Well into their race, five of the six boats in the women's lightweight women's double semifinal Thursday looked like they were somehow connected.
One crew, Germany's Fini Strum and Leonie Pless, were out in front and rowing like they were going to leave everyone else to tussle over the second and third spots in the Saturday final.
Just after the 500 meter mark, the three giant TV screens over the venue in Nathan Benderson Park showed the US crew of Michelle Sechser and Emily Schmieg rowing in sixth place, three spots out of being in a position to earn a World Championship medal.
But that was only the positioning, and didn't tell the whole story.
In reality, Sechser and Schmieg were no further back than the crews from Romania, Great Britain, France and Russia with whom they were locked in a tight test of wills blasting through the water, matching the other athletes stroke for stroke.
From the shore, the race looked like a loud, hard brawl. But in the US shell, Schmieg said she could hear only her coach, Matt Madigan, cycling along on the bike path, and Sechser, who was rowing in the stroke seat and setting the pace and rhythm.
"It was actually remarkably quiet," Schmieg said. "I've rowed with Matt for three years and I can always hear him over the field, but Michelle and I communicate really well, so when she yelled 'I'm ready,' I heard her."
The call was for a preplanned "one percent lift," and a move that helped them inch past the other five bows in the pack, while Germany faded and fell back. The fight did not end there, but the US was on the move and holding onto first as they crossed in front of the stands, and reached the strand of red buoys that mark the final 500 meters of the 2000-meter course.
And that's where they heard the American fans erupt.
"I heard the crowd roar and the chants of USA, USA," Sechser said, "and I'll tell you, that's something else." It was the last extra push the US women needed to end the battle and launch themselves into the sprint, across the finish line in first place, and into the final.
"I could start to hear the roar just before the red buoy line," Schmieg said. "I was a little bit in the pain cave and then to just hear this U.S.A, chant - it's almost like you don't want the race to end."
It was that kind of day in Sarasota, FL, at the 2017 World Rowing Championships. This is the first time the US has hosted the event in over 20 years, and American fans turned out to cheer.
Besides Sechser and Schmieg, three other US crews earned places in the medal races including lightweight women's single sculler Mary Jones, and the men's and women's eights, both of which raced in repechages.
The men's eight won their race, edging New Zealand out of the lead in the second 500 meters and holding the rest of the way. The women's eight finished second in a close battle with Canada. Both crews will race in the Sunday finals.
Jones will get her crack at the podium Friday, the first day of medal races, along with the US mixed para double of Natalie McCarthy and Russell Gernaat. The mixed para double raced in a heat to determine lane placement for the final, finishing fifth.
Three other US crews raced in semifinals Thursday but did not qualify, including lightweight men's single sculler Nick Trojan, the men's pair, and the men's four. Trojan won his spot in the semifinal Wednesday, but could not repeat the result Thursday, finishing fifth in the semi; he will race in the B Final.
Lightweight Women's Single
Mary Jones has been tinkering with her technique this summer, rowing at a more reserved pace. Thursday, she matched the stroke rates of the other crews off the start but then settled into a lower rating and stayed there most the race, with the GPS system pegging her at 30 strokes per minute to the 33 and 35 of a couple of the crews around her. She started in third and then finished second behind Denise Walsh of Ireland.
"I was really trying to put in some long, hard strokes and settle into a good rhythm. I was a little lower than usual, but I liked the rhythm I was setting and I just went with it and got the job done," Jones said.
"The final is tomorrow, so it's a quick turnaround," she said. "I'm just going to look back at this race and see what I can improve on and see what I can do."
Men's Four
Most times when a crew misses making a final, there is more of a sense of disappointment than accomplishment. But when it's a young crew like Ben Delaney, Alexander Richards, Bobby Moffitt, and Ben Ruble, one that has raced only a few times together, a performance like the one they had in the Thursday semifinal can be satisfying.
After falling into sixth before the halfway point, the US crew made a move that pulled them into fifth in the third quarter and then into fourth before they ran out of room and finished one spot out of qualifying.
"We went out there and executed the race we wanted to execute," said Delaney. "We knew we had another gear in our sprint coming out of the rep. We knew we had easily the toughest semi, racing three gold medal contention crews, and we just wanted to go out there and show that our heat was not indicative of our speed. And I think we did that.
"We've been fine tuning a little bit the last three races. We improved on the things we wanted to improve on - from the heat to rep, it was the length, and from the rep to semi it was the sprint. Now I think it's just putting it all together, coming off the blocks a little faster, settling to a lower split and taking the win in the B final."
