ATHLETE OF THE MONTH

Sebastian Schmidt (March 2011)


Experience what is going on inside an elite athlete’s mind

Nationality: Germany (GER)

Boat Class:

M2-, M4-, M8+

Key Results: World Rowing Championships - 2 gold

World Rowing U23 Championships - 3 gold

European Rowing Championships - 1 gold, 1 silver

The German eight sat just behind their football team last year in popularity. Nearly every German knows the brand “Deutschlandachter” (German eight). Sitting in the stroke seat of that boat is Sebastian Schmidt. Sebastian is our March Athlete of the Month.




World Rowing: You are currently in Sabaudia, Italy. How long have you been here?

Sebastian Schmidt: We've been here for little less than a week...



WR: How long will you stay?

SS: ... and we're staying here until the 14th of March.



WR: What is the attraction of Sabaudia (for a training camp)? What is the attraction of Sabaudia for you personally?

SS: We came here, because of the good training and weather conditions. Sabaudia is a little city at the waterfront with the Lago di Varese as our training course. What I like about this training camp is that we get out of the usual environment. The hotel is very nice and is right by the beach. We've expected the weather to be better than in Germany, but unfortunately so far it's been raining and the temperature is at 10°C. According to the forecast, it should be getting better within the next few days though - sunny and about 18°C.



WR: Is this a regular training venue for the German team?

SS: Yes, Sabaudia is one of the oldest training venues of our team. Other venues are Seville, Spain, Weißensee, Austria or different cities in Germany, for example Ratzeburg - but only in the summer.



WR: What is your typical day like at present?

SS: 6am: Weighing (fortunately only every 2nd day) and breakfast,

7am: rowing and breakfast

10.30am rowing or strength training

12.30am lunch and the best part of the day: a short nap

3.30pm rowing or a "short" trip with the road bikes if the weather is ok. And if it's getting boring, we just do some stretching. The official day ends with dinner at 7pm.

The rest of the story here: http://www.worldrowing.com/