Kara Kohler rows to 5th place at Summer Olympic Games in Paris
PARIS, FRANCE (August 21, 2024) — Kara Kohler had to live for three years with “the taste” that she was less than one second from racing in the Olympic finals in Tokyo but the three-time American Olympian erased that thought when she reached the gold medal finals in Paris and she comes home to Clayton as the fifth fastest single sculler in the world.
The Clayton rower challenged for a bronze medal in the middle of the single scull finals on Aug. 3. As she did in Tokyo in her fateful semi-final race, Kohler was off to a slow start in the Paris finals. Current world champion Netherlands’ Karolien Florijn and New Zealand’s Emma Twigg, the defending Olympic champ, took the race out fast to establish themselves at the head of the field just 500 meters into the race.
Kohler got off the line in sixth place but moved into fourth in the second 500 meters, just behind Australia’s Tara Rigney in third. Kohler and Lithuania’s Viktorija Senkute began to push Rigney in the third 500 meters and as the scullers entered the final quarter of the race, Senkute had pulled ahead of Kohler and was closing on Rigney.
Florijn was able to hold off Twigg’s sprint to win the gold medal in a 7:17.28, with Twigg taking silver. Senkute passed Rigney to earn the bronze medal.
“I would say that I appreciate (racing in the A final) a lot more and the sacrifice and work that goes into getting into an A final,” Clayton Valley High and Cal Berkeley grad Kohler said. “To be off the medal stand is obviously disappointing, but those are some fast women’s singles out there, and it’s an honor to get the chance to race with them. I’m very happy for them.”
Kohler won her first heat in Paris and then had no trouble advancing to the semifinals, finishing second in her quarterfinal behind Australia’s Rigney.
With three of six to advance to the A final for the gold medal, Kohler finished behind Twigg and Senkute in their semi-final. Those three rowers took control in the first 500 meters. Twigg held a 1.48-second lead on Kohler at the 500-meter mark and Kohler still held second at the halfway point. In the third 500 meters, Senkute made her move to pull into second position and with Kohler staying third for the remainder of the race.
“That was definitely the race I was looking for,” Kohler said. “The taste of fourth in Tokyo (in the semifinal) was strong on my palate today, making sure that that didn’t happen again. To walk away with a solid place in the A final and a chance at a medal, I’m pretty pumped.”
Kohler made her first Olympic team in 2012 while a Cal student athlete, winning a bronze medal as part of the USA women’s quadruple sculls.
She switched to the single following the disappointment of not being selected for a boat at the 2016 Rio Olympics. In 2017 the Clayton athlete began competing in single sculls where her selection to US international teams would be predicated on her results rather than other measurements USRowing might use to pick spots on pair, quad and eight’s boats.
Kohler has dominated the single sculls in America since, including being named USRowing 2019 Female Athlete of the Year.
At the Tokyo Olympics she was a disappointing ninth at the Games, which were held without spectators in 2021 after the Pandemic. Problems early in her races derailed her medal hopes in Tokyo and she was a half second away from qualifying for the A finals.
Jay Bedecarré
Jay Bedecarré is a long-time resident and writer in Concord and Clayton. He began his newspaper writing career while still a senior at Mt. Diablo High School and he has been part of The Pioneer since its inception in 2003. Jay also operates Bay Area Festivals, presenting events around the San Francisco Bay Area including Bay Area KidFest annually in Downtown Concord.