A lot has happened since I left everyone at the opening ceremonies Tuesday night (hard to believe that was Tuesday). Racing was fully underway for all members of the USJNT, and even in the ever-changing wind, and sometimes pouring rain-- all of the scullers have been making huge strides for themselves and history for US Junior National sculling!
The women's double sculls, of the 'simply wonderful' Hannah Solis-Cohen, and Maria Maydan finished second in their heat on Thursday, immediately qualifying them for the a/b semi, which is already the best that a junior women's double has done, historically. And to follow that, the junior women's quad came back from a less than perfect heat, to place second to the Germans in yesterday's semi-final, advancing them to the medal hunt in today's GRAND FINAL. Each time this boat races better and better things keep happening! So if the trend continues, I think it's safe to say that this crew in on it's way to making junior sculling history as well. Everyone watching and following at home should be ecstatic abut the performance of our US junior scullers thus far, and with the a/b double semi and the quad's grand final rapidly approaching I'm going to ignore the cliche and say that it's crunch time for everyone here! As rowers it's easy to understand-- but to other people it might seem weird that some of us have spent the last year training for something that will not only be over in the next two days, but will last less than 7 minutes. But it's what we do! And racing at the World Championships you get to race athletes who are more like yourself than most people at home-- definitely one of the best parts.
My repechage yesterday (french for second chance) went well-- unfortunately well was not as fast as I needed it to be. I was drawn with scullers from the Czech Republic, Belgium, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, and Venezuela. After executing my race plan I could not make up the two second gap between the Belgian single and myself, putting me into a very tight third place and just missing the a/b semi final. If it had been a bad race I would be more disappointed, but looking long term, I definitely using this as a starting point for what I hope to accomplish in the future! Until then...c/d semi this morning, and C final this afternoon! (times were changed due to weather tomorrow).
Our sculling boys have also made history this week as the first junior men's quad ever to make an a/b semi, or an a/b final after an EXTREMELY tight race yesterday, just barely edging out Poland. Today they will battle it out in the semi-final for one of those top six positions.
Today's a big day for all crews... and it's been great racing here even in the less than great conditions. Last I was at the course it was overcast with light rain, a strong tailwind 0-500m and a strong cross for the remainder of the course. Hopefully that will calm down for the rest of the day's events. Look out today for our women's 2x semi-final, women's 4x grand final, men's 4x semi-final, and women's single c final!
LET'S GO USA!!
Also check our Facebook page for more pictures and updates! http://www.facebook.com/pages/USJNTScullers/184782091585486
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