Rower Timoney: ‘We know what we need to do going forward’

In a fiercely contested final only two seconds separated first to fourth, with the Ireland boat missing out on third spot by 0.7 seconds. The local duo have always targeted Olympic qualification as their main goal for the year, so despite not hitting the heights this time around, Nathan Timoney retains belief in their long term plan to hit peak form during the crucial part of the season.

“Obviously it’s not the result that I hoped for,” he conceded. “We can make all the excuses that we want but at the end of the day our performance was not good enough and it was certainly not a reflection of the training or internal performances that we had done leading up to the event.

“Although we knew what we were capable of, our preparation for the Europeans was probably not the best for many reasons, but since our end goal is still Olympic qualification we are trusting that the on-going projects happening internally within the high performance group will pay off come the World Championships later in September.

“It’s hard to say that I am happy with our final placing but in this game there are literally seconds in it and there is so much to gain over the next couple of months.”

The crew eased through their heat and were confident of making the A final, but despite falling just short, Nathan admitted that the Championships were still an incredible experience.

“Regardless of our placing, the experience itself was second to none,” he admitted.

“Lake Bled is a stunning venue so an overall experience to remember. We often take the time to remind ourselves that we are living the best days of our lives and tell ourselves to stay in the moment. I remember as a 16 year old looking up to Olympic athletes that I am now competing against and it’s a privilege to be in this position so I’m always thankful to the people who helped me get where I am.”

The European Championships were the first major races of the season for the Irish crews, and Timoney believes that there were many positives to take from their performance.

“We raced our heat and just knowing we were still competitive and in the mix was a good confident feeling post-race,” he recalled.

“Our performance and times in the heat also showed us that we had progressed closer to the more competitive and renowned countries such as the Dutch and Romanians in comparison to last year. We tried to replicate our performance in the reps but unfortunately it did not go our way for various reasons and we had to settle for the B Final.

“I think going into the B Final, especially after what we knew we were capable of, was a hard pill to swallow, but in these situations you just have to approach them as best as you can and take as many lessons from them.”

Despite a feeling of disappointment at the end of the race, Timoney is not expecting this result will have any impact on their chances of Olympic qualification when the final selections are made in September.

“Our European results do not dictate where we are going to be in three months’ time,” he said. “Each country are at different phases of their training programs and we still have yet to enter our racing phase where Irish Rowing typically make some big gains.

“On the other hand, there is also the finalisation of crews, and once crews are finalised we can then find the time we need to gel together, whereas other countries around the world have been training in the same crews since January so there are many factors to consider and so much to play for. I think if we execute everything we need to over the next couple of months there will definitely be a positive outcome from all of this. On paper, physiologically, everything is within reach, it is just a matter of stepping into the next level.”

The next chance to impress will be the World Cup 3 at Lucerne in July, and Nathan is determined to meet that challenge head on, as their preparations intensify over the coming weeks.

“The selection process resets, and the group will become more competitive as we have a few lads returning from the States in June,” he explained.

“Our top priority boat is currently the Men’s Four however the overall goal for Rowing Ireland is to qualify as many boats as possible so depending on our performances in training this could be a four, this could be a pair, or it could be both, we will just have to see.

“We are hungry for results and there is a process we are trusting but a big positive to take away from the European Championships is we know what we need to do going forward.”