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row2k 2011 Worlds Blog
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Wednesday's racing had six of the remaining 13 Olympic events in the balance for the US, and while none of the crews locked up the chance to move on, the morning ended with five crews "still alive" in the hunt for London.
Here again, row2k's daily look at which US crews are On to London, Still Alive, or now Facing Final Qualification:
On to London: None for US
Only two Olympic events--W2- and M8--went to semis today, and both US crews missed out on an A Final spot that would have punched their ticket today.
As the regatta hits full stride, however, plenty of nations were clearly gunning for spots within the qualification number, and in these events, making the A Final got the job done. Quite a few "faves" made the cut--like the NZL W2-, GBR W2-, ROU W2-, GER M8, GBR M8, and CAN M8--but we also saw the kind of inspired racing that the added stakes can create from a few crews. This was especially true in the women's pair: South Africa sent Italy out of the final in the last 1000, and Australia nearly caught New Zealand in their push to stay qualified ahead of the Romanians and Americans.
Still Alive: W2-, M8, M4-, M1x, W1x
The semi results in the W2- and M8, while not ideal, don't end things for either crew. In the B Finals, a top two finish for the pair and a win by the eight--for 7th place-- will meet the qualification standard. It does put some extra pressure on, to be sure, and the women will be facing a few crews bound and determined to get to London, including the Italians, Belorussians, Canadians, and Germans. The Men's eight, which must now win out, will have to reprise a tight finish over the Ukrainian crew that nearly caught them in the semi, and contend with China, France, and the Kiwi eight.
For the M4-, who won the rep they nearly escaped altogether in Sunday's photo finish, a spot in the semi puts them in much the same shape as the M2-: with 11 crews heading to London, the US four essentially has one crew to beat out of the round of twelve. That would be the qualification mark met, of course, but the four is the flagship of the US men's fleet here in Bled, so watch for them to be racing that semi to make the A Final and the podium as well.
USA W1x Gevvie Stone took 3rd in her rep to keep the US's chances in the W1x alive. Her run into the semis puts her ahead of her results from Lucerne--where she missed the semis and went on to take 13th--but here she will need a top 9 finish to earn a qualifying spot, so here's hoping her upward trend continues in the last two rounds of racing.
In the M1x, Ken Jurkowski moved into the semis from the quarterfinal round and, with 11 scullers getting the London nod, he too has just one man to beat as far as qualification goes. Jurkowski, of course, did not have the luxury of a guaranteed Olympic spot when he won the US Trials in 2008. He earned his Olympic berth the other hard way--because none of this is supposed to be easy--at the 2008 Final Qualifier, by rowing down Lithuiania's Mindaugas Griskonis in Poznan. That year, he was relatively new to the single; this year, coming off a strong 4th place showing in Lucerne, Jurkowski is on form to qualify the US a good ten months earlier than last time out.
Facing Final Qualification: LM2x
The LM2x got themselves within striking distance of the third and final transfer spot in their quarterfinal, but Portugal would not yield their place and US duo are headed to the C/D semi. De Regt and Winter took 11th in Karapiro, which would have been enough, just, this year, but things are of course tightening up in this event as London approaches. Based just on today's results, the US can expect to face good lightweight nations like Switzerland, Spain and the Netherlands in the Final Qualifier.
Today's result also means that the US now has zero spots for lightweight men at the London Games heading into 2012, which changes the run-up to London big time on the lightweight side.
Olympic Qualification Summary - US (as of Wednesday)
14 Olympic Events total
In = 1 - W4x
Out = 3 - M2x, LM4-, LM2x
TBD = 10
See also: Getting to London Tuesday update
Congrats to all of the crews who have moved on so far and good luck in the rest of the regatta.
- Jimmy
The great service at the docks doesn't end there. When launching, a little boy grabbed my crocs as soon as I slipped them off to get into the boat. I was slightly concerned because my Dad usually places them on the landing dock where I can get them after practicing/racing, but not too worried as I figured they were probably going into a big pile and my blue crocs are easy shoes to spot. Well, I had other things to worry about...the race! And forgot about my shoes until landing. Right upon coming alongside the landing dock after my race, another little boy appeared and placed my shoes right beside me before I had the chance to step out of the boat. I felt very pampered!
Here's row2k's first daily quick look at which US crews are On to London, Still Alive, or now Facing Final Qualification:
On to London: Women's Quad
A stunning win by the W4x in their rep gave the US their first confirmed bid for London this morning. With the top eight getting the Olympic nod in this event, the USA's spot in the A Final assures them of place in London. The race was every bit worthy of the stakes: with the US coming from behind to hold a narrow lead through the second 1000. Withstanding desperate charges by both the defending Olympic champ Chinese and Defending World champ Brits, the Americans held on to win . . . and less than a second separated all three, with the British--shockingly--headed to the B final.
The Brits were devastated, naturally, but FISA has seven spots for London on offer here in Bled, so the GBR quad can still get a London bid here this week with a win in the B Final.
