Area native to compete for Canada

He’s come a long way in three years.

When Karl Zimmermann stepped onto the campus at McMaster University, he was looking to get into a new sport.

He would eventually decide to give rowing a try.

Zimmermann proceeded to earn himself a spot on the McMaster rowing team three years ago and his rowing career has taken another step as the 20-year-old Echo Bay native has made the Canadian under-23 team that will compete at the World Championship later this month in Bulgaria.

Zimmermann is a part of the Canadian men’s quad team that will compete at the event, which opens on July 22.

To make the team, Zimmermann went through a selection process that actually included various trials throughout the race season and the team is selected based on trials results as well as specific performance markers that include strength, power and ergometer results among other things.

“It was multiple steps and it was reinforcement that people had been telling me all along ‘You have potential’,” said Zimmermann. “Every step of the way I’m realizing this potential and it’s pretty cool that all of this work that I’ve put in is paying off.”

Prior to getting involved in rowing at McMaster, Zimmermann was a student-athlete at Korah Collegiate locally where he was involved in track and field as well as cross-country skiing.

Rowing is a new challenge for Zimmermann.

“I had a big background in endurance and we call rowing a sprint-endurance sport,” Zimmermann said. “The race is about six and a half minutes long but it’s all-out for six-and-a-half minutes. I had a nice background in the endurance side of things. I just wanted to try something new coming out of high school. I wanted to take on a new challenge.”

Getting into rowing has been an adjustment where Zimmermann is competing against other students who have been involved in rowing since high school.

“In southern Ontario, rowing is actually a pretty big thing in high school,” Zimmermann said. “So I’m rowing against guys who have been rowing since grade nine or ten.”

“It didn’t really feel like a disadvantage at all because if you put in the hard work, the results will come,” Zimmermann added.

The first year was a learning experience for the youngster.

“I spent (the first year) learning how to train in the rowing environment,” Zimmermann said. “Last summer, that’s where I really decided that I wanted to excel. The past twelve months I’ve really put some hard hours in and it paid off this spring.”

Despite being fairly new to the sport, Zimmermann has seen improvements and had some success as his career has progressed.

In November, Zimmermann placed third at the Canadian University Rowing Championships.

“I’ve started to see some numbers come up that were encouraging,” Zimmermann said. “That motivated me to train harder throughout the winter and in the spring try out for the Canadian team.”

Exactly what are Zimmerman’s long-term goals?

“I want to make sure I finish my degree and while I do that I hope to win some medals at the worlds,” said Zimmerman, who can compete with the Under-23 team for two more seasons. “After that’s done, I’ll assess where to go from there. Obviously the Olympics is a big step and it’s a very exciting step but I don’t want to commit to that until I know I can actually commit to it and spend the time that you need (to get there).”

The 20-year-old is heading into his fourth year of biochemical engineering at McMaster.

(Photo courtesy Karl Zimmermann)