the opportunity to race some of the fastest women in the country and in the world."
ARION's Kristina Wagner and Boston's Alie Rusher were the other two semi-final qualifiers from today's reps, with Rusher taking the win by just a bit over her Stanford teammate Emily Delleman.
Men's Single
Kevin Meador and Michael Clougher, who won their reps today, both have some experience in the single; in fact, both have "had the job" as the USA Men's Single Sculler since Rio, with Clougher racing the event at the 2017 World Championships, and Meador racing the event at Worlds in 2018 and 2019.
Meador said that racing trials as a former USA single sculler was a mixed blessing.
"On the one hand it helps to have the confidence to know you are trying to do something you have been able to achieve in the past, but on the other hand it can create pressure that one might not have with a 'nothing to lose' mentality so it really depends on the day, the race, and the athlete," he said. "The practical racing experience and years spent training almost exclusively in the 1x help much more than the mindset, in my opinion."
Count Meador in the "reps aren't necessarily a bad thing" camp, if grudingly (and honestly) so.
"I sure hope that going to the reps isn't a bad thing, because I had to race the rep," he said. "I think personally it varies from athlete to athlete. I would have preferred to be fast enough to be able to avoid the rep, and I certainly tried to, but given that I was not fast enough early in the week to advance directly to the semi-final, I hope the rep will be the extra race of preparation that might help make a positive difference."
Like other single scullers, Meador has tried to straddle the mental task of taking the regatta one race at a time while acknowledging that there are still quite a few steps for the US M1x to take after the trials.
"During racing I always try to think one day at a time. No use planning for the future if I get eliminated in the semi, which is entirely possible and looking at the results earlier in the week seems like it may be likely. Big picture, and for the last many months, I have been thinking about FOQR, and have attempted to pace my training such that if I did manage to qualify today I would be in a good position to prepare for FOQR and have my best possible performance on that week, since it will be a real challenge for me or whoever else qualifies for the race.
"For the present moment, it will take all of my effort to try and make it into the final, let alone what might be at FOQR, and I am not thinking past tomorrow morning."
Besides Meador and Clougher, William Legenzowski of the Green Racing Project and Casey Fuller from Maritime are the other two semifinalist qualifiers from today's reps.
Lightweight Men's Double
You can also put Alex Twist, who along with partner Hugh McAdam won the rep to qualify for the A-Final today, down with those athletes who didn't mind the trip through the reps.
"Honestly it was pretty helpful for us," said Twist after the racing. "We both work full time with pretty different schedules so we haven't been able to get on the water together as much as we'd like. Every opportunity to get out there, practice, and try new things is huge. We wanted to be ready to race it to the line today. We were ready to get pushed all the way and just wanted to stay internal and focus on our rhythm."
Beyond the trials, Twist knows that, whoever wins the regatta still has a formidable mountain to climb to get to Tokyo. "I think everyone is probably looking to Lucerne already and thinking about success in terms of qualifying for the Olympics," he said. "Top crews will keep this in mind and will need to be ready to go 6:15 or faster on flat water by May."
The combo of Cooper Tuckerman and Charles Bickhart took the other rep, which means that three of four finalist crews in the event are from Philadelphia's Vesper Boat Club. So much for being able to surprise your competition in the final.
Men's Double & Lightweight Women's Double
In the remaining two events, the Green Racing Project's Webster Thompson and Andrew Raitto advanced to tomorrow's semifinals in the Men's Double, along NYAC's Connor Corwen & Paul Verni, while the crews of Erin Roberts and Hillary Saeger, and Solveig Imsdahl and Margaret Bertasi completed the field in the Lightweight Women's Double semis.
Notes from the Course
NBC Sports, the Olympic broadcast rights holders in the US, will livestream the semifinals and finals, links are below.
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