Parkite 10th at World Championships
Park City is used to seeing plenty of homegrown talent in the Winter Olympics, but one Park City High School graduate is aiming to make the town a fixture in the Summer Games as well.
Devery Karz, a member of the U.S. Rowing Team, recently competed in the 2014 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam. Along with partner Michelle Sechser, Karz finished in 10th place in the women’s lightweight double sculls competition.
Karz, who is now back in Park City and ran the Mid Mountain Marathon on Saturday, said she’s happy with the way she and Sechser rowed, but had some problems with the manmade course.
"It went really well," she said. "We raced extremely well. It was a bittersweet experience, though, because the course wasn’t extremely fair."
Some rowers had an advantage simply because of the lanes to which they were assigned, she said.
"The wind would hit it a certain way and you’d get a head current in two of the lanes and a tail current in the opposite lanes. So, obviously, when boats are racing in different currents, it’s going to be unequal."
Though the 10th-place finish was somewhat disappointing, Karz said she and Sechser are confident they can qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
"We didn’t place as well as we’d have liked," she said. "But next year, in the Olympic qualifying year, the course for qualifying is much fairer. It’s exciting to know that we’re at the caliber of qualifying for the Olympics and we’ll have a chance to do it next year."
Now that the rowing competition season is over, Karz will begin fall training soon, aiming to improve even more before the 2015 season.
"This fall, we’ll settle into a steady state high volume, 40 [kilometers] a day mixed up between rowing and cross-training. Then you grind throughout the winter and the cycle starts over in April."
As for how long she’ll be in Park City before heading back east to begin fall training, Karz said she has no idea.
"That’s a good question," she laughed. "I would like to know the answer myself."
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