IDBF Worlds, Szeged, Hungary: Day 2

by Jill Metz

The opening ceremonies for the WDBRC were held last night in Szeged along the River Tisza. What a truly inspiring, fun and emotional ride seeing athletes from 40 countries celebrating together. I snapped this photo, which I feel captures the camaraderie and respect teams showed toward one another throughout the evening. Pretty cool if you ask me!

Team USA had a great day today with Wasabians capturing medals in each of their races in the 2,000 meters. The event was moved to the river from the race venue so we had the standard number of turns with the ensuing excitement with some boats crashing, some disqualified and others penalized. James' U24 team took bronze while Lisa and Carol's team (Women's Sr. A) and mine (Women's Sr. B) took silver! Lets just say we heard the Canadian national anthem A LOT!

We also had a chance to watch some of the other teams race this afternoon. The stroke rate of the Chinese is simply phenomenal; the Germans' and Canadians ' technique was flawless-- truly inspiring to watch. Tomorrow are the 1,000 races; teams will have two races each and will be evaluated by the combination of the two times. I hope to have more good news to report!