Emily Regan didn’t have to think long about the last time in her career she had just rowed past an awards dock without stopping after winning a medal in a major international regatta. "One" was her quick answer. "Today."
With the circumstances Sunday in Lucerne, that was what she and her teammates in the US women's four that finished third at World Cup III did. As they rowed past the other athletes climbing out of their boats for the awards ceremony, the Americans left the race organizers a little confused and surprised - until word was passed on that they had to get back to the launching area and hot-seat into the women's eight for another final that was coming up in 45 minutes.
The medal podium had to wait.
When the eight final finished, Regan and the rest of the women from the US women's eight - including her teammates from the four that Regan rowed in - got back to the dock, pulled in and got out to collect another bronze medal, this time in person.
"I'm ready for a nap now," Regan said when the medal ceremony ended and she was finally able to row back to the boatyard for good, or at least for the rest of the afternoon. The break won't last long, as the entire US women's team was headed back home to resume selection camp in Princeton, New Jersey for the 2018 World Rowing Championships, in Plovdiv, Bulgaria in September.
And that was the bigger purpose for racing the Lucerne Regatta this weekend. For Regan, and for nearly every athlete, coach and team competing in Lucerne this past weekend, the coming World Championship was not far from mind.
Following earlier World Cup racing, there is still time to make critical adjustments and decisions about the international season. But by Lucerne, the time to adjust had narrowed to less than two months, and the final World Cup can mean different things for each of the athletes, all of them important.
For some it meant finding international racing speed after locking up positions on their respective national teams. For others, it could mean the last chance to make a boat. It came down to that for New Zealand's Mahe Drysdale and Robbie Manson, who have been battling each other all spring.
To the US women's team, the regatta represented a chance to make a last impression before the team boats are chosen.
And, based on the results those impressions probably made the choices for the coaches both more difficult, and promising. Between them, the US women's sweep group won three bronze medals racing in different crews, including the pairs, the fours and the eight.
A fourth bronze medal was added to the pile by Ellen Tomek and Megan O'Leary who capped of a hectic two weeks that included racing in US trials back in the States, and then flying over to Lucerne to represent the US for the sixth straight season in the women's double.
"We always love to be back here in Lucerne and racing," Tomek said. "The competition is always great, and we knew going into this race, at least to the thousand it was going to be six boats across, and it was.
"We ended up with a bronze medal, which is awesome," she said. "It never feels good to have two crews beat you, but it also just makes you hungrier for the World Championships."
One other US woman who made Lucerne a success for her season is Kara Kohler. Kohler won the chance to race for a direct spot on the 2018 team in the first National Selection Regatta this spring on Mercer Lake, New Jersey.
She needed to at least place in the A final to secure her spot in the women's single, and avoid having to race in the upcoming final US trials. Having achieved that goal, she finished fourth in the final.
For the US sweep men's group, which is really the under 23 team that will race in Poznan, Poland in the World Rowing Under 23 World Championships soon, it was an opportunity to gain race experience and confidence, to race up a level and do it well.
The men sent two crews, a four and an eight. The eight made the A final with the second fastest time in the heats, and then finished fourth, not that far out of the finish and in the pack to the end.
"We came here to gain international experience and show the guys the level of international eights, and I think we did that," said men's under 23 coach Mike Callahan. "We wanted to gain experience, and we wanted to develop, and we wanted to get in tough races. I think we exceeded our goals.
"I think the guys learned the difference between collegiate rowing and international rowing and hopefully they are able to use that for the next step. This is a stepping stone for the under 23s and hopefully we gain some confidence and know who we are a little bit more," he said.
"It was really incredible," said Michael Grady, seven-seat in the men's eight. "Just being with some of the fastest crews in the world is just amazing for us. Going from here to Poznan, it allowed us just to see what we have, and kind of get time on the sheet to know how fast we can go.
"Hopefully, it will give us confidence for U23s. You can never be too confident," he said. "But we'll just keep doing what we've been doing and hopefully we'll keep producing."
Overall, the weekend was a solid performance for the US national team, and one that US High Performance Director Matt Imes felt was also a good step forward for this season and for the next few years, building toward the 2020 Olympics.
"(Women's coach Tom Terhaar) and the women have done a nice job since the World Championships in Sarasota, building the group and raising the level," Imes said. "This weekend showed good progress and it was a good marker to judge where things stand internationally. I think the group can see the work starting to pay off, and it will continue to improve, not just for Worlds this year, but as things ascend to 2020."
As for the development of the men's team, Imes said: "It was great to give the U23’s opportunities as well this summer both here, and for the U23 women at Henley last week. We'd like to be able to continue to try these things in the future because it has a direct impact on the strength and depth of our athlete pool for the future. The group here in Lucerne really raced well in preparation for Poznan," he said.
If World Cup III had high stakes for the US athletes, for some in the other international federations, it was even higher.
Coming back after taking a year away from racing after winning his second consecutive Olympic gold medal in the 2016 Olympics, Mahe Drysdale has been battling all season with fellow New Zealand single sculler Robbie Manson for the right to row for New Zealand in this year's world championships.
Manson has had the best of Drysdale in racing leading to the weekend, and even after winning a sixth Henley Royal Regatta Diamond Challenge Sculls title a week ago, Drysdale could not beat Manson in Lucerne, ending the Kiwi selection battle, at least for this season.
With both Manson and Drysdale in the men's single final, it came down to Sunday's race. Both Kiwis trailed through the early going, but Manson pulled past the field in the last 500 meters and crossed the line with an open water lead.
Drysdale was sprinting to stay ahead, but when Manson went past, he looked over and then fell into fourth. The win locked Manson's position for the coming World Championships, and took some of the focus off the battle for the seat that has been a spotlight all season for both scullers.
The 28-year-old Manson finished, more than four seconds ahead of Germany's Oliver Zeidler and three-time Olympic medalist Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic.
"That was definitely selection for this year, so I'm pretty happy," Manson said. "I've been much faster all year and I was confident. But it's just good to get the job done so now I can get a bit of a rest."
Through the entire season, Manson said he has tried to just stay focused on his own training and racing and away from the multiple news reports in the sports pages.
"I just stuck to what I'm doing," he said. "I'm pretty confident on how I'm going and I feel like I can get a lot faster still, so yea, it's still a work in progress and I'm confident going forward."
In the women's single, reigning reigning World Champion Jeannine Gmelin of Switzerland continued her season with another win. Gmelin has been leading the women's single circuit since last season, and won the Princess Royal Challenge Cup last week in the Henley Royal Regatta.
With Gmelin holding the lead by about a second coming into the grandstands in a tight pack that included Ireland’s Sanita Puspure, Canada's Carling Zeeman and Kohler, Gmelin crossed first to win by 0.23 seconds. Puspure finished second, followed by Zeeman and Kohler.
In the awards area, Gmelin said winning was extra rewarding because it wrapped up a solid World Cup season, and because she got to share the podium with good friend Zeeman, who stood next to her at last year's Lucerne regatta with Gmelin winning and Zeeman finishing second.
"Before our race today, I said it would be so cool if we could share the podium again because we did it last year and because it was such a cool experience," Gmelin said. "Now we did it again and I think we are both really happy. We both wish each other well. We kind of suffer with each other during racing and celebrate with each other on the podium, so I think we couldn't wish for a better end.
"I was really relieved at the finish," Gmelin said. "I wished for a hard fight and I got that and I came out with the better end. What else could you want?"
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