The 2k erg test. The gold standard metric. The best comparison between athletes. The toughest test.
Over the years, the 2k erg test has been cited as the most valuable measure of physiology for a rower. Despite being a mere 2,000m effort, it is feared by thousands of rowers across the globe and is often an ordeal no one truly looks forward to.
Partly due to the fanfare around it, it is far too easy to fall into the 2k trap of relying on one result and metric for selection. This leaves a shallow understanding of the true potential of athletes. This begs the question: is the 2k truly the peak of erg testing, or is it overrated as the “one size fits all” metric?
The case for the 2k
Given the ritualistic use of the 2k as the major erg test at nearly every rowing club worldwide, it is unsurprising that it has many strengths as a fantastic way to test an athlete’s physiology.
Firstly, it is the distance of most major regattas (excluding the extra 112m for Henley Royal Regatta). Thus, the 2k is the most comparable test to how an athlete will cope during a race.
Another advantage is the careful balance of aerobic and anaerobic systems required for a standard Olympic style race, capturing the ideal blend of power, endurance and lactate tolerance that rowers will need to compete on the water.
Because of the 2k’s popularity, it has become standardised across all programs, allowing it to cement itself as the baseline test for all athletes, with selection systems depending on it globally. Being the test every athlete trains for and every coach expects has created a positive feedback loop for the 2k. This occurs when the test’s usefulness increases because many people rely on it, leading to an increasing number of people relying on and using the test. Also evident is the path dependence psychology here; once the system of rowing culture commits to a metric, switching becomes costly even if alternatives may be better.
However, just because the 2k has historically been the gold standard does not mean we should look to alternatives. It would be narrow-minded for us not to consider how we could change the base ergometer test to level the playing field.
The flaws of the 2k
Contrary to popular belief, the 2k is far from the perfect test and has many drawbacks when it is revered too highly in selection and prioritised in training.
The cultural damage of the 2k
The most common question athletes ask one another to gauge their mutual abilities has always been: “What’s your 2k?”
Defining yourself as a “6:xx rower” quickly becomes shorthand for identity, leading to self-worth increasingly depending on one number. From here, it’s a slippery slope. Heavy focus on the 2k makes the perception of progress narrow. Athletes can feel caught in a cycle of failure if their PB is not dropping. As a result, a single test becomes an artificial psychological trap, ensnaring athletes in over-reliance on one number to determine their performance, providing a one-sided perception of talent and potential in rowing.
In the weeks leading up to a 2k test, many squads are entirely focused on the test, creating an atmosphere of fear and dread as the date of the test looms over athletes. Pressure on performance builds for days in advance, causing athletes to feel the need to conceal injury and illness rather than risk a day which is undoubtedly key to selection. In the end, stress turns into the dominant part of the test, with development taking the back seat.
Meanwhile, heavy reliance on the 2k, particularly at a junior level where it is most common to select and judge off erg scores alone, pushes away many athletes who may not have the physiological gifts in their youth necessary to excel at a 2k. With the test disproportionately rewarding tall, heavy, long-levered athletes and thus early developers in juniors, later-developing athletes can feel that they are simply not cut out for rowing before they can get truly into the sport.
As the 2000m erg has such a firm place in rowing culture, it is vital that, through all the memes and meaningless chat about the 2k being “all that matters”, the test remains only one part of the culture, rather than the culture itself revolving around it. 2k dominance doesn’t just distort training programmes, but culture, identity and the athletes who stay in the sport.
The true test of rowing skill?
A sentence said almost as much as “what’s your 2k?” in boathouses around the world has got to be “ergs don’t float”. Having a strong erg score does not automatically make a good boat mover. However, this argument is swiftly countered by the comment that, though not every athlete with a great 2k is an Olympic rower, every Olympic rower has a great 2k. It’s necessary, though, to understand the limitations of the 2k as a test.
When viewed as an exclusive snapshot of an athlete’s physiology, the 2k leaves an incomplete impression, offering only a slice of physiology. At a practical level, the 2k is a six to eight-minute effort which has a bias towards VO2 max and lactate tolerance, ignoring the wider picture of physiology such as long-duration endurance and recovery capacity.
When considering sustained aerobic capacity, the 2k is firmly in second place behind the 5k or 6k. This leaves more cardio-based athletes with a weaker erg portfolio, clouding selection.
Moreover, in contrast to the idea of the 2k being the peak of mental toughness, it fails to show adaptability to situations and test an athlete’s capability to face a seemingly insurmountable task and be forced to push on through it.
Conclusion
The 2k is always going to be a key measure of performance and, perhaps it will even indefinitely remain the primary test of physiology. However, it does not capture the full physiological and technical profile of athletes required for rowing success.
Limitations in conveying the true athletic and mental toughness capabilities of athletes make the 2k a one-dimensional metric when measuring performance, rather than being the one-size-fits-all test it is often made out to be.
Alongside this, the 2k has a range of negative impacts on rowing culture at a squad and individual level. It is high time that the sport moves on from the religious focus on one metric and instead views the broader picture of all ergs efforts.
