Conditions: holy smokes it was hot today; official temps were only in the low 90s, but this was one of the gnarliest low 90s I've ever felt. A high, unobstructed sun had a lot to do with it; wow. The morning's light tail came around to a crosswind that sometimes felt like a light headwind; the water remained really very good throughout the racing.
Some athletes are chafing at the FISA requirement to wear the sponsor logo T-shirts in all races starting today; it's hot enough on the water without the extra layer.
Kids are kids everywhere: a huge mass of schoolkids sitting in the stands, armed with flags and fans and wearing identical school uniforms and fans, cheered and waved every time anyone went by on a bike. No one could quite tell if they were being enthusiastic or wiseass-tic; it would be an easy guess for fifth-graders in the US.
Local color: Families that train together, stay together: along the river that winds through the Ogaki City neighborhood where many of the teams and media are staying, early morning runners came upon three generations of a local family, all wearing headphones, and all doing the same calisthenics. A short jog later, there were more people doing the same routine; this continued throughout the run. The locals all tune into a radio station that broadcasts a gentle calisthenic routine, and young and old follow along in the cooler morning air. A team coach was seen to join in briefly, but a flash of self-consciousness along with some funny looks sent them back to the running path.
Final-only crews all race a Final 1 for lanes, then the real final for the medals. Crews are going about racing their Final 1 events in very different ways - the US M2+ rowed at least the second 1000 at around 24-26 strokes per minute, while other crews let one loose - but it does seem there is value in the dry run, as I saw at least a couple crews who seemed caught slightly off-guard by their first start of the regatta. It is not uncommon to see this, as folks get used to different starting procedures, but you certainly would not want to be learning the ropes in the final Final.
Meanwhile, on the racecourse, Wyatt Allen rowed off a slow start to nab the lead from a fast-starting Russian sculler at the 1000, only to succumb to an impressive extended late charge from the Ukrainian sculler, who grabbed the lead with only a few strokes to go. This was a long summer in the 1x for Wyatt dating back to the May NSR, through a World Cup, a Henley win, and another trials; if we see more of him in the boat in the future, it's fair to assume that all the hard strokes may start to add up in his favor.
The show doesn't really get much slower in the year after the Olympics: row2k saw several Athens Olympic finalist crews rowing in the C-Finals today.
Another US collegian competing: Milos Tomic, Serbia and Montenegro LM2-, Columbia
The light women's double provided the primary high point for US crews today with an extremely solid semi in which they placed third of three to qualify, but ran in the leaders' pack the whole way, and will take a shot at the medals on Sunday.
The US light men struggled today, with both the four and the double suffering slow starts that put them out of the running early in two of the toughest, and traditionally fastest-starting, events in the sport. While most of the oarsmen have been on teams before, this is the first pass at the Olympic events for all six; you never know how hot these two events are until you're in them.
The Japan LM2x missed the A-Final by 5/100s of a second; when the result was flashed up on the big screen, the crowd of 8000 or so let out a pretty good groan.
Stroke for stroke: In the LM2x, the two semi winners Hungary and Denmark had nearly identical times in their respective races: Hungary Denmark 500m 1:31.70 1:31.63 1000m 3:07.60 3:07.16 1500m 4:44.86 4:44.51 2000m 6:22.82 6:22.45
The Danes won their race over Germany by 3.3 seconds, while the Hungarians were .98 ahead of Italy; this might be a nuts final.
The adaptive events got underway today with several races for lanes; folks may remember that row2k reported that adaptive rowing has now joined the Paralympic Games docket. There are still some growing pains to overcome; leading up to today's races, three arms-only scullers were to have been declared ineligible due to not meeting the disability standard for the event; the ruling was overturned on appeal, and the rowers raced today.
Finally, judging from both email and humming on the buses, the song of the week is Styx's Mr Roboto, with lyrics that go roughly thusly:
"Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto,
Mata ah-oo hima de
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto,
Himitsu wo shiri tai
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto, domo...domo
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto, domo...domo
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto, domo...domo
Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
For doing the jobs that nobody wants to
And thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
For helping me escape just when I needed to
Thank you-thank you, thank you
I want to thank you, please, thank you"
I guess i shouldn't be surprised i haven't heard anyone singing the hardcore punkrock one-off "No Thanks Mr. Roboto..."
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