17 May 2024
Crews to watch at the 2024 Final Olympic Qualification Regatta
The ‘Last Chance Regatta’ is just around the corner! Across the 14 Olympic boat classes, a whopping 147 boats will race for just 30 places. We expect a huge mix of emotions to be seen on Lucerne’s Rotsee over the coming few days as the last few boats hope to secure their places for the 2024 Olympic Regatta in Paris. While so much can happen at a Final Olympic Qualification Regatta, here’s a few of our crews to keep an eye on…
Women’s pair (W2-)
Entries: 6
Qualification Places: 2
In 2021, Croatia’s Jurkovic sisters missed out on qualification and, a few months later, went on to become World Rowing U23 Champions in the women’s pair. They have had much success since then and will be keen to make history in Lucerne. If Ivana and Josipa can qualify, it’ll be the first time that Croatia has had a women’s sweep boat at an Olympic Regatta. They’ll need to keep an eye out for the French pairing of Emma Cornelis and Josephine Cornut who finished just behind them at the European edition in Szeged a few weeks ago. The Danish boat is unchanged from the line-up that came 8th in Tokyo and Fie Udby Erichsen will be looking to qualify for her fourth Olympic Games having won silver at her first one in London.
Men’s pair (M2-)
Entries: 13
Qualification Places: 2
Denmark is also a nation to watch in the men’s pair, with the crew once again unchanged. Frederic Vystavel and Joachim Sutton had to go through the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in 2021 and then went on to win bronze in Tokyo; what can they do this year? At that edition of the FOQR, they were beaten by the Netherlands crew of Niki van Sprang and Guillaume Krommenhoek, who finished seventh in Tokyo. It will be interesting to see if is those two boats that take the two qualifying places in Lucerne and, if so, what they can achieve in Paris.
Women’s double sculls (W2x)
Entries: 7
Qualification Places: 2
This boat class could be tense! As seen at the European Rowing Championships recently, there are three boats (Czechia, Great Britain and Switzerland) all relatively close to each other. Great Britain posted the fastest time in the heats, but it was Czechia and Switzerland that made the better of the repechage to gain a place in the A final. All three boats have Tokyo Olympians on board, the Swiss boat featuring Jeanine Gmelin hoping to secure a ticket to her third Games. It really is all to play for in the battle for the two spots in this event.
Men’s double sculls (M2x)
Entries: 14
Qualification Places: 2
This field really is wide open! Three of the athletes attempted to qualify in the single scull at the European Olympic Qualification Regatta earlier this month, and will now try their luck in the double scull. The line-up from Belgium, Tristan Vandenbussche and Aaron Andries were 2022 World and European Rowing U23 Champions in this boat class, so are definitely worth watching out for. They didn’t quite make the Final at the recent European Rowing Championships, but the Greek duo of Ioannis Kalandaridis and Nikolaos Cholopoulos did, and finished sixth. If they can qualify, it will be the first time that Greece has been represented in this boat class at an Olympic Games. We can’t wait to see how the racing unfolds in this boat class!
Women’s four (W4-)
Entries: 6
Qualification Places: 2
Paris will be just the third time that this boat class has been included in an Olympic Games. Tokyo was the second occasion and at that regatta, the crew from Ireland picked up bronze, having won the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta. Two of the members of that crew, Eimear Lambe and Emily Hegarty will return for a second attempt, this time joined by Imogen Magner and Natalie Long. The Irish crew were fourth at the first World Rowing Cup of this season with the crew from Denmark finishing just behind them – so they are arguably the favourites to take the two places in Lucerne.
Men’s four (M4-)
Entries: 11
Qualification Places: 2
Two of the bronze medal-winning crew from Tokyo return in the Italy boat, keen to have another shot. The crew has had a good season so far, taking gold on home waters in Varese during World Rowing Cup 1, where they beat the strong British crew, and finishing second, behind Great Britain, at the European Rowing Championships, so they’re definitely in with a strong chance of qualification. The crew from Germany is also worth keeping an eye on. They made the A final in Varese, and the boat is stacked with talent.
Women’s single sculls (W1x)
Entries: 15
Qualification Places: 3
Having raced in the women’s four and women’s double sculls during the 2022 and 2023 seasons, double World Champion Sanita Puspure is back in the single this season and hoping to represent Ireland in that boat for a fourth Olympic Games. What can the youngsters do though? We will see the 2023 World Rowing U23 Champion from Switzerland, Aurela-Maxima Janzen attempting to book a place. Other U23 medallists keen to make a mark include Greece’s Evangelia Fragkou and also 2023 U23 lightweights Eliz Ozbay of Turkey and Wiktoria Kalinowska of Poland. Don’t write-off Japan’s Shiho Yonekawa either; she finished third in the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in 2021 which on that occasion wasn’t high enough to secure a ticket to Tokyo.
