World Championships

Another World Championships has come and gone and this one did not disappoint. Unfortunately the organization was what we all expected here in Brazil and the weather opened up with a torrential down poor but in the end the racing by the medal winners was intense and inspiring.

 

The qualifier was very interesting for me as I went out on my first run and left my brain in the start gate. After dipsydoodling my way down the course and accumulating six seconds in penalties I found myself in 52^nd position. As only 40 boats qualify for the semi final I had my work cut out for me on second runs. My coach Jim Jayes reminded me that I had been in this same position before and we went to work to craft a better second run. Strangely I was quite confident heading into my second run and while still staying in the middle of the gates and not risking anything I was able to put down a top ten run and qualify. I almost threw it away at the finish line though when I caught a boil and went too far to the right and had to stop dead to avoid a pile of rocks, I lost over two seconds and in retrospect should have just paddled over the rocks.

 

I felt good for the first run of the final, the course looked good and I was feeling confident after my second run in the qualifier. Unfortunately I had to start early because of my trouble in qualifying and that meant I didn’t get to see how fast some of the flush gates were running. Coupled with the fact that I was in the Semi final alone and had to be somewhat conservative to ensure that I qualified a nation spot for Canada for next years Olympic Games. The run went fairly smoothly although I lost some time in gate six and in gate nine. In gate 19 the wind blew the pole into my arm and that touch was the kicker. Even with the conservative paddling I would have been just outside of the final in 11^th place but the penalty dropped me down to 20^th. At the moment it looks like I qualified the last nation spot available at these world championships so at least that goal has been achieved.

 

Looking forward I am off to China in October to train on the Olympic Venue, it looks like I will be making the trip alone as no team staff are going to support me there. I had a lot of fun on the Beijing course and it will be a great opportunity to spend a few weeks dialing in some Olympic specific technique.

 

While this season wasn’t quite what I wanted with the food poisoning at the world cup and not making the final for the world championships, there were still some highlights. Finishing 6^th in the overall for the World Series which was held on water more like the Olympic Venue than the World Cup and 5^th at the Pre Olympics definitely instills some confidence that with the right type of preparation for next year, anything is possible.