"I thought it was our best race," said Richards. "We've only had three 2ks together so we're pretty excited at how much we've been able to build over each one. It's a little disappointing not being able to close it up in the end, but it's on to the B final. We've only been together for a handful of weeks now, and we've had improvement each race and every day."
Men's Pair
Another US crew that fell short, but still raced hard was the pair of Anders Weiss and Michael Colella. They raced in fourth for most of the race and made several strong moves to stay close to qualifying position.
"We're a young crew and we went out knowing that we were underdogs in that race, and that if we were going to crack that A final we were going to going to have to go from the get go," said Colella. "We stuck right with the field in the start of that race. It's a great feeling when you really learn how to race at the world championships," he said.
"You race the pairs in the US and you have a glimpse of your speed against the crews there, and then you come here and it's a whole different ball game," Weiss said. "There are some fast pairs here. I told Mike our race plan is to go for it from the start and try to latch onto a boat in the lead and hold on for dear life. We had a really strong first half and I was really pleased with it. We were throwing some moves in that drew us back into the race. It was a battle."
Women's Eight
If there was one common theme among the US training center crews, that theme is young and learning. Racing for a place in the final from a repechage is not a familiar place for the women's eight, a crew that has won 11 consecutive world or Olympic gold medals.
Finishing second behind Canada, the women earned their place in the final.
"The race was awesome," said coxswain Katelin Guregian. "We made huge improvements just in getting into our rhythm, setting up for the race the way we wanted to out of the blocks, so we're really, really happy about that. There are areas we can work on at the beginning of the race and at the end, and I think we have clearly identified what we need to do from here, so it's just a matter of executing.
"It (the repechage) is maybe not a familiar place for the US women's eight in recent history, but it's a pretty familiar place for all of us as individuals and as teammates. Something that we do every day is race each other on the water and on the erg. No one is at the top of everything - no one has the best 6k and the best 2k, is the best pair racer, or the best big boat racer.
"We all have experience competing with each other," she said. "The team is very competitive and very deep, and that's something that prepares us for a tough day on the water against other countries, because we have tougher days on the water against each other."
Men's Eight
The men's eight was looking for a strong performance and a win in the repechage, not just to advance into the final, but to earn one of the inside lanes for Sunday's final. They did that, moving past New Zealand in the second 500 meters and staying in front for the win.
"It was a good race, but a hard one," six-seat Nick Mead said. "The Kiwis really tested us. We're excited to be in the final and keep improving towards Sunday. We have a couple of days off so we can just come down to the course, sharpen up some things we’ve been working on, and keep reaching these speeds."
Coach Mike Teti also felt the crew had raced well and that there is room to improve.
"I think they had a solid piece," he said. "We expected a tough race from New Zealand and we got it. These races are a good learning experience, especially for the new guys. Still need to improve if we want to get to the podium."
Cuban Women Sculler Missing
Cuban women's lightweight sculler Licet Hernandez-Licea, did not show up on the course to race Thursday and was reported missing by the Cuban federation to the Sarasota Sheriff's Department.
According to a local news report, Hernandez-Licea sent her team leaders an email notifying them that she was withdrawing. The Sheriff's Department is seeking the public's help in trying to determine where she is. The report said that because of the email, they did not suspect a crime has been committed.
Notes from the Course
An announcer definitely called Canada "Canadia" this morning; afterward, she said "Oh sorry, I meant Canada not Canadia."
A bald eagle made an appearance during racing, at first taking up a perch near the starting line, and then setting into a successful hunt; see this gallery page and the next.
Two lightweight men's quads got a "reprimand" at the start for "activities under the bridge" – which in this case translates to "peeing in the water."
Speaking of translations, can anyone translate this?
As I mentioned in our Jr Worlds coverage, the GPS tracking of the races has become unexpectedly compelling; the data seems better and faster, and the presentation has improved as well.
Drones started flying a bit more obviously today; coverage could get fun.
Coincidence or sign: during the second men's eight rep, an open cockpit prop plane was pulling an aerial banner ad for the local hospital's emergency room, eek.
Dragos Alexandru, the Romanian-born coach whose original vision of bringing rowing to the former fill ditch that is now hosting the World Championships has now come to massive fruition, was following all the races flying a Romanian flag.
Mary Jones' training partner Gevvie Stone showed up to see her protégé race today.
This training photo is a 72-second exposure; the others range from 25 to 62 seconds.
This photo is almost a perfect zig-zag of oars catch-finish-catch-finish etc.
There are a LOT of people on this page.
Camera and boat speed matching up.
Yellow white yellow white yellow white.
We are updating our How To Watch the 2017 World Championships feature regularly as new information comes in; keep an eye.
Find tomorrow's Start List here; see you then!
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09/28/2017 8:37:21 PM