Men’s single sculls (M1x)
Entries: 31
Qualification Places: 3
This is to be by far the most competitive boat class of the Qualification Regatta with 32 scullers challenging for just three tickets to Paris. Following a spate of injuries and various surgeries in the last few years, the Olympic silver medallist from Tokyo is looking to secure his place to represent Norway at a fourth Olympic Games. Borch may have his work cut out though as there are seven scullers that finished with a higher ranking than him at the first World Rowing Cup earlier this season. One of those to keep an eye on is George Bourne from Great Britain. Bourne has been in the GB senior sculling squad for a couple of seasons now after he won gold in the U23 men’s quad in 2019. Keep an eye too on Hungary’s Bendeguz Petervari-Molnar who finished 10th in Tokyo and also Isak Ivan Zvegeli, who finished fourth at the European Rowing Qualification Regatta a few weeks ago. Competition is bound to be fierce for these three places!
Lightweight women’s double sculls (LW2x)
Entries: 8
Qualification Places: 2
Can you believe it, the gold and silver medallists in this boat class from Tokyo are both yet to qualify! Italians Valentina Rodini and Federica Cesarini have picked up plenty of medals since they became Olympic Champions in Tokyo, but they have always been in the shadows of Great Britain. It has been a fairly similar story for France’s Laura Tarantola and Clare Bove, who only managed an 11th placed finish at last year’s World Rowing Championships. It would be impossible to ignore the Greek double too. At just 18 years of age Dimitra Eleni Kontou has had huge amounts of success already including gold in this boat class at last year’s World Rowing U23 Championships. The combined experience of Zoe Fitsiou has already shown this is a strong partnership as they placed second at the European Rowing Championships earlier this month.
Lightweight men’s double sculls (LM2x)
Entries: 12
Qualification Places: 2
This field will include four of the crews that made the final at the European Olympic Qualification Regatta; Poland, Portugal, Austria and Turkey. Germany didn’t attempt the European qualification, but the crew does contain an Olympic silver medallist from Tokyo in this boat class, Jonathan Rommelmann, so they will definitely be in with a shot too. The French duo of Hugo Beurey and Ferdinand Ludwig were consistent last season too, so it will be interesting to see what they can do.
Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x)
Entries: 6
Qualification Places: 2
Poland took silver in this boat in Tokyo and the crew has one returning member, Marta Wieliczko. However, the crew only managed ninth place at the European Rowing Championships and on that occasion were beaten by Ukraine (second) and France (fourth). The French crew contains three Tokyo Olympians, so plenty of experience on board. It would be careless to ignore the USA too, a regular feature in this boat class. But, there’s only two places available!
Men’s quadruple sculls (M4x)
Entries: 10
Qualification Places: 2
We’ll start with Australia – which has two returners from the crew that won bronze in Tokyo; Jack Cleary and Caleb Antill. The duo has been in various other boats since Tokyo and the crew has only fairly recently come together and finished fifth at the first World Rowing Cup of this season. The boat from China also contains Tokyo bronze medallists – Liang Zhang and Zhiyu Liu, who raced in the men’s double sculls on that occasion. Watch out too for Estonia. The nation booked their slot for Tokyo via the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta and this year’s crew made the final at the recent European Rowing Championships. And will France be able to qualify another boat? We can’t wait to find out!
Women’s eight (W8+)
Entries: 4
Qualification Places: 2
Out of the four nations entered in this boat class, two have never been raced a women’s eight at an Olympic Regatta, so if Denmark or Italy could secure a spot, it would be historic for them. Italy took the gold at World Rowing Cup 1 in Varese, so qualification is looking eminently possible for them. They finished third at the recent European Rowing Championships with Germany just behind them so it’s impossible to write off any of the crews in this field.
Men’s eight (M8+)
Entries: 4
Qualification Places: 2
Italy and Austria were fourth and fifth respectively at the European Rowing Championships but of course Canada and USA weren’t there. It would be really quite a surprise not to see an American crew contest the men’s eight in Paris. Several of this crew are the same that made the final of the World Rowing Championships last year where they finished sixth, just one place outside of qualification. The winners of the gold medal in this boat class in Tokyo, New Zealand, had come through the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta, so anything can happen in the next few months.