Concept2 Forum

henrik stephansen beat his pr by 1.1 seconds, bringing him to a 5:57.4. CRAZY!

Whoa!

He's CRAZY alright.
Makes no sense going all out to break a world record on an erg at this time of year when the Olympics aren't until August.
Peaking too early or doing such 100% max efforts now is not a smart thing to do. Winning Olympic medals in the boat is far more important than breaking records on an erg. You only have to read Drew Ginn's blog to see how stupid this sort of thing is.

Rockin Roland wrote:He's CRAZY alright.
Makes no sense going all out to break a world record on an erg at this time of year when the Olympics aren't until August.
Peaking too early or doing such 100% max efforts now is not a smart thing to do. Winning Olympic medals in the boat is far more important than breaking records on an erg. You only have to read Drew Ginn's blog to see how stupid this sort of thing is.

I wouldn't be so sure he and his coaches don't know what they were doing. What makes you so sure he was peeking for this? Sounds like he took it seriously and sharpened some, but I bet it was less strain then a great many going through trials to be selected for their national teams.

Rockin Roland wrote:He's CRAZY alright.
Makes no sense going all out to break a world record on an erg at this time of year when the Olympics aren't until August.
Peaking too early or doing such 100% max efforts now is not a smart thing to do. Winning Olympic medals in the boat is far more important than breaking records on an erg. You only have to read Drew Ginn's blog to see how stupid this sort of thing is.

Have you seen the video of his record breaking row? There's no way this was a max effort for him (which is very, very scary!). He finishes the row, raises his hand in the air, and starts speaking to an interviewer literally 20 seconds after he's done.

I'm fairly certain that given the history of success of the Danish lightweight rowing program, they know what they're doing.

becz wrote:
I'm fairly certain that given the history of success of the Danish lightweight rowing program, they know what they're doing.

There are very few lightweight events in London for him to contest. Realistically he's only got the LM2X event. In this event he has never medalled. I think 8th in 2009 was his best result. So a medal for him in London looks unlikely. Breaking an erg record in an Olympic year will be all in vain for him because he won't be able to match it with such a performace on the water in London. All of those finishing in front of him in London will have weaker erg scores. So an erg world record doesn't always garuantee an Olympic medal.

P.S. How can anyone say that breaking a world record on an erg is not a max. effort? Surely next morning when he got out of bed he wouldn't have felt 100% fresh.

Rockin Roland wrote:

becz wrote:
I'm fairly certain that given the history of success of the Danish lightweight rowing program, they know what they're doing.

There are very few lightweight events in London for him to contest. Realistically he's only got the LM1X event. In this event he has never medalled. I think 8th in 2009 was his best result. So a medal for him in London looks unlikely. Breaking an erg record in an Olympic year will be all in vain for him because he won't be able to match it with such a performace on the water in London.

P.S. How can anyone say that breaking a world record on an erg is not a max. effort? Surely next morning when he got out of bed he wouldn't have felt 100% fresh.

Stephansen won the World Championships last summer in Bled in the LM1X. He's currently the fastest on and off the water. However, there is no LM1X event at the Olympics, so he either has to make it into the LM2X, or try to race up in the HM1X.

As far as max effort or not, all athletes go through testing. My guess is they used this race as a check point, and he was given the green light to go with whatever level of effort he wanted.

becz wrote:

so he either has to make it into the LM2X, or try to race up in the HM1X.

As far as max effort or not, all athletes go through testing. My guess is they used this race as a check point, and he was given the green light to go with whatever level of effort he wanted.

Perhaps that was in the back of his mind when he went for the world record on the erg. He realized that he was unlikely to medal in LM2X(previous best result 8th in 2009) and no chance in HM1X, so he went for broke on the erg.