June 2023: Raphael Ahumada Ireland

Raphael Ahumada Ireland has just turned 22. And his season is off to a great start: with his rowing partner in the lightweight men’s double sculls, they lead the World Rowing Cup series, after their wins at the 2023 World Rowing Cup I in Zagreb and 2023 World Rowing Cup II in Varese, and are the freshly crowned European Champions in this boat class. He is our June 2023 Rower of the Month.

You had a great start to the season with a gold medal at the first two World Rowing Cups and also at the European Championships. How was the start to the season for you?

The first World Cup went pretty well like last year. With Jan, we had won the first World Cup last year, so this time around, we tried to do our thing just to take this opportunity, to improve and to gain racing experience after we had a good winter season.

We also alternated quite a bit with three athletes in the boats because there is also Andri (Struzina), who is now in the lightweight men’s single sculls. Then we had the selections which were in March, and we trained a little more than a month together for the first World Cup. Afterwards, it went really well but we proved that there were still two or three things to improve if we really wanted to be on top for the European Championships.

I think racing at the first World Cup really gave us race conditions to train in, which is really good. After that, we continued with a two-week training camp in Italy, internally in Varese. We really made progress during that camp. We worked on the points that we needed to improve a bit from the first World Cup and I think it was going really well. I knew we were really fast, that it was possible and if everything went very well, it was possible to achieve a very good result.

At the Europeans, we were able to learn from each race and in the final, everything went as planned. We were both really in the moment in Bled, and we were able to improve in the areas in which we had been less successful in previous years.

With two wins at the first World Rowing Cups, will you be looking to complete the World Rowing Cup ‘Hat Trick’ (wins at all three world cups in the same boat class in the same year) this year?

We’re definitely going for the Hat Trick in Lucerne. The World and Olympic Champs from Ireland will be there and we can’t wait to race against them, to see how we progressed from last year. They are surely the favorites but we won’t go there to finish second!

Your sister is also on the Swiss team. How is it to have rowing be such a part of your family life?

Well, our parents had nothing to do with rowing. I had started rowing before my sister. Before rowing, she did  synchronized swimming at a very high level too. At one point, it was a bit too much for her. I spoke with her about rowing, she saw that I really liked it, that there was a good atmosphere in the sport.

I think, having both of us rowing brought us a lot closer in the sense that we can talk about our trainings, we can support each other, we can give each other advice.

How did you get into rowing?

My aunt rowed for leisure in a club in the German part of Switzerland. She always told me that I’d have to try once.

I started rowing in 2013. We had received flyers from the Forward Club Morges for a week-long initiation programme. It was on vacation and decided to sign up and try with my best friend.

At the end of the week, I said to myself, it’s really cool. At the time I played a lot of ice hockey too. But there was a little thing that really told me to keep rowing. Plus I thought “I’m not too bad”, even after a week. I loved the atmosphere, the team spirit.

I did both rowing and ice hockey simultaneously for a year. It was a lot at the time – rowing at least three times per week, and in addition three or four ice hockey training sessions per week. On weekends, I was having ice hockey matches and I realised I was missing my rowing training. So I made the decision to stick to rowing.

When you aren’t rowing, what are you doing?

I’m a student in architecture. I’m lucky to have an elite sport status in Switzerland, which allows me to do my bachelor’s degree in a bit more time than normal. Last year, I managed to do both training and racing, and study as well. I do a few things on the side of training at the moment, but I’m a bit stuck because most of the credits I have left of my degree need to be done in person. So for now, I feel a bit on hold.

But since I have less hours of studying at the moment, it also allows me to take more time for myself. It helps me recover better and sleep well, eat well and take more time for myself, reading books, etc. I have a little more time to do other things.

What are your upcoming goals in rowing?

One of the big goals this year is the Olympic qualification. That’s what we have our sights set on. I hope it’s going to go well then.

Do you have a favourite place to row, in Switzerland or internationally?

Of course, the Rotsee (in Lucerne, Switzerland). It’s unbelievable that the third World Cup is at home. There are tons of Swiss supporters, and there is more attention in the Swiss media. It’s nice because we have the impression that more people are interested in rowing, and there are so many supporters who can come and watch the event.

But then it’s true that I was surprised by Bled in Slovenia. Bled, even if it’s not calm – there are waves, there’s wind – but that’s magnificent, it’s really beautiful and I think these conditions don’t bother us too much. With Jan, we manage quite well to work in these conditions. I’m not someone who is too bothered by the conditions.

If you had one piece of advice for someone starting rowing, what would it be?

It would be to take pleasure in it, to benefit a little from each training session, to exceed or to relax when different objectives. That’s where the fun is.

Then after that, also not to let go. Sometimes things don’t go the way you want them to, but only perseverance pays off. Sometimes there will be failures, but that’s ok, you just need to push through it.

Do you have a memorable piece of advice that was given to you?

The coach of my club in Morges (Switzerland) once he told me that we weren’t machines. Who we are, we aren’t tuned to perform at our best all the time. So you shouldn’t expect yourself to be so on top all the time, to want to do more than six months at peak performance in one year. We are not machines, we’re humans.

We will all sometimes be good, sometimes not so good. Sometimes it’s too much for the body and you have to know how to listen to it, just know how to regenerate.

Do you have an athlete or mentor you look up to?

I don’t look up to any particular person because I think you can get really good things out of everyone. There are people who are good for one thing, others who are good for another. But I think that in each person, there is good. There are things that are doing very well and things that are not doing so well.

So I think I take inspiration from a lot of people, and I think I can draw good and I positive in each person.

 

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Catch Raphael Ahumada in action at the 2023 World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne, Switzerland, from 7-9 July 2023.