I love how Tufte starts to take it away at 900 in, and then Juri Jaanson just picks it up another level to pass him. Then Tufte Explodes with 250 left.
to be honest i find it so much easier to get out ahead from the start, then you know where everyone is and can dictate the race. forget high rating, just massive strokes and ripping back with the body. efficient and fast
I think the start here is a good thing to show younger rowers who like to fly and die: the best rowers (medalists) are in 4th 5th and 6th while the rest of the field blasts out
You're right, really impressive mid 1000 from Jaanson (a fantastic performance, considering his age, turning 39 later that year). As the nerd I am, I decided to calculate the splits for all the rowers. If I'm not mistaken, this their mid 1000m times: Maeyens 3:30.64 Fernandez 3:30.33 Chalupa 3:29.82 Yanakiev 3:27.59 Tufte 3:26.65 Jaanson 3:25.36 All in all I'm happy that Tufte won, but then again I'm Norwegian, so pretty obvious who I would cheer. For Tufte is an absolute beast, especially in the finish. I'm really looking forward to see him in the 2020 Olympics. Jaanson got a silver in Beijing 08 (double sculls) at age 43, so anything is possible!
@NAXE5, you couldn't be more wrong in my opinion. In New Zealand, and still all around the World at the Elite level, the winners are those with the fastest starts. Our 2x is an exception, but NZ rowers row hard from the start and control the race. We also win lots of medals. The start is the most important part of the race to win, from there you can control the race and watch your opposition push up on you, and therefore react better to a challenge.
That's true, but Mahe doesn't try until he has to. He's a strong rower and everyone knows him. If it were a sprint race, he'd adjust tactics. Eg: I'm a smaller rower, so to try demoralise the bigger boys, I go hard out of the start and hold off with fitness. Others do it the opposite. My strategy relies on my fitness, as do a lot of other crews. In an 8+, yeah of course, making up ground is hard, and a 1x much easier, but still, I prefer being ahead from the start, as do most others I reckon.
@ChadAndrewsLovesGod true, but i feel the dominance of karsten in the last few years, apart from a few slip ups, shows that the standard in general is not as high, but fair enough :)
@ChadAndrewsLovesGod yea i was happy she finally got some competition haha! watching a procession isnt exciting ^^ this year Frida Svensson really stepped up from her previous performances, hope she can again till london olympics, i wanna see some world records broke!
I find in a 1X my favorite place to be is actually ~2m down (before 1500 at least). That way I know roughly where the other guy is but without being distracted. I find the sculler slightly ahead spends too much time watching the chaser and waiting to react.
@ChadAndrewsLovesGod maybe, norway certainly put alot of faith in him, i can't help thinking thats it though.. i hope he does get another gold because he is a phenomenal athlete, but remember, he's going to be 34-36(cant remember) at the time of the games, quite old for a single sculler at any rate, but i hope he makes it, one of my favourite athletes :)
In an 8+ I agree with you, but in the longer races like small boats the base rhythm seems to be more and more important. If the first 500 was the only important part then Alan Campbell would be winning. Instead Synek and Drysdale have a better middle race and invariably go through him. At this (2012) Olympics Drysdale was 4th at the 500m but got the win. I am not saying that the first 500 is not important, I know it is but in a long race you need a good middle 1000 and last 500 to follow up.
@ChadAndrewsLovesGod womans rowing standard isnt the best comparatively, most countries dont have their best in the scull, but point taken, like i said i hope he wins a medal at least :)
