TRIALS

National Selection Regatta 1

Words: Tom Ransley / Photography: Brett Johnson

The first step towards forming the 2022 USRowing national team were taken at the Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Florida at the end of March. The 2022 National Selection Regatta 1 (NSR1) offered the winners of the men’s and women’s openweight single sculls the chance to race at World Rowing’s 2022 world cup series, in the second world cup. NSR1 also provided US athletes a chance to test their speed early in the season.

“Mission accomplished,” says Kara Kohler, the women’s openweight single sculls winner. The Texas Rowing Center (TRC) athlete produced a near-flawless display of sculling prowess at the selection regatta. “I was eager to get back into side-by-side racing again, the last side-by-side was at the Olympics,” says Kohler who performed best when alongside her opponents. It was only in the time trial that the two-time Olympian missed out on the top spot and finished second to her TRC teammate Sophia Vitas. “I wanted to make sure I was solidly in the top four because unlike previous years it was only the top four who progressed, so there was a little more riding on that race.”