Olympic champ Drysdale happy where he’s at
Double Olympic champion Mahe Drysdale has dipped his toes back into the waters of competitive rowing and pronounced himself content with a modest first-up result.
And the 39-year-old 2012 and
2016 Olympic single sculls gold medallist, and five-time world champion, has immediately declared he has weight to lose –
7kg, to be precise – and speed to gain as he sets off on the comeback trail that he hopes will lead to his fifth Games appearance at Tokyo
2020.
Drysdale has been on a yearlong break since the 2016 Games in Rio, but is now back on the water and looking to win back his spot in the New Zealand single scull.
He finished fourth in the single sculls final of the weekend’s Karapiro Club regatta, more than nine seconds behind winner and double sculls world champ John Storey
(7min 14.49sec). He had earlier come home third in his heat, 10s behind Storey.
Drysdale was was also beaten comfortably in the Karapiro final by training partners Jordan Parry and Cameron Crampton as he clocked 7:23.28 in his first 2000m regatta since Rio.
But the veteran sculler knows his body better than anyone and understands the process he has to go through to get back to the peak level that will enable him to shoot for the hat-trick of single sculls golds in Tokyo.
‘‘It was quite exciting going into the race with a bit of the unknown of how I would go after such a big break,’’ he said on Facebook. ‘‘I loved being back competing.
‘‘Overall I was very pleased with my progress and I’m probably ahead of where I expected I might be. There is still plenty of work to do, plus another 7kg to shed, but a positive weekend overall and looking forward to some more great battles over the coming weeks in training and regattas.’’
The master sculler is certainly biding his time in these early stages of his comeback.
He finished 13th at an endurance event in Italy in November and was fifth at last week’s Billy Webb Challenge on the Whanganui River, an event also won by the in-form Storey.