With the eights hitting the course to race for the first time, row2k had a chance to check in with three coxswains in the mixed zone today: the USA’s Rielly Milne and Nina Castagna, as well as GB’s Henry Fielding.
We asked them for their take on the wind, the course in general, and some of the calls they are making out there on the Olympic course…consider it the Paris 2024 edition of row2k’s In the Driver’s Seat column.
row2k – Talk to us a bit about what you’ve noticed with the wind on the course, either today or just in general.
Rielly Milne, US Men’s Eight – It had some gusts of wind today but it was a pretty constant and very manageable headwind, which we love. It sets the boat well. We’re strong crew but not too heavy so we can really get moving in a headwind. It was really optimal for us.
Nina Castagna, US Women’s Eight – There’s a little bit of breeze that seems to be building throughout the day. We’ve gotten either lucky or unlucky, depending on the eye of the beholder, with a little cross head on pretty much every trip we’ve gone down.
Henry Fieldman, GB Women’s Eight – The wind’s shifting around a lot. I was going through all the times for other events yesterday, and crews get quite similar times by the end, but they’re fast in different 500s, and I think a lot of that is the conditions. It was quite changeable today. I was expecting a dead headwind but was actually a cross headwind. I think it’s moving around a lot, but we just got to make sure that our pattern and our rhythm is robust enough to deal with that.
GB W8’s Henry Fielding
What’s good about today is that we’ve finished number one, so if it is a bit ‘lane-y’ [later in the week] we should be in a good spot. We can go in any conditions. We’ve shown that in training. We’ve had like absolutely everything thrown at us in the past few months, so I think we’ll be ready.
row2k – How about your general impression of the course, from the driver’s seat?
Nina Castagna, US Women’s Eight – The warmup is a little bit bigger than I’m used to, which is really helpful. You’ve got a couple lanes on the other side of that warmup area, so it’s pretty easy to get a clean shot to get your practice starts and practice bursts in. That’s nice because sometimes those those stretches are 500 meters and crowded, and you can’t get what you need.
I will say it’s pretty exciting to have some crowd noise, especially coming from University of Washington–the greatest setting in collegiate rowing, if not in the world of rowing. Having the Cut lined with people cheering is something that is very familiar to me. It makes racing a lot of fun. So hearing the crowd cheering here is exciting. I didn’t hear them too much during our race because I was focused on what we were doing, but especially watching the other races here in the crowd–and especially knowing so many families and friends are in there–it’s pretty exciting.
row2k – What’s your key to calling the start to get your crew out of the gate well?
Rielly Milne, US Men’s Eight – Nothing crazy, it’s just making sure we’re all on the same page. The first 15 strokes really get the boat moving, and then don’t let the opponents have a chance to breathe. Let them always be under pressure.
USA M8’s Rielly Milne
row2k – What’s your favorite call to make with your crew?
Nina Castagna, US Women’s Eight – A lot of its technical because these guys are total all-stars. They’re extremely responsive to the technical calls that I make. A lot of what I’m trying to do is make sure that we’re being effective in our rowing. So I’m bouncing between making sure we’re connecting to the top, being horizontal, really simple bodies, and making sure we’re holding and building speed through completing stroke.
During one boat meeting, I did hear my seven seat, Liv Coffey, talk about this idea of her telling herself at the start line, ‘yes, I can; yes, we can.’ That’s become a bit of a theme throughout the boat, this idea of like, yes, we can. We’ve done the training, we’re prepared, we’re capable. So in every moment of the race and of our race plan, there’s just that idea, whether I’m calling it or not, of ‘Yes, we can do this.’ And that seems to be driving the speed in a really cool way.
Full results from today’s racing can be found here, and more information about following the Olympic Regatta is on row2k’s Olympics Resources page.