Kara Kohler, an East Bay native and University of California graduate, will be competing in her third Olympics.
The 33-year-old won the women's single sculls at the USA Rowing Championships on Sunday at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Florida, securing her spot at the Paris Games.
“I was relieved,” Kohler told USRowing. “There was a lot of stress leading up to that race, because you have to compete in that race. It's a dream come true to be able to compete in the Olympics again. I'm excited. .”
Kohler, who grew up in the Clayton community in Contra Costa County, was a four-time All-American at the University of California until 2013.
She previously competed at the 2012 London Olympics, where she won bronze in the women's quadruple sculls, and at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021 after the pandemic), she placed third in the single scull final B.
Kohler expects more from himself in Paris.
“Yes, I think this is a dream,” Kohler told the Sarasota Herald Tribune. “(In Tokyo) it wasn't the performance I was capable of. So this time I'm going to Paris with all these lessons. It's a big show, but I want to go and I want to perform.”
Kohler, president of Princeton-based USRowing Training Center, won Sunday's final in 8 minutes, 4.01 seconds, beating second-place Margaret Fellows of Cambridge, Mass., by more than six seconds. He remained undefeated during the week-long trial period.
Koehler took an early lead and had a lead of more than four seconds at the halfway point of the 2,000-meter race.
Kohler was an active swimmer through high school, joining the California women's crew team as a walk-on. She won her Pac-10 Freshman of the Year award in 2010 and led the Bears to her eighth NCAA varsity title as a senior in 2013.
She has made steady progress throughout her national team career. A year after the Tokyo Games, she placed 13th in the single scull at the 2022 World Rowing Championships.
She placed fourth in the same event at the 2023 World Championships and third at the 2023 World Boat Cup II Regatta.
The women's single sculls competition in Paris begins on Saturday, July 27, the day after the Olympic opening ceremony.
