The USA has qualified the women’s pair for the Olympic Games next summer. Phew. Glad we checked that task off. And, with a spot to spare.

Portia and I needed to be in the top two in our B final yesterday in order to be in the top eight qualifying spots for the Olympics. So, that was our race plan. First step, get in qualifying position. This was all business.

Off the start, I was very frantic. I took the rate way too high and struggled to settle. We both were trying to get into our rhythm, but it sure took a while. Portia was right on in calling us to be cool. Over and over, she called ‘cool’. By about the 600 meter mark, we were finally in our rhythm. We were in the race, but the Russians and Canadians were up, but not by much! So, we took a push to get into a secure second position. The push worked and we moved.

Next step, go for the win. Canada often has lightning fast starts in a tail wind so it was no surprise that they were up at the 1000 meter mark by about a length. Portia called out our race plan and we pushed for the new race to begin there. It was in this second half of the race that we regained even more control of our own boat speed and started walking on the leaders. With 500 meters to go, we pushed longer and harder. Not higher like we had in our semi final. Learning from our last race, we found a confident push in sending our legs and started to walk toward the line with more speed.

With 250 meters to go, again we were still patient, but put our final push on to hold off Canada at this point. We made it to the line first and were so happy for one another.

Wow. We were only together for one week and we beat last year’s world champions and qualified the boat along for next year. That was a great achievement and a really good race for us. Portia went on to do her final in the four only two hours later. She won that too!

I on the other hand, have my next race today at 3:15. We are just about to leave the hotel and do a row during the lunch break to loosen up. This is it, the eight final. Our eight is ready to fight to the line every stroke. Go USA