Taking on the United States lead – the women’s eight

The United States hit the record-breaking mark this year by remaining unbeaten at the World Championships and Olympic Games in the eight for ten years running. They also own the World Best Time, the most recent one set at the 2013 World Rowing Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland at 05:54.16.

In the 2015 regatta season the United States claimed gold at the two World Rowing regattas that they raced at: World Rowing Cup II in Varese, Italy, and the World Rowing Championships in Aiguebelette, France.

Hot on the heels of the United States for the past few years has been Canada. The rival North American crew has not missed a podium since 2010, winning three world silver medals, two world bronzes (including one in 2015) and one Olympic silver medal.

With the United States and Canada consistently featuring on the podium, the third available medal has gone to a variety of nations. In 2012 the Netherlands won Olympic bronze, in 2013 it was Romania earning World Championship silver, while China took world bronze in 2014 and New Zealand crossed the line in second this year.

As with the men’s eight, there were five available Olympic qualification spots up for grabs in Aiguebelette. Ten nations raced with their goal to not only make the A-final but also finish in the top five to guarantee their participation at the 2016 Olympics.  The lucky five included the United States and Canada as expected, with New Zealand, Great Britain and Russia also qualifying.

This is the first time in New Zealand’s rowing history that they will be sending a women’s eight to the Olympic Games. A new force to be reckoned with, the youngest crew in the field (average age 23) won two silver medals this year – one at World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne behind Canada and the other at the World Rowing Championships ahead of Canada.

Great Britain also had a competent season, winning two bronze medals at World Rowing Cup level and finishing fourth at the world champs. They will be aiming to make history at Rio 2016 by claiming the first ever Olympic medal in the women’s eight for their country.

Replicating the result of the Russian men’s eight, the Russian women’s eight also qualified for Rio 2016. Russia has yet to medal at World Championship or Olympic level in this boat class and since last year they have been indicating an upward trend in performance. Last year, they finished fourth at the World Rowing Championships and this year they became European Champions, usurping the long-held European Champion status held by Romania.

Two boats that surprisingly missed out on qualification were the Netherlands and Romania. Both nations medalled at this year’s European Rowing Championships in silver and bronze respectively, but this did not appear to help them later in the season. The Netherlands have medalled at the past four Olympic Games and Romania medalled at each Olympic Games since 1980 with only one exception – London 2012.

These two nations will no doubt be doing all they can to prepare for the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta held next year in Lucerne from 22 to 25 May 2016. Only two additional spots are available in the women’s eight for Rio and the fight to get in will be fierce.

Other nations expected to line up at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta are Australia, China and Germany. Australia has not missed an Olympic final since 1996. China has raced in the eights at every Olympics since 1988 when they won bronze, while Germany has rarely missed the Games in this boat class.

Come Olympic time next year, however, all eyes will be on the United States. Can they go a third consecutive Olympic title? Such a feat has only ever been accomplished before by Romania who won gold at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Games.