2000 metres, just under seven and a half minutes. Perceived from the shore as an elegant glide in a single. For me, it means 250 strokes of full concentration and power that take me to the limit of what I can bear. When the start light changes from red to green, it's just me and my boat.
The first quarter of the course - maximum pulse: 200 beats per minute - the lungs are burning, lactate pain - like pricking needles - sets in. The voice that wants to tempt me to give in to the pain gets louder and louder inside me. I have to block it out - drive the boat stroke by stroke towards the finish. Focus on the moment, on my breath. 70% leg work, 20% torso work, 10% arm work. The end is approaching and the stroke rate now increases from just over 30 to almost 40 strokes per minute. Then. . . .
. . . the liberating target horn. At first paralysed by pain, it takes me a few minutes to regain my senses and move at all. Rowing was once a hobby, then a passion, and now it's my profession.
Growing up with my three siblings in Uster, the town on the water in the Zurich Oberland, the Greifensee was my second home. Today, my home is wherever I can experience that indescribably light feeling of gliding across the water.
The search for the perfect stroke is endless. It drives me, you could almost say I'm obsessed with it. The interplay of endurance, strength, technique and mental skills is unique for me and is what makes this sport so fascinating: Waiting in the starting blocks for the "Attention - go", the tension that surrounds me, knowing the many pains I am about to go into. The curiosity to see how well I will manage to call off my race plan from the first to the last beat. And then, right before the starting gun, the great gratitude of being able to show what I work hard for every day, with a lot of passion and without compromise. The road to the top is challenging. Indispensable at all levels: Commitment, heart and soul and iron will. Inevitable: Ups and downs. But the long-term goal is clear: a medal at the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris 2024.