Still Alive: Women's Double, Men's Pair
Good reps by both the W2x and M2- keep Olympic spots on the table for the US in those events. The W2x won their rep handily, considering the dire race for second place behind them, and will need to either make the A Final or come top 2 in the B Final to make the top-8 cut. Bertko and Trowbridge took eighth in Lucerne, and will need to maintain, or better that place as the week unfolds. Today's race was an excellent step in that direction.
The M2- looked to be on shaky ground to start the week: needing to place in the top 11, the US managed just 16th place in Lucerne. Things stayed shaky in the early going of the rep today, that is until Pescek and Stangel rowed the Czechs down, and then out, moving on to the semis in second place. That semi berth puts the US in a much better spot: now Peszek and Stangel essentially have just one crew to beat for qualification...and a great race in the semi could, of course, even win them a spot in the A Final.
Facing Final Qualification: Men's Double, Light Men's Four
Both the M2x and LM4- raced some brutal reps today, and the results put both out of the A/B semi and any hope of the top 11 finish they needed to give the US an Olympic spot in these events.
Now any chance the US has of racing either in London will have to rest in a top 2 finish at the Final Qualification regatta in next summer's run up to the Games. Those top two places won't be easy to come by either., because today's reps put some other very talented squads out of the mix. There is also still one semi-finalist who will, eventually, take 12th place in Bled and could head to the Final Qualifier as well.
In the double, Ukraine, Poland, and Italy also missed the semis, and we can presume they will boat good doubles to race next summer for the final spots. If anything, the always tight light four field could be even tougher at the Final Qualifier, because joining the US in the C/D Semi will be Canada, Austria, Russia, and the Dutch crew who had a late substitution today. All are countries equally capable of producing an Olympic qualifier, and will be driven to do so now that things went sour in Bled.
Olympic Qualification Summary - US (as of Tuesday)
14 Olympic Events total
In = 1 - W4x
Out = 2 - M2x, LM4-
TBD = 11
My goal is to finish in the top 8 of my classification. This will be a challenging task for me considering my inexperience, but I’m hoping my competitive past will cross over and help me get the best out of myself, even though I have been at this such a short time. I think that Paralympic sport offers sort of a blessing and a curse in that, there are so many opportunities to compete at a high level of sport and sometimes they come around quickly, such as this did. The curse is in the fact that even though the numbers are small and there is not always a deep pool of racers, that does not make the competition any less talented. On the contrary, there are several of these girls who could chew me up and spit me out. Today, for instance, we were rowing in the warm-up lane and as I was going in one direction, the Ukranian woman was rowing in the other direction. As we passed each other, we glanced eye-to-eye and all I could envision was the bout between Rocky and Ivan Drago, when Drago says, “I will break you.” Those words could have easily come out of this women’s mouth as she is twice my size and looks like she could cream me without even trying. But, through it all, I am staying positive and am getting ready to race in the heats tomorrow.
The way my racing will work is that we will have two heats on Monday. The winners of the heats will go directly to the finals. The rest of the heat will go to the Repechage round. Of that round, the top two will go to the “A” finals. The remainder will go to the “B” finals. All of the “A” round finishers and the top two “B” finishers will earn a slot for their country to the 2012 Paralympics. So my goal is top 8 and I hope I can make it. I will definitely have to work HARD for it, have excellent races and a good bit of luck, but I am excited to race against a full field of competitors . Should be exciting!
Tomorrow at 9:36am, I will line up against: Russia, France, Brazil, Korea and Belarus. Wish me luck! I will report back when it’s over.
Outside of our hotel, the race course has come alive. The boatyard is packed, and we finally have some other boats on our rack! The course is very busy for practice and apparently bumpy (I am the only one in my boat that has not noticed or been bothered by this). With the influx of bodies to Bled, inevitably this means one thing: full buses.
The bus ride to the course is a standard for just about any World Championships. In Bled we are fortunate to have a very short bus ride compared to, say, last year (45 minutes). We only spend about 5 minutes going to the course and maybe another 10 coming back since we take the long way all the way around the lake coming home. But the bus rides never fail to provide us with entertainment and a variety of distractions in the form of meet and greets with other delegations (intentional or otherwise), general people watching, and the always scenic view out the windows.
Buses leave from the hub every 20 minutes. But with the number of athletes here in Bled, there aren't many bus rides anymore that aren't full up, which leads to a pretty cozy feeling going to and from the course. Sometimes this works to our advantage (sharing seats with handsome French and Spanish rowers), sometimes not (the rear end of a hefty, sweaty male coach pressed into the small of my back). But since we're all in this together, there's not much you can do except make the most of it, since after all: we're all friends here...
Example: on today's return from the course, Stesha had an aisle seat, I had a window. Adrienne was standing in the aisle behind some cute Greek guys. Stesha leaned over and whispered to me: "should I make Adrienne grab this guy's butt?"
Obviously yes.
With a single deft movement, Stesha swiped Adrienne's unsuspecting hand through the air and landed a solid but playful hit. Adrienne was mortified. Though the target played it pretty cool initially, it soon became obvious that he had definitely noticed and was discussing amongst his teammates how to respond. Soon, all six of us were smiling and giggling uncontrollably. Another great play for international relations.
