Wiggins disappointed with his rowing debut but vows to return stronger
Five-time Olympic cycling champion Sir Bradley Wiggins says he will be back rowing next year after his debut ended in disappointment.
The 37-year-old, who retired from cycling in December 2016, was competing in the elite men’s two-kilometres event at the British Rowing Indoor Championships at the LeeValley Velodrome.
Wiggins has previously floated the possibility of going to a sixth Olympics, but this time as a rower at Tokyo 2020, when he will be 40.
But his inexperience in the event on rowing machines, such as those found in most gyms, was apparent as he paused early on, thinking he had false started.
He recovered his rhythm, but shook his head at finishing in 6 min 22.5 sec as Adam Neill won for a second successive year.
“Huge disappointment today!” he wrote on Instagram.
“Upon hearing a call in the background, I thought the race had false started so I put my oar down. Schoolboy error but hey we live and learn as my plan
was 6.02. Fantastic experience racing with everyone, will come back 12 months stronger next year!”
Neill finished in 5 min 48.2sec as members of the Great Britain rowing team filled the top five.
Wiggins was a respectable 21st out of 99 entrants, but left the competition area swiftly before leaving the velodrome soon afterwards.
He had set himself a target time of 6:05, said two-time Olympic rowing champion James Cracknell, who has been acting as a mentor.
“He’ll be hurting a lot, but he won’t leave it like that,” Cracknell said.
“He doesn’t want to go out on failure.
“He’ll regard that as failing to achieve his target and he’ll make sure he comes back and does it better.”
Wiggins may be running out of time if Tokyo is really in his sights.
Sir Steve Redgrave was 38 when he won his fifth gold in Sydney, but had a sporting lifetime of rowing behind him.
British Rowing chief executive Andy Parkinson said: “It’s not quite as simple as pulling some good ergo times and dropping yourself in a boat.
“Our trials process tries to be as democratic or fair as possible.
“We don’t prejudice anyone coming into the system, but we don’t provide any favouritism either.”