Mike Spracklen's boys look like they just might do it again. Canada's Men's eights started off the World Rowing Championships in Poznan Poland with a convincing victory giving them a birth in Sunday's final on the on the 30th of August.
A while the performance shouldn't come unexpected for a man who seems to win no matter what the circumstances it is truly impressive when one considers that Spraklen's Men's eight has rebuilt itself from its gold medal winning victory at the Beijing Olympic Games. Gone are cox Brian Price, Stroke Kyle Hamilton, Adam Kreek, Ben Rutledge, Kevin Light, Jake Wetzel and Dominic Seiterle and in their place come 7 athletes who didn't even compete in Beijing. But no matter. Spraklen has put his men's eight in a position where they just might win the world championships for the fourth time in the last eight years.
So what is the secret? Hard Work. Relying on the principle that the harder a person works, the more their body adjusts to the work, Spracklen squeezes every last drop of energy out of his athletes each and every day. For some, including many of Canada’s sport physiologists, it is too much, but those who compete for the man believe in him and his refinements.
“There’s no magic in it,” says athlete Jake Wetzel. “The whole time he puts us out of our comfort zone. You’re rewarded for failure, for pushing to the point where you fall apart. You’re not rewarded for mediocrity.” And so they keep pushing.
A self-obsessed rowing fan, Spracklen monitors every one of his twenty-plus weekly training sessions, ensuring that his athletes are piling up the mileage so that even on their worst day the team can walk away with the gold. It seems to be working.
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