Russell has packed Olympic schedule
Fall River kayaker racing three events for Canada
“We may not know exactly how we stack up against the rest of the world until Tokyo, but there's a lot of freedom in not being bound up in expectations.”
Michelle Russell
Michelle Russell has a jampacked Olympic schedule, but the Fall River kayaker wouldn't want it any other way.
Russell will compete in three events in Tokyo — K1 200 metres, K-1 500m and K-4 500m —w meaning she has the potential to race every day of the Canoe/kayak competition.
The Canadian Olympic debutant knows the importance of her day-to-day recovery and has a plan in place to help her advance past the heats.
“Since I do have a full racing schedule, proper recovery between races and at the end of the day will be my biggest focus,” said the 29-year-old. “Making sure I have enough to eat and drink along with dealing with the heat and humidity are how every one of my races will be the best possible effort.”
Even with the busy schedule, Russell, like all athletes at the Games will have a lot of time on her hands due to COVID-19 protocols. Athletes are being asked to take a cautious approach while in Tokyo. Missing will be the social opportunities of engaging with athletes, attending other sports and sight seeing.
Without going into detail, Russell said she is devising ways to fill her time while away from the Sea Forest Waterway, the site of the canoe/kayak competition.
“I've begun planning ways to keep me healthily distracted from one race day to the next,” said Russell. “The Olympic schedule is almost half days of racing, so there's a lot of free time to consider.”
The five-foot-five dynamo has raced at six world championships, but Tokyo will be her first Olympic Games. Russell is still in awe of the fact that her Olympic dream is about to be realized. The team leaves for Tokyo on Sunday.
“I feel like I've approached my paddling career by taking everything one step at a time, especially this past year with COVID,” she said. “At this point, it still hasn't sunk in that I'm going to the Olympics. I'm afraid if I say anything out loud, COVID is going to come in and change everything. I know that once I am on the plane to Tokyo it will set in and become real.”
Women's national team kayak coach Chad Brooks of Lake Echo said Russell used the disappointment of not making the 2016 Rio team as fuel for Tokyo.
“She's ready,” said Brooks. “After the disappointment of not making the last Games we discussed how to make sure that didn't happen again. So we did everything we could collectively to make sure she put herself in the right spot to succeed.”
The plan worked for Russell, who along with K-4 teammates Alanna Bray-lougheed, Andreeanne Langlois and Madeline Schmidt, are ready to take on the world.
Russell said the crew has been going strong and cited a recent practice to describe their ability to improve on the fly.
“The K4 is doing really well right now,” said Russell. “Even if we don't feel 100 per cent, whether we're fatigued or sore from training, we still are able to work on ourselves as crew and improve over whatever workout we are doing. As an example, last week, we did two time controls where the first one felt like there was more to give. We talked through what we needed to do to improve the second effort and we went faster. That sort of change makes me excited to go to Tokyo and show the world what we can do.”
Brooks said the focus for Russell has been on the K-4, but her training in K-1 has been fantastic.
“Our focus has been centred around the K-4 for the past couple of years, but Michelle plays a crucial role in the boat,” said Brooks, who was an apprentice coach at the 2016 Rio Games. “She's not leading the conversation, but when she speaks, everyone listens.
“Her training in K-1 has been going really well. I'm seeing very competitive times. It's also hard to know where we are relative to the world as it's been two years (since international competition).”
Russell's last international competition was the 2019 world championships in Szeged, Hungary. She placed 16th in the K-1 200 and the K-4 crew was 12th.
For the athletes, the two-year international gap feels like a lifetime ago. The competitor in Russell can't wait to line up with her Olympic rivals.
“We are very excited to finally be able to get to race against the world's best paddlers again,” she said. “It has been a while, but we feel like we have the opportunity to surprise our competition. We may not know exactly how we stack up against the rest of the world until Tokyo, but there's a lot of freedom in not being bound up in expectations.”
Russell opens the Olympic competition on Monday, Aug. 2, with the K-1 200. The K-1 500 begins on Wednesday, Aug. 4 and wraps up with the K-4 competition starting on Friday, Aug. 6.
Brooks is looking forward to watching Russell turn it on in Tokyo.
“Michelle is like a quiet assassin,” said Brooks. “She's a reserved person in everyday life but when the gun goes she turns into a beast. As a coach I know I can trust that Michelle will race well and if she's does make a mistake it will fuel her for the next race.”
Russell is a little more subdued when talking about her Olympic goals, knowing she can only control her lane when she hits the water.
“My main goals for Tokyo are to have the best performances possible and to have fun,” said Russell. “It doesn't matter if the result is first or dead last. If I leave the water knowing I couldn't have done anything more, with a smile I'll be happy.”