Monday morning at Worlds and it's a tamer day here on the shores of Lake Tangeum; looks like many of the Chungju locals who came out to watch racing and enjoy the venue this weekend are back at work, but not all is quiet; a veritable United Nations of flags are waving from the grandstands; just in this moment France, Germany, Brazil and the Union Jack are waving in the breeze.
It was a morning of mixed results for the USA boats, but one of the great and unique aspects of rowing is the repechage: a second chance to advance. A very difficult heat, a few bad strokes or simply an off day can keep a boat from moving right out of the heat, but the repechage offers an opportunity to turn that around. Today, US sculler Stephen Whelpley won his repechage by a very comfortable 4 seconds to advance to the quarterfinals.
It's no secret that the USA W8+ can move at a fast clip and their heat today was no different than past performances. In the first thousand, the Aussie boat stayed with them, a few seats back but not out of the mix, but as they approached the half-way mark the women in the red, white and blue switched gears and moved away swiftly to win by 7.75 seconds. Despite not being pushed in the second thousand meters, they still posted the fastest time of the day.
It was the first race since Lucerne for most of the women in the boat, but for Meghan Musnicki it was race number two for the week after winning her heat in the W2- yesterday. Even with an unanticipated extra event, Musnicki is unfazed, and focused.
"From a fitness stand point I have to trust in my endurance and know that the training that Tom [Terharr] had me doing all year will help me through the extra racing," she said. "Recovery is always important; you want your body to bounce back as quickly as possible. Luckily we have a great support staff here that helps out with that. I make sure that I am getting enough of the right foods and especially here, because of the heat, making sure that I am staying well hydrated."
And although Heidi Robbins was unable to race, her presence was still felt in the boat by all her teammates.
"Even though Heidi wasn't in the boat today, we couldn't have performed today without her," said coxswain Katelin Snyder. "She has been an integral part of establishing our speed as a boat, and is a great contributor to our team dynamic both on and off the water."
Four-seat Lauren Schmetterling added, "Even if she's not racing this week, she's a very important part of our eight and the team. I'm sure she'll be back soon."
Also advancing directly to the final is the LW4x of Nancy Miles, Helen Tompkins, Hillary Saeger and Rachel Stortvedt who had a superb performance holding the lead for the majority of the race and winning by 4 seconds.
"Australia was next to us and it was good be able to push off them throughout the race," said Saeger. "Russia had a fast start on the far side but we were able to move through them by the 1000m. From there we just kept Australia in check and pushed when they did to keep the lead. Executed a sprint well and was good practice for the final on Friday."
Tompkins added, "I'm really exited for the final and I also recognize its going to be a dog fight. Netherlands was fast, five seconds faster than our time, and I think they have more too. We have the week to sharpen our skills and get some more speed out of the boat. I'll definitely be itching to race by Friday!"
As the quad rowed away from the finish line, they began to focus on what lies ahead, " We rowed our cool down from the race the way we intend on focusing up until the final said stroke Nancy Miles, "with attention to detail and making every single stroke count."
The W2x of Ellen Tomek and Meghan O'Leary, bronze medalists in Lucerne, maintained their position in third place for the majority of the race--good enough for the semifinal. Without any pressure from the 4th place crew, the South Korean double, they had their place locked-in, but still pushed for a great sprint. Though they were unable to squeak past the second place crew, they'll have another opportunity to do so later this week.
John Graves and Benjamin Dann of the M2x maintained their 4th place position behind Australia for the entire race; tomorrow they'll have another opportunity to make the semifinal. Also racing the repechage tomorrow is LM4- of Robin Prendes, Anthon Fahden, Robert Duff and Will Daly who came down the course today to a 3rd place finish.
Elle Logan who traded in her successful one-oared career is now showing her strength as a sculler in the W1x. She put down consistent performances this summer as she made the podium for all three World Cup races this summer—two bronze and one silver medal finish. Logan threw down a great race today, finishing in 2nd place for a spot in the semifinal.
Just a few weeks ago in Lucerne, the USA M8+ surprised the rowing world when they captured the World Cup gold. After their stellar performance, expectations are high here in Chungju. In a tight race today, the US boat battled it out with France down the course, sneaking past them into second place behind Great Britain and sending them directly to the final.
In the earliest race of the day the LM2- of Greg Flood and Frank Petrucci who beat Lucerne silver medalists Michael Wales and Tyler Nase for their position on the US team, came in 4th place. They will be heading into repechage. Last week, USADA announced that they had issued a warning to these athletes for the usage of banned substance, glycerol. They were stripped of their trials results, but a nominating committee from USRowing reselected them to the team per their "Removal of Athlete" policy.
Although the LM4x, Malta crew of Andrew Quinn, Colin Ethridge, Dave Smith and Shane Madden were in fourth place through the 1000m mark, they made moves in the second half of the race to move to the 2nd place spot, 3 seconds behind Greece. They'll have another chance to race Wednesday in the repechage.
Adaptive racing began this afternoon; a temporary starting platform was pulled into the lake at the thousand-meter mark to shorten the course for the afternoon racing. As an emerging division of the sport, there is still a wide range of techniques in adaptive rowing; only time will tell if that trend continues, or if there is a global move toward a more standard technique.
The duo of Rob Jones and Oksana Masters had a fast start today as they opened water early and won safely in the TAMix2x. The two have been quite successful rowing together, winning the first Paralympics medal for the USA last summer when they won the Bronze in London. They will be advancing directly to the final on Wednesday.
These technical differences were most apparent in the ASW1x and ASM1x where athletes row exclusively with their arms and shoulders. A number of athletes were pulling the stroke through nearly behind their backs, while some maintained a more traditional arms-only rowing stroke; some were even remaining on the square throughout the stroke. USA athletes Dana Fink and Daniel Ahr raced the two events, respectively, coming in 5th and 6th places. They both will have the opportunity to race a repechage for another chance to make the final.
Crews are heading back onto the course for afternoon practice; now that everyone has raced their heats, it's time to start focusing in and sharpening up techniques for subsequent races this week. During practice, regatta volunteers were setting up a royal blue velvet carpet in front of the grandstand, as well as amplifiers. Not quite sure what they have planned, but by the standard of entertainment this week we know it will be good.
Crossing our fingers for a successful day tomorrow as many crews head into the reps. Check back to row2k for all your news from Chungju.
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