05 Sep 2011
The fastest men in the world
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At the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia, the final for the men’s single sculls race is due to get under way at 13:20 (CET) and amongst the group of six, they range in height from the shortest, Great Britain’s Alan Campbell at 191cm to the tallest, Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand at 201cm. The six are also good friends.
We’re all pretty good friends,” says Drysdale. “I’ve trained with most o f the guys in the final. It’s great to be able to get together in training as you push each other to new levels.” All six scullers joined together to race in an eight, dubbed the Great8, for two popular head races in 2009 reinforcing their off-the-water friendship. But they will readily admit that during a race there is no love lost.
At the men’s single press conference both Lassi Karonen of Sweden and Drysdale said that they had a comfortable time coming through today’s semifinals and will thus be ready for tomorrow’s final. Karonen, who finished third in his semfinals said the goal for him was just to qualify.
Karonen is in the midst of his best season ever. He has medalled at all three World Rowing Cups, but he has yet to find the podium at the World Championship level. Karonen did not pinpoint any one thing that has attributed to his better season but noted a combination, “I have learnt to use my legs more and I’ve also adjusted some of the settings in my boat,” says the more muscular Karonen.
Karonen also gained inspiration from the win by fellow Swede, Frida Svensson in the women’s single sculls at last year’s World Rowing Championships. “She proved that you can do a lot when you just work hard.”
Both Drysdale and Karonen noted that Germany’s Marcel Hacker was looking very good through the week. Hacker missed last year’s World Rowing Championships as his partner had a baby and then six weeks ago Hacker underwent back surgery.
“Marcel looked very good this week,” says Drysdale. “He’s always been the best technical sculler in the field recently.” “I think he’s always a dangerous rower,” adds Karonen.
Olympic Champion, Olaf Tufte of Norway has also been coming up through the field this week after relatively average results over the last two seasons. Tufte came from behind in both his quarterfinal and semifinal to come very close to finishing first with a sprint that surprised even the seasoned rowers.
The reigning World Champion Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic is in lane two in the final. Synek has not lost an international final since 2010 and is the one that the rest of the field is looking to beat. But Synek faltered earlier this week when he finished third in his quarterfinal to just qualify for the next round. At the other end, Campbell is in a favoured middle lane having recorded the fastest qualifying time from today’s semifinals.
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