Olympic Preview Series: Kohler Prepares for Third Olympics

U.S. single sculler Kara Kohler will represent the USA for a third time in Paris. The 33-year-old Cal walk-on—she swam in high school and won the 2013 NCAA Rowing Championships […]

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U.S. single sculler Kara Kohler will represent the USA for a third time in Paris. The 33-year-old Cal walk-on—she swam in high school and won the 2013 NCAA Rowing Championships with the Bears—won bronze at the 2012 London Games as a member of the U.S. quad and raced in the single in 2021 at the Tokyo Games, finishing ninth

It’s been an up-and-down year for Kohler, who missed time in the boat as a result of a non-rowing injury over the winter and finished ninth at the February speed order. She came back to win the Olympic trials decisively in April.

“It’s a relief,” said Kohler after beating speed order winner Maggie Fellows by more than six seconds in the Olympic trials final. “There was a lot of stress leading up to that race.”

At Lucerne in World Rowing Cup II, a key Olympic-prep event for many, Kohler raced unevenly, finishing fourth in her heat and then again in semifinal A/B to land in the B final, which she won.

During Olympic Media Day at the Casperson Olympic Training Center on New Jersey’s Lake Mercer, Kohler said the disappointment of her boyfriend’s U.S. quad missing Olympic qualification upset her performance. She also said she’ll be aiming to make the grand final at the Olympics, where, as U.S. Olympic scullers Michelle Guerrette (silver in Beijing 2008) and Gevvie Stone (silver in Rio 2016) have proven, medals are there for the taking.

If Kohler can once again rebound from one disappointing regatta to perform well at the next, anything is possible in Paris.

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