We saw a bit of everything, events-wise, on the first really packed day of the program here in Racice: Para boats, lightweights, the Olympic pairs, and then fours and quads--plus the Light Women's Double, which is chock-full of returning crews from the epic Tokyo Olympic Final.
That first round of the LW2x produced probably the best result for the USA today: a wire-to-wire win by Michelle Sechser and Molly Reckford, the 2020 Olympians and Poznan World Cup winners, who looked every inch the force to be reckoned with once we get to the medals round.
The best race of the day belonged either to the Men's Four, as the (mostly) young US outfit weathered a charge from the Swiss to hold onto a qualifying spot, or the equally newly-boated Women's Double of Sophie Vitas and Kristi Wagner, who rowed through Germany to do the same. The Women's Pair and Women's Quad also advanced, as did Lightweight sculler Jimmy McCullough, who won his rep in the afternoon. The only crews to fall short of advancing directly were the Women's Four, Men's Quad and Para Four (PR3 Mixed 4+); all three will will rep tomorrow for another shot to move on.
The big news of the day was unfortunate: Kara Kohler did not get through her rep in the Women's Single. The World Rowing live blog called it a "shock result" and they were not wrong: the 2019 bronze medalist, who narrowly missed the Olympic final a year ago and then opted to return to the single after winning at Henley, came up short in her rep and will not make the top group of 12 scullers this year.
Kohler went back to the single even after earning a seat in the US Women's Double and winning a bronze medal at the Poznan World Cup--but today she could not overcome a courageous start by the Czech sculler Lenka Antosova on her home waters, nor could she catch Tokyo A Finalist Jeanine Gmelin, and third place--today--would not be enough to move on to the semi-finals.
The three Para races and the rest of the lightweight races today--LM2-, LW4x, LM4x--were all "just" preliminary races, so none of those crews were eliminated and all six got a chance to test the course and the competition: all are either new lineups or new to their event.
Light Women's Double, to Semi
The prevailing conditions from yesterday--wind, rain--were still kicking for the races in the morning session, though the water was appreciably flatter and the weather finally improved through the afternoon.
The Light Women's Doubles were out there before things started looking up, though, but according to USA stroke Michelle Sechser, the US duo was ready:
"We knew conditions would be a little bit testy today: pretty cold, pretty rainy, pretty windy. Molly and I have an approach that attitude is everything. We showed up with expectations for this kind of weather, and made sure we were prepared and that we didn't let it make us go negative or lose any of the excitement we had about getting back on the start line together today.
"It was good to be back on the blocks and get the first heats completed so we can advance. We certainly have a few things we're looking to sharpen up over the next few days.
"It's an interesting field this year because you have your three of the top four lineups from the Tokyo Final, which is incredible: seeing all three of those boats as full lineups, returned for another cycle. But it's also a post-Olympic year so you have a lot of new crews who are young and untested, and it's interesting to see that dichotomy in the field this year. A lot of Olympic medalists, veterans and young bloods that are hungry to get to the top, so we'll see how that plays out.
Men's Four, to Semis
With a good start that kept them in touch with Australia, the US Men's Four found themselves in qualifying spot ahead of the Swiss in the early going--a solid start for a new lineup that has three recent college grads aboard, along with Tokyo Olympian Nick Mead.
When the Swiss made their bid to pull ahead, the US, understroking the field, got down to racing. The result: a ding-dong back and forth battle that earned the US both the second spot ahead of the Swiss and some street cred, as they closed right up on the Aussies' stern, going 5:55 and change.
While it looked exciting from outside the boat, the racers inside the boat knew they had things in hand, according to stroke Rhett Burns:
"We've known in our training sessions that we have a good back half. It was the first senior national team race for Gus, Henry, and I, but we knew that we had something left that we could move with. We really just leaned on that, so when Switzerland made the move, it wasn't scary. We were able to just keep calm and collected and move back on them at the end."
"We know what we came here to do," Burns said, "so day by day, step by step, we're ready to go."
Burns won U23 silver with three-seat Gus Rodriguez in the US eight right here in Racice last summer, but when row2k asked if racing the senior four was any different that being in the eight, Rodriguez was quick to say no:
"It honestly doesn't feel any different. Racing is racing," he said.
The mentor figure in the crew is Nick Mead, on his fifth senior or Olympic team and--as a 2017 grad--a full college "generation" older than his boat mates.
Mead called rowing with the younger guys "refreshing."
"They don't have a lot of strong opinions. They just keep their heads down and row, and they're all really talented. It's been a really nice change for me to come back and be with some young talent. I feel like I'm learning more from them than they're probably learning from me, so it's been a good experience."
Women's Pair, to Semis
The Women's Pair--Claire Collins and Maddie Wanamaker--rowed a controlled race, understroking a determined Romanian pair that did eventually nip them in the sprint in the three-to-qualify heat.
With both crews doubling into their respective eights, first or second was not the main point, at least not in this round, but the two crews did throw down the two fastest times--ahead, even, of the Olympic Champs from New Zealand, who cruised to a win in their heat by 11 seconds over Ireland.
"We haven't raced since Poland in the pair," said Wanamaker. "We were just hoping to build from our result there, and perform what we've been doing in practice, which has been pretty good.
"We've been watching all the World Rowing racing, and we've seen that Romanian pair at Lucerne and Europeans. They've been up there with the Brits, won the European Championship, and were really close to the Kiwis. That Romanian pair is a really good measuring stick right now of where we are and I'm excited to go into the semis with that performance and, hopefully, match up against any other crews in the same way the Romanians have."
