WC1 Heats

About an hour until I get on the bus to go down to the course and get ready for my Heat. I'll put my boat down in slings, go over things, and then lay low until I begin my warm up. There are 34 entries in the M1x and it is going to be very tough racing from the moment the flag goes down today. It's not atypical to have this number of entries, but I think the depth and quality of this field is particularly notable. There are a lot of guys, including myself, who typically row in other events that are starting the season in the single and make it so there is no drop off in the field. I need to get top 4 in my heat to progress to the quarterfinals this evening at 6 pm. In my Heat, I have two German scullers including 21 year old Oliver Ziegler who began sculling just two years ago and recently went 5:38 on the erg and finished second at German Trials. My buddy and Olympic medalist Kjetil Borch of Norway will be right next to me. Rounding out the field will be the Hungarian and Korean scullers. I've beaten both of them in the past, but especially the Hungarian, who was second at the Last Chance Regatta in 2016 and finished in the C Final in Rio, has some really good speed. So plenty of competition to push me along out there! Looking forward to getting going and seeing what I can do. I feel like this has been my best year of training yet and that I'm ready to attack this regatta one stroke at a time. Thanks to everyone who is following back in the states, GO USA!