Semi Final Perspective: Waking a sleeping giant & finding what next

From World Rowing site: http://www.worldrowing.com/galleries/2012-samsung-world-rowing-cup-iii-munich-ger-

Australia's William Lockwood (b), James Chapman (2), Drew Ginn (3) and Joshua Dunkeley Smith (s) race in the heats of the Men's Fours at the 2012 Samsung World Rowing Cup III in Munich, Germany

©Alexander Hassenstein / Getty Images
Well what can I say, we just had our semi race and happy to report we had a little win. GB were second with Belarus third. So we are into the final. We had a great row, I mean it was smooth and fast considering the slowish conditions. We respect our opposition greatly and expected a fight to the line and it was. We believe we have improved from Lucerne and are still working on plenty of things. The main thing for us is speed of movement and rhythm. We understand whats at stake and are prepared to keep pushing ourselves to get faster.

I remember back in 2002 when in the par with James Tomkins we knocked off Matt Pinsent and James Cracknel in the Lucerne World Cup and it was like waking a sleeping giant. I suspect this will be the same. I am sure the GB four have a lot more to give and they will be intent on dominating us again tomorrow and if not in London. We talked after our race about being ready for the real battle to begin.

Personally it feels strangely familiar to be going through this experience as there are many similarities so some past build ups. I think over all the years I have learnt that things can change quickly and often do. I have also learnt that when rivalries surface it provides and intriguing battle and with it the standard can and often does jump significantly. All I can say is we are prepared for this and willing want to be part of it. Also history suggests that while some battles take place others can step up and surprise. We are reminding ourselves of this also. Be prepared for everything while staying in tune with our performance is my reminder.

Today was just a semi final but for us it's important to stake a claim on this event. Tomorrow requires that we go out again and find more. We must lift and we must go deeper all at the same time. Funny thing was today time seemed to slow, as if each marker of the race drifted by at a pace more akin to paddling down the course. Sure we were busting our guts to keep the speed up but it was surreal at how each mark, each call came and went as we responded, deliberately, with purpose and intent.

Tomorrow though is another day and a new moment which we must embrace. The cool thing is how much fun we can have seeing what we can produce next.