The other wonderful multifunction of the bus ride is scouting for this year's LIST. When provided with a few idle minutes here and there--what else would I rather be doing? So far I've ID'ed two or three serious contenders on the bus, as well as having the pleasure of sharing the commute with a few old favorites over the past week. Overall I have to say that things are shaping up quite nicely and I daresay that people should be prepared for some shakeups for this year's group. It's going to be GREAT.
Speaking of the List, here is my shattered dream of the day:
After we had racked our boat this morning, I took shade under a nearby top rack shell while we waited for Natalie and Adrienne to return with our oars. While we were waiting, suddenly a few familiar figures appeared, weaving in and out between the overlapping boat decks, and who seemed to be coming right toward me. It was none other than the Canadian Men's Eight, a boat filled with a number of my very favorite (and dreamiest) athletes from my time as a Husky. I threw all my stuff on the ground so I could give them big, proper hugs, while also making quite a noisy scene with happy greetings and big smiles. I was just sublime seeing them all at once, and all looking so great. Then my coach cleared her throat, and said "Ahem--Kalmoe, I think Mike would like to meet with his boat now." Ah yes. So they hadn't come directly across the boatyard just to see me? As it turns out, I had chosen their eight to stand under, and Mike Spracklen was sitting just at the end of the rack, waiting for the men to arrive.
Oops. Hope you had a great row, boys! Sorry about that.
Long Live the Dream,
--MK
As racing comes closer and closer, the adrenaline begins to flow a little more. We, the lightweight men’s 8, did some 500 meter pieces this morning. We were trying to focus on swinging together and being aggressive. There are some other Slovenian inhabitants bee-ing aggressive as well.
Some of the first Slovenians we met when we got to Bled were the local bees. They are not bashful. They will visit while you are walking, shopping, rowing or running. Austin was stung in between his toes. Nick was stung while rowing and at least 3 others in our 8 alone have been stung. I saw some members of the US heavy men’s 8 dancing around some bees this morning.
Yesterday, as we were preparing to launch on the dock, I was putting my oar in and all of a sudden the dock began gyrating and I heard a lot of commotion coming from behind me. It was Nick and he was trying to swat a bee with the towel he brings in the boat to prevent his water bottle from bouncing around. It was hilarious. Nick was jumping like a monkey and swinging the towel like I would imagine a caveman waving his club. Unfortunately, Nick did not kill the bee and just managed to piss it off more.
I was doing some postcard shopping with Kenny and Nicole Dinion from the LW4x and felt a pinch in my left thigh under my shorts. I lifted the shorts to see what it was and I couldn’t believe it. A bee (more like a yellow jacket because it didn’t die after stinging me) was lodged; butt first in to my leg. It was flying furiously, trying to get away and did not do so until I flicked it. It was funny, except the pain in my thigh began to grow and the humor began to escape me. I couldn’t believe how aggressive that bee was.
The first related story that came to mind was high school basketball. I used to go to all of the Mathews High basketball games to try and socialize. One of the things I remember is the cheerleader cheer (I can’t believe I’m documenting this memory) Be Aggressive, B – E Aggressive, B- E A-G-G R-E-S-S-I-V-E. I can sing it for you some time to get the full affect.
So like the bees, the US Team is hoping to go for broke on the race course and get the job done this coming week. Only 1.5 days until racing starts! Get Aggressive and BEE Aggressive.
- Jimmy
Who does a workout with another country at the World Championships? Seriously? Looking over my shoulder I’m looking at good old glory on the LM8+ and wondering if I should be missing water every other stroke so they have something interesting to report back to their lightweight four. At least it’s not the confederate flag. Crafty move Jimmy, I just hope that if you guys beat us on the pieces you don’t start asking for our t-shirts. I know how it works in the collegiate system. Also here is my obligatory shout out to Conlin Mcabe, I hope you and Tony don’t struggle too much with the new shower before meals policy. Huskies!
As for the rest of the team, the maple leafs have now appeared on our blades. There are some much respected traditions in Canada in regards to racing the World Championships. For starters our unisuits differ from our attire at the World Cups. Our World Cup unisuits have a black and red base with the RCA logo on a white backdrop on the chest. The world Championships unisuit mirrors our flag with just a red and white colour scheme and ‘Canada’ marked on the back. The World Championship unisuits is never to be worn any other time other than when racing at the World Champs. The second is the presence of the Maple leafs on the oar. Once racing is over the Maple leaf is removed from the blade. Like the unisuit no one is to row with the Maple leaf on their blade outside of the World Championships and if there is a leaf on the blade it is expected to be removed before being used. These traditions honour the achievement of athletes reaching the World Championships and that it shouldn’t be taken for granted. It also serves the purpose of focusing the athletes as the appearance of these elements are an indicator for where they currently are.
I like that we do this and I think that it’s important that we continue to respect these traditions. Rowing is a very old sport and older rowing clubs tend to have different traditions rooted in their History. It’s a good reminder that what we are doing may in fact be greater than just ourselves.
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