Day 1: 2020 US Rowing Olympic Trials
MJ here reporting from Sarasota, FL on US Rowing Olympic Trials #1. I will largely be covering the lightweight women’s double event, sprinkled with some other boat classes and random rowing news. Our official statement on our coverage of the trials can be seen here or on our Instagram.
I have a few stories for you today.
1) Who scratched the lightweight women’s double?
2) Flirting with a world record
3) Removing Roadblocks on the Road to Tokyo
Who scratched the lightweight women’s double?
On February 8th, 2021, lineups for the US Rowing Olympic Trials #1 were set. 10 boats entered in the lightweight women’s double as discussed here by US Rowing.
However, today, Monday, February 22, only 9 boats went down the racecourse. One of the original 10 had scratched. It was a mystery unaffiliated boat: no identifiable club or lineup.
This past week I’d been keeping an eye out for who it might be. Two recent college grads who were flying under the radar? Two athletes that snuck out of retirement? Who was this double that had wanted to play?
It was two athletes who didn’t know that they had been entered.
These athletes that had been entered to race at Olympic Trials had raced at Nathan Benderson Park the weekend prior at a regatta for high schoolers: America’s Youth Cup Series I Regatta. It was their high school teammate, freshly 16 years old, who entered them into US Rowing Olympic Trials #1. The athletes originally thought they would be able to race the lightweight double at Youth Nationals in 2021. This was an event that Makayla Karr-Warner, racing at Olympic trials for Riverside, had won in 2013. However, that event did not exist anymore. US Rowing had taken away lightweight events for 2021. Rowing News covered it here. They swapped lightweight events with age group events: Under 15, Under 17, Under 19. The problem is that not everyone’s doubles partner, or quad, or eight will match up neatly by age, especially in smaller programs. This fundamentally changes the game and takes away opportunities from lightweight crews at the youth level.
But, after realizing that in fact 5 days of back to back racing with weigh-ins each day, two hours before racing, and coordinating a slew of background logistics before the race, including but not limited to: getting and submitting a physical, EKG, multiple COVID PCR tests, having to be on what’s called the Olympic Long List, and realizing that they would be racing up against athletes twice their age with 2k erg scores anywhere between 40–55 seconds faster than them…and also realizing their parents wouldn’t be too pleased… the boat scratched before Monday’s time trial.
The question stood: when would these high school lightweights get to race against someone their own size?
Flirting with a World Record
The event for selection for the Olympic Trials Boats follows the four-lane progression system outlined by US Rowing here*. Monday’s event was a 1900meter time trial where boats were sent down in alternating lanes one by one.
With no direct side-by-side racing, the time trial is a test of consistency and internal drive.
These athletes had followed various training plans and had found and committed to their partners in different ways. Average crew heights varied by 7 inches, but all had to stay within the same confines of an average boat weight of 57kg or 125.7 pounds.
There was this hovering feeling of potential around it all. What would the finish order be? The margins?
When the women’s single went off at 8am there was relatively flat water with a slight tailwind. The lightweight double at approximately 9:40 had different conditions.
There were visible rolling waves, adding “how well can you keep the boat chipping along in a strong tailwind and uneven water?” to be a key element for boat speed. This was in addition to other factors determining boat speed: the ways athletes handle and adapt to their weight management, the mental game, long-term training plan, short-term taper, technical changes, and partner dynamics.
The event went down with speed and intensity: Roberts and Saeger led it off with Reckford and Sescher closing it up. Sechser and Reckford finished the 1900m with a time of 6:30.06.
After the race, two coaches debriefing it together traveled down the paved path parallel to the course. One cruised on a bike wearing a bright yellow helmet, as opposed to his frequented cowboy hat, and another one on a set of rollerblades. They discussed the results in some degree of awe:
“6:30?!”
“6:30. That is fast!”
One of the athletes in that boat posted her time on her public Instagram story. They went 6:49.0 for 2000m with an average of 35 strokes per minute.
For context, the world record for the lightweight double is 6:47.69. It was set in 2016 in Poland at World Rowing Cup III.
So, within 1.3 seconds of the world record.
Fast indeed.
Roadblocks Removed to Tokyo
This performance came just a few hours after the news of the confirmation of the Final Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland from May 15–17th 2021. The winner of this trials race will need to place the top two at that race to earn a spot at the Tokyo Olympic Games. For a larger context on the American Rowing qualification for Tokyo, check out this video made by my friend Eamon.
But, the US Rowing Olympic Trials race is not done. The system of the four-lane racing progression ensures that it will be difficult for any boat to simply cruise into finals, and these athletes are here because they love to race side by side, and they will push each other.
And you never know what’s going to happen.
*I’ve noted an inconsistency and maybe someone can explain this to me, but Appendix B says that for events with 17 or more entries the top 14 progress…based on seeding on herenow.com, it appears that top 16 progress..
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