Olympic champion Mahe Drysdale now knows the training anguish he needs to endure to get within striking distance of a medal at the world rowing championships next month in South Korea.
Drysdale was beaten in the quarter-finals of the Diamond Challenge men's single sculls yesterday at the 164th Henley Royal Regatta. Aleksandr Aleksandrov of Azerbaijan extended a 2.14s lead at the half mile mark into 7.41s (or four and a half lengths), by the end of the one mile and 550 yard course. Aleksandrov finished fifth at the London Olympics.
Walking up the Berkshire side of the course, picnic parties began murmuring Drysdale's name in startled tones as he struggled to maintain parity with his opponent midway through the race. The exertion emitted by the 34-year-old Kiwi was audible on the embankment as he begins a three-year journey in pursuit of a second Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro.
"I haven't done much training and it affected me. I didn't do as well as I would have liked. If I can find 12 seconds over 2000m in the next couple of months, I'll be confident of getting back among the medals.
Drysdale's break from rowing training to race an ironman, endure the coast-to-coast and climb Mt Kilimanjaro took its toll: "It's an awful realisation you just don't have enough to give but it's a fair reflection of where I'm at. If I came back and wiped the floor we'd be saying the event was too easy."
