Rowing news | Olympic preview series: Jacob Plihal represents

Plihal’s placing at the Olympics will be somewhere between his best result of the year – he crossed the finish line ahead of reigning Olympic silver medalist Kjetil Borsch at the last Olympic and Paralympic qualifying regatta to qualify for Paris – and his recent loss to Oli Zeidler (seventh at the last Olympics) by the brutal official ruling of “Easy” in the Diamond Challenge Sculls final at Henley Royal Regatta earlier this month. Zeidler, the reigning world champion, goes to Paris as favourites along with Dutchman and University of Washington rower Simon Van Dorp.

A 2018 graduate of Northeastern University, Plihal lives and trains in Craftsbury, Vermont, as part of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project. He is a proven coxswain who made fast pairs in training this winter before switching to singles (he rowed in the fours for the U.S. U23 national team in 2017 and 2018) and winning the Olympic qualifier in April. Since the U.S. failed to qualify for the class with a top-nine finish at last year’s world championships, Plihal had to travel to Lucerne for the FOPQR.

He made his first Olympic team six years after graduating from an elite rowing university, and along the way he has been on several U.S. national teams at various levels – the norm in 21st century elite rowing.

US Olympic head coach Josy Verdonkschot was clear on this point: “It’s about identifying athletes, building them up and keeping them in a professional training environment for six to ten or more years, with the necessary medical and scientific support, as is available in other countries,” that’s what is needed.

The men’s and women’s Olympic singles events have the largest fields and the toughest path to the finals, with 32 countries each — twice as many as the next largest event, the lightweight doubles, with 16 countries, and more than four times the eight fields from seven countries. Plihal is the first American in 12 years to earn a spot in the Olympics’ toughest competition, and how high he can finish will be seen on Saturday morning, July 27, at the Nautical Stadium in Vaires-sur-Marne.