Many hot (as in world-class) athletes in France, one hot (as in hot) athlete here at home

The Fahrenheit temperature reached the high 90s here in the Mid South Monday, and yesterday morning I could tell another hot one was shaping up.  I did a gym session at home and headed down to the river.  Doing gym work before paddling means I have to get myself moving bright and early, but the upside is I feel good and warmed up once it's time to paddle.

Down on the riverfront it was another two-boat session.  I paddled the surfski to the mouth of the harbor, saw little of interest out on the Mississippi, and returned to the dock and got in the whitewater boat.  I did some drills and rolls, and took a hose bath on the dock when I was finished.

I wasn't the only one paddling yesterday.  At Vaires-sur-Marne on the east side of Paris, a bunch of world-class athletes were opening their Olympic competition in flatwater sprint racing.  U.S. athletes Aaron Small and Jonas Ecker got in their tandem kayak (K2) for their opening 500-meter heat.  The top two finishers in each opening-round heat would advance directly to Friday's semifinal round.  Small and Ecker didn't manage that, so they had to race a second heat, the quarterfinal round, yesterday.  In the quarterfinal they bettered their opening-round time by more than three seconds and qualified for the semifinal.  So they're all set to be back in the K2 this Friday.

Today Small and Ecker hopped in their single kayaks for some 1000-meter racing.  The format was the same as yesterday's: the top two in each preliminary heat would advance straight to the semifinal, while everybody else would have to come back and race a quarterfinal round.  Again the two U.S. paddlers were in that "everybody else" category and had to race a second time today.  Sadly, there were no miracles in the quarterfinal as both were eliminated.  The 1000-meter K1 semifinal round will take place Saturday with no U.S. athletes on the starting line.  Small and Ecker will now focus all their attention on Friday's K2 semifinal.

The United States has one other athlete in the flatwater sprint regatta.  Tokyo gold medalist Nevin Harrison will open competition in the women's 200-meter single canoe (C1) event tomorrow.

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