Lucerne, LUCERNE!

Start of the heat (copyright: rudern.de/ Seyb)

In the first rowing sessions I took on the Rotsee, I could not understand why so many people call that lake "Göttersee" (Divine lake). There where so many boats out there that the water felt soft and undefined, just like rowing behind a big ship.

Cooling down in the paddle pond after the heat

During the last few days I've anyways been disappointed by myself - my stroke does not feel as smooth as in Varese, my weight is doing whatever it wants and moreover, two of the several balls that I'm juggling with at work have fallen down (not to mention that my manager was so perfidious to tell me that this could impact his bonus...)
So all in all, not the perfect conditions to start a world rowing cup for me...
Moreover, what we had expected happened and 3 boats (ITA2, RUS and AUS) withdrew, which completely changed the progression mode.
I like the modus we had in Varese - making at least the third place in heat or repecheage and semi-final sounds somehow way more feasible than making either the first place in the heat or the second in the repecheage. Especially when having Imogen Walsh in the heat - it was somehow clear to me that I would not win that one.
So, what does one do in a heat like that - beside me and Imogen, there was as well Runge Holmegaard from Denmark. Deciding to save my power for the repecheage did unfortunately mean to let her pass in front of me as well - she's quite a quick starter, and usually I would overtake her around the 1000m mark which does not really fit with "go 500m as usual and then save your power."
Well, finally she was in front of me, and took a lot of effort to make Imogen tired...
Still, a race you row intentionally slowly is always somehow dissatisfying.


At least I finally discovered the wonderful water conditions the lake is known for on my training session on friday evening. But still, though the training stroke became better and better throughout the training sessions, the fast stroke did not really want to improve... somehow I was lacking the patience to let the boat float forward up to the attack and cut the movement by unnecessarily hardly immersing the blades.
After several discussions Markus did finally understand my problem and could give me a hint - to hold the elbows in a more relaxed position - which finally made the difference for the repecheage, which I could win lengths ahead of Jackie Kiddle (NZL2). This means the lineup for the final (this afternoon at 17:10) will be:


NZL2
GER
NZL1
GBR
DEN
ITA1

My prognose is the same as was for Varese: anything between 3 and 5.
Keep your fingers crossed...