This was an awesome race...Thanks for posting. I remember when Tufte celebrated by roaring his delight on the podium..crumpling into tears very soon after. Just shows what it meant to him.
sorry, but do YOU row? rowing is a 2k race, not a 20k... of course you get out as fast as you can to gain a good position and to settle into an effective rhythm for the middle thousand. single sculling at olympic level is all about who wants it most - and vaclac chalupa ("the guy in the white boat") definitely knew what he was doing. cheers
It wasn't a sprint, though. And.. Getting a gap to the others might be a good thing if they are sure you'll break. Then they won't bother increasing their pace, and you will have a greater chance of winning. Just take cycling as an example, why do people bother to break out from the rest if they knew they'd lose on it? Because they just might win it all... If they know they have no chance to win under regular conditions, it's just pure logic.
If you take a big lead from the beginning and you manage to create a big gap the others could get demotivated. It could be a great advantage if your oponents aren't that strong mentally, but I believe there is any one in the final that isn't.