Women's Double, to Semis
The Women's Double for the US only came together mid-season, after Kohler pulled out to race the single. The change, however, brought Kristi Wagner, who rowed this event in Tokyo, back into the double, and the crew looks like they have maintained much of the speed Vitas had with Kohler when they won that World Cup bronze.
Today, in their first race together, Vitas and Wagner ran in third before using a strong second half to power through Germany to grab the second qualifying spot behind the very strong Dutch double.
"We knew that there was going to be a good push from the field in the first half of the race," said Vitas. "Staying calm was the big key for us.
"It's obviously good to skip the rep round," said Wagner. "There will be a lot of fast crews in the semis so the plan is to keep staying internal and focusing on what we can do."
"And," Wagner added with a laugh, "staying warm in this unexpected frozen tundra."
Women's Quad, to Semis
Like the double, the Women's Quad also came out of the second round of the USA's selection camps without any opportunity to race as a lineup, but they worked their way quickly and calmly into a qualifying spot today, behind the British and the Swiss.
"It was a good first race for us," said Savannah Brija, the first-time National Teamer in the two seat. "We executed what we wanted to do, but we still have room to improve and gain some speed. We're all pretty excited about that.
"The speed of the field is definitely quick in the first 500 meters, but we practiced that and we were ready for it, so there weren't any surprises.
"From here, the focus is going to be looking at whatever boats are in our semi, what we did well in this piece, what we can get better at for the next one, and then just having our best race that we can."
Light Men's Single, to Quarters
Jimmy McCullough made the most of his Rep in the afternoon, rowing more aggressively and taking the win outright by getting the better of both Finland's Kasper Hirvilampi, who also advanced, and Georgia's Giorgi Kanteladze. Getting away cleanly from a three boat tussle looked to be a good lesson to take on board for a sculler in his first world championships.
"I was a bit frantic heading into the heat and really never found my rhythm," said McCullough afterwards. "It was great to get another race in and find the rhythm I was looking for."
"Everyone's so fast that I'll certainly need that rhythm if I want to place well in the quarterfinal."
Para Events Round-up
Only one Para event had heats today--the PR3 Mixed Four--and the US drew the perennial champs from the GB. With just one to advance direct to the final, the race was effectively over as soon as the British went to the front, as they have done every year since 2010. The Americans, who are an all new crew in this post-Paralympic year, came home in fourth behind Germany and Italy--and will see both in the Rep round tomorrow.
The three Para events that ran Preliminary races today featured a mix of experience and folks in new events: Paralympian Russell Gernaat has switched to the PR2 Men's Single after racing the PR2 Mixed Double in Tokyo, 2019 national teamers Pearl Outlaw and Todd Vogt partnered up here in Outlaw's original event, the PR3 Mixed Double, and then Jennifer Fitz-Roy made her debut in the PR2 Women's Single.
Since these were preliminary races, or "races for lanes," none of the crews were eliminated based on their finishes, but they will now be seeded for the final based on the outcome.
Gernaat took third, Outlaw and Vogt came in fourth, and Fitz-Roy finished fourth in her four boat race.
The last Para race for the US gets going tomorrow, with Andrew Mangan--seen here coming in from his last practice row--making his debut in the PR1 Single.
"There's not a ton of PR1 singles in the US," noted Mangan, looking ahead to tomorrow.
"It's mostly me racing me over there, so it's exciting to have 17 other people here, with heats, reps, semis and finals.
"We're looking forward to getting some race experience this week. There's a lot of new guys in the event, and no one really knows how they'll race, so it'll be exciting to see how that fleshes out."
Mangan's heat features the reigning Paralympic and World Champion for Ukraine, Roman Polianskyi, but the race will be two to advance, with a rep for all the other scullers.
Up Next
Tuesday will see racing start at 9:30 local time again (3:30 EDT) in the events below, along with the Reps for the LW1x, W4-, M4x and PR3 Mixed 4+. Click these links for previews of each event:
Notes From the Course
Yep, Earplugs: We spotted the guys in the Canadian Men's Eight wearing what sure looked like foam earplugs out on the water--take a look here and here--and that is exactly what they are. According to Canadian Coach Maksym Kepskyy, the earplugs help tune out distractions and, more importantly, let the athletes tune into their breathing for mindfulness and focus. They can still hear the coxswain, who sometimes even does calls the old-fashioned way, by clapping on the gunwales. Now if we could just borrow some to use when that one row2k guy starts snoring...
Bunking at the Course: The Racice venue's infrastructure is pretty robust, down to sleeping accommodations on the second floor of the boathouse and in a two-story bunkhouse behind the boat area. Teams can stay there to run training camps and, this week, the Czech team and many of the athletes from World Rowing's Development Program are staying there, just steps away from their boats and the course.
Protect your Data? One downside of the easy-to-read display on your Garmin watch? The fact that the photogs at the start will get a good pic of your heart rate right off the start:
Uniform Drill: despite very similar conditions today: cold, rainy, and (did we mention?) cold, the start line officials were in full uniform rule enforcement mode today, making folks take off layers that did not match, remove--in one case--a tiny sticker that one athlete was wearing because her partner did not have one, and even making the Lobnig sisters "prove" that their shirts actually did match, down to the Osterreich on the sleeve, whew.
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