The men's single got the racing underway today, with Norwegian Kjetil Borch nabbing the first win of the Games on this 52nd Friday after it was originally scheduled.
Oli Zeidler, German Men's Single
First off, happy birthday to Oli, who celebrates his 25th birthday tomorrow; for the geezers in the ranks, that was semifinals day at the Atlanta Olympics.
Zeidler won his heat in a somewhat odd event, as the sculler from Egypt crossed a couple lanes to come into Zeidler's lane. He was asked, almost incredulously, did anything surprising happen in your event?
"Yes, the sculler from Egypt almost hit me!"
"I had been a bit nervous, but as soon as the boat was running, everything was fine."
Zeidler has struggled at times in choppy conditions, but did not seem phased by today's swirling winds - although the water was relatively flat by Sea Forest standards.
"Conditions changed pretty quickly, so you can't compare the heats, but the water was fine. We have trained in every type of water recently, so it was not bad.
Zeidler admitted he wasn't in a rush to see the other top scullers in the event.
"There isn't anyone I particularly want to race, but I would be happy to avoid some of the other top guys!"
Kjetil Borch, Norway M1x
Borch talked about finally getting to the line this year, which gave him the opportunity to be the first winner of an event at the Tokyo Games.
"It was really cool," he said. "The last three weeks I have been looking forward to starting, just to get going. I wouldn't say I felt super ready, but I was really eager to start and it was awesome to be the first athlete to cross the finish line in the Olympics.
"Some of the other crews were pretty fast out of the blocks; you can feel the tension at the start, people are hungry. You noticed that at the 200 meters when Brazil and Czech Republic and Hungary were almost out in the lead. It was quite fun."
Asked about the bridge at the 750m mark, Borch said it was nice to have "a little bit of a shadow, a little bit of a rest to power through the last 1000 meters."
Borch rowed in the Maelstrom, so some swirly conditions were not too much to handle.
"That's right, which is also under a bridge - and at least I can't die here!"
Asked about the conditions, Borch noted that, despite today's shifty winds, the course felt fast.
"There was quite a lot of sidewind for the first 4-500 hundred, then you go under the bridge and it turns to tailwind so you get a little boost, then the last 500 you notice maybe a light headwind from the side. It's not fast conditions but it is fine.
"In a tailwind, it could be very fast, and there's going to be records," he said.
Is he going to set one?
"Hopefully!"
Trevor Parry, NZ Men's Single
New Zealand single sculler Trevor Parry placed second in his heat today to advance directly to the quarterfinals in the three-to-advance men's single, the first event of the 202One Olympics.
Asked if it was somewhat surreal finally getting to race, Parry recalled his days in the team boats, which often offer strength in numbers in tense situations.
"For some reason I had this feeling of 'where are my quad boys to rally with," he said after the racing. "It's something to get used to that you are in your head, and not in a team boat.
"Right now I'm relieved to get one under the belt and know, okay, this is where we are, and we can only race ourselves from here out."
Parry's sense of the conditions echoed comments we have heard coming from folks rowing in practice the past few days.
"It was a bit swirly, which I didn't expect," he said. "I thought it was going to be a constant wind, but sometimes it was a cross and, then now and then it gave you a big push."
The official results page shows three New Zealand single scullers on the page - Parry's result today, Robbie Manson's world record of 6:30.74 set in 2017 at the top of the page, and Mahe Drysdale's Olympic record of 6:41.34 in Rio right under that.
Those are some big shoes to fill, but other than wondering about his missing quad mates, Parry is focusing on his own boat.
Asked how it felt to follow in the great Mahe Drysdale's steps, Parry is keeping things much simpler than that.
"I am just taking my own steps; that is really all I can do."
Sverri Neilsen, Denmark Men's Single
Neilsen was down to business this morning with some forward-thinking to possible fairly intense weather conditions that may be headed for Tokyo.
"Conditions weren't so bad today, but we are expecting some rough waters for the next race and the semifinals, so I wanted to win the race to put myself in the best position possible for the next race."
Neilsen takes a similar strategic approach to his status as one of the favorites.
"For now I am just focused on me; it's been a couple of months since we have raced each other so we have no idea how fast the others are and how fast I am. For now we are just focused on our own race and trying to get through to the next race as good as possible."
Dara Alizadeh, Bermuda
Alizadeh rowed at Penn before switching into the single just 18 months ago in hopes of rowing for Bermuda.
"It has been a bit of a crash course in rowing the single compared to an eight, and that has been a humbling experience, but I have made a lot of progress and I am really proud what I have been able to do since I started sculling in May of 2019," he said. "I continue to learn and it has been a fun journey."
After some rough experiences along the way, Alizadeh changed his mental approach to incorporate a much more upbeat mentality.
"When I sit on the start, I try to think 'This is awesome,'" he said. "Recently instead of being really nervous, I started thinking this is great; I know what I am doing and I control that. During the race is a different story, because there is a lot going on."
The strategy evolved after the qualifiers this year.
"In the qualifier, obviously I qualified, but it didn't go well, and I was really just unhappy. Afterwards I realized that I was so focused on the result, and also what people were going to think, and just changing it to having fun and focusing on the process and the sculling will take care of itself, and all of the results I have had since then have been a lot better."
Is that hard to make stick at the Olympics?
"Yeah, it's a little bit harder," he said with a laugh. "A little bit harder than at maybe, the Met Regatta. No disrespect to the Met Regatta, but yeah, it was a little different."
Alizadeh was asked about his folks, who can't attend due to the banning of spectators, and spoke for many who are competing this week.
"Ever since I started in rowing in 9th grade, they've been to every puddle of water east of the Mississippi, whether it was the Boat Race or some crappy little pond in Massachusetts, but the one they can't come to is this one. It is a little bit sad, but I know they are with me, and I know they are following along."
Racing in the men's single continues tomorrow with the repechages.
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07/23/2021 10:14:45 PM