World Rowing

Every time Henrik Stephansen sits on an indoor rowing machine he makes magic. Last weekend at the Danish Indoor Rowing Championships the 20-year-old lightweight broke his own world record for 2000m for the third time and in the process cracked the six minute barrier. Stephansen finished in 5:58.5. It was just a week after he produced a World Record of 6:01.8 at the Euro Open in Rome.

World Rowing caught up with Stephansen at his home in Denmark.

World Rowing: Was your plan to break the six-minute mark at the Danish Championships?
Henrik Stephansen: I was kind of afraid that I couldn’t. We did some tests a week before Rome [Euro Open] and we figured out that I could do 5:58. But in Rome I was tired from the travel. I wanted to go under six minutes in Rome. Then at the Danish Championships I was afraid that I couldn’t do it. So I aimed for 6:01 and then waited for 500m to go to see how I felt. I was feeling great already with 1000m to go and knew I could row under six minutes.

WR: How do you cope with the muscle pain that comes with doing the 2000m erg?
HS: At the Danish Championships it wasn’t as bad as at Rome. I think of pain as a friend [laughs]. As long as you can feel the pain you know you’re still alive.

WR: So what’s your next target?
HS: It could be the heavyweight Danish record. [Set by Danish sports director, Lars Christensen in 1996 in a time of 5:55.5]

WR: How did you prepare between the Euro Open and the Danish Championships?
HS: I just easy went on the erg the day after [the Euro Open]. Then I did some short, sprint pieces. The Tuesday before I did 5 x 500m and then we [with my coach] looked at the [split] times from those and worked out what I could row in the competition.

WR: How much training do you do in the erg?
HS: At the moment most of my training is on the erg because it’s hard to be on the water. Right now the lake is frozen.

WR: Will you be going to the CRASH B Indoor Rowing Championships?
HS: No, I’ll be on a training camp. This is it [for indoor rowing] for now.