World Rowing Cup III: Lucerne, Switzerland.

One down. One to go. It’s the Saturday before Finals Sunday, and I’ve been spending the day with my doubles partner, Ellen Tomek resting and preparing for our A Final of the Women’s Double Sculls set for tomorrow (Sunday) July 14th, 1:31pm local (7:31am ET). We were awarded a day off with our win yesterday in the heats. After an early morning paddle, breakfast and a nap, we’ve been passing the time watching the day’s races on the World Rowing Race Tracker and cheering on our fellow USA teammates.

In our heat yesterday we faced Belarus, New Zealand, and Canada, topping the competition with an overall best time of 6:48.60. Belarus is a stacked boat with perhaps the most renown women’s rower Ekaterina Karsten who is a two-time Olympic Champion (plus the silver and bronze she won in 2004 and 2008) and six-time World Champion. Not too shabby. The quick and feisty New Zealand double won World Cup I in Australia earlier this year, so we knew we had our work cut out for us. The goal is obviously always to win. In this instance, a top-2 finish in the heat would advance us directly to the A Final, avoiding the repechage.

We had a solid start and carried it all the way down the course to put together a strong first race on the Rotsee. I’ll have to admit it was pretty cool to win my first international race and to wear the Team USA uniform.

In tomorrow’s A Final we’ll face World Cup II winners Great Britain, 2013 European Championships winners Lithuania, Belarus, New Zealand, and USA2 (our teammates and 2012 Olympic bronze medalists in the women’s quad Megan Kalmoe and Adrienne Martelli). It should be a tight race with six boats across all the way down the course.

If you’re interested in watching a nail-biting, fist-clenching race, wake up early tomorrow morning (Sunday, July 14th) and watch the Women’s Double A Final LIVE at 7:31am ET (1:31pm local) on the World Rowing website.