A small-ish field of international crews on Lucerne's Rotsee contested the last of the "big" World Cups before the Tokyo Olympics. With 13 of the 14 Olympic events represented (only the women's eight did not have any entries), and with sizeable overseas contingents (AUS and NZ, to name just a couple) skipping the regatta due to understandable travel and COVID worries, the regatta was probably not the full Olympic dress rehearsal it has been in the past.
Nevertheless, a World Cup roughly 60 days out can give observers and contestants a pretty good idea of where things stand going into the Games.
Silver, Bronze for US Women's Scullers
US Women's single sculler Kara Kohler came into the regatta looking to remain in contact with the top women's scullers in the world, and did she ever; understroking the field (not on purpose, as she admitted later), she kept herself in a solid position in the pack before taking a strong silver medal behind the out-of-nowhere phenom, Russian Hanna Prakhatsen, but keeping her bowball ahead of reigning World champ Sanita Puspure of Ireland.
"I'm really stoked to have this under my belt leading up to Tokyo," Kohler said. "I was expecting a tight race today. It's been a whirlwind of a week between arriving in Switzerland and getting used to the time, and racing."
As Kohler explained after the race, her low rating in the body of the piece had more to do with the way she currently rows and races than any tactics. "I would ideally be rating up a little bit higher, but it's something I am still working on," she said.
"I'm happy with my performance, and it's definitely motivation towards Tokyo," Kohler said. "I haven't felt the best this week, but I'm happy to have raced, happy to have won a medal, and am motivated for the Games. I made some adjustments (today), pushing through the whole 2k and working on racing at a higher rating with a better rhythm. The data shows I was still under-stroking the field, so that's something to practice for the next race."
Still, Kohler sees herself in a good place, and hopes to make gains in a few other areas before Tokyo. "Well, ideally Laurel [Korholz, US women's national team coach - eds] wants me to put on a little more body mass!" said Kohler. As she explained, the goal is to gain a little more power to maintain her traction in a field of very strong women.
In the second to last event of the day, the US women's double of Dr. Gevvie Stone and Kristi Wagner got off to a very slow start in their final, but used a very effective race base to work methodically back into the field, and captured a solid bronze medal.
"Coming into the final today, Gevvie and I wanted to improve our first 500m from our heat," said bow seat Kristi Wagner. "We improved a little bit, but our starting 500 still needs some work. Once we hit our base rhythm we were able to move through the field a bit and we were happy to be on the podium in our first international race together."
"Every new combination is a different experience," added Stone. "Kristi and I certainly gained from this regatta in terms of realizing our strengths, our areas to improve, and a sense of the competition in the Olympic Year."
"We got dropped off the start. By the time all boats settled to base rhythm, we held even with the leaders, Romania and the Netherlands, and inched back into the field. We gained a bit more on the Netherlands in the sprint, but it wasn't enough to catch them."
"We are definitely looking forward to getting back to Boston and back to work," said Wagner. "Since we are still a somewhat new combination I think there is a lot of speed to gain. We are very fortunate to have been able to come and race in Lucerne so that we can keep improving for Tokyo."
Stone agreed: "We'll aim to make the most of the next 60-something days!"
Silver Linings in the B-Finals
One other USA boat made it to the Sunday finals; the US light men's double of Jasper Liu and Zach Heese, who had come up short at the Final Olympic Qualifier earlier in the week, made the best of their week in Switzerland and rewarded themselves with a strong World Cup, finishing third in the B-Final of their event for 9th place.
"We are very happy with our performance here," said Liu. "It was a fantastic opportunity to get four races in against some boats that have been in A-finals and that are headed to Tokyo themselves."
As Liu explained after the FOQR, he and Heese are committed to sticking with it and making the necessary gains in speed in order to get their boat into contention.
"We had a chance to line up against the best in the world, and we saw exactly how much faster we need to get to qualify for Paris 2024. No amount of training at home can replicate that.
"The biggest takeaway for me is that the USA can be competitive in the lightweight double. Having never raced in an Olympic boat class, I came into these two regattas with no idea if we would be good enough to fight in an A-final or if we'd be dropped off the back. We have plenty of room to grow, but to me, our World Cup results are proof that we belong."
For the three other US crews at the regatta, the Men's Double of Kevin Cardno and Jonathan Kirkegaard finished their regatta second in the C-Final, as did James McCullough in the Light Men's Single, while John Graves took third in the D-Final.
Barnburners & Bowballs
The tightest race of the day at Lucerne came in the Men's Eight, where the GB crew pipped Germany on the final stroke of the regatta to win by .03 seconds. While the pre-Olympic favorites Germany have found some pace in the last month since a disastrous showing at the European Championships, the fact that they lost to a GB eight with a spare man rowing in six-seat should give them cause for concern.
The men's eight final was unusually small, at just three crews. With the Dutch men also carrying a sub on board after an illness scare earlier in the week, the crew was unable to put themselves in the hunt for the lead today.
The GB men also captured the men's straight four with a dominant row, winning by a pile of open water. At the moment, it might be that the GB men have a realistic shot at a successful repeat of their Rio gold medal performances in the men's four and eight.
German Men's single sculler Olli Zeidler remained undefeated (in finals) on the year, although the livestream did seem to catch him displaying a rare hint of fatigue at the 1750 meter mark today. All kidding aside, Zeidler currently looks as if it would take an unbelievable race (or, as was the case at the European Championships a few months ago, some rough conditions) to beat him.
Other dominant performances today included Ireland's Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy in the Light Men's Double, the Dutch Men's Quad, the Chinese Women's Quad, and Spain's Women's Pair, with Ohio State grad Aina Cid on board.
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