Elation and Heartbreak on day 2 of the Final Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta

As the second day of the 2024 Final Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta got underway, Lucerne’s Rotseee once again provided glorious racing conditions. It was a combination of elation and heartbreak as some crews confirmed their places in tomorrow’s finals while for others, the qualification campaign came to an end.

Busy day for single scullers

With 30 entries in the men’s single scullers, all competitors were scheduled to race twice today. The day began with the quarterfinals where for some, the Olympic campaign came to an end. In this boat class, there is a third place available, which will be allocated to the the top placed boat from a nation that has not yet qualified any boats for the Olympic Games. Ireland’s Konan Pazzaia continues his campaign to be the first men’s single sculler for Ireland at an Olympic Games since 1992 when he won the first quarterfinal. Quarterfinal two saw a win for three-time Olympian Kjetil Borch of Norway. With Romania’s Mihai Chiruta the fastest in the third quarterfinal, it was George Bourne of Great Britain who took the honours in the fourth.

On the women’s side, the A/B semifinals meant Olympic dreams would end this morning on the Rotsee. The first semifinal was dominated by Virginia Diaz Rivas of Spain, ahead of Alice Prokesova of Czechia and Shiho Yonekawa of Japan – who crossed the line just ahead of Mazarine Guilbert of Belgium. The second semifinal went to Sanita Puspure of Ireland, ahead of Aurelia-Maxima Janzen of Switzerland and Nina Kostanjsek of Slovenia. Diaz Rivas and Puspure will be the favorites tomorrow for the A-Final.

Redemption for Daviet and Bouge

The French PR2 mixed double sculls were on the wrong side of a photo finish yesterday when they were just 0.02 seconds behind Israel in the heat. However, they confirmed their place in tomorrow’s final today when they won the repechage comfortably. Bouge has been racing at the Paralympic Games since London 2012 whereas Daviet is a debutant.

Brutal semifinals

As we moved back to the Olympic boat classes, we saw more and more crews begin to be eliminated from the competition. In the men’s pair, the Stankunas twins from Lithuania looked dominant him the first semifinal. Meanwhile, in the second semifinal Niki Van Sprang and Guillaume Krommenhoek crossed the line first, securing the Netherlands place in the final. It could be particularly massive for Van Sprang tomorrow as at the end of last season, he qualified the men’s four for Paris – could he do the double (again!)?

Four down to five in women’s double

The progression for the women’s double sculls was even more intense as the repechage had five crews racing for just four places. The British duo of Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne and Becky Wilde led from the start and finished ahead of the home crew featuring double Olympian Jeanine Gmelin. Sadly for Hong Kong, their Olympic campaign came to an end when Wing Wun Leung and Wing Yan Winne Hung crossed the line in fifth place.

 Moldova on a Mission

History could be made on the Rotsee tomorrow the Republic of Moldova. Ivan Corsunov and Chirill Visotchi-Sestacov finished second in the second semifinal of the men’s double sculls to secure their place in the final. Tomorrow, they will be hoping to secure a place to Paris – which would be the first time ever that the Republic of Moldova has been represented at the Olympic Games in rowing.

Heartbreak for the USA

They were leading at 1,500m, but Cooper Tuckerman and Sam Melvin couldn’t hold on to that position and by the time of the finish Austria and Portugal had moved ahead of them and took the two all-important qualification places for the final of the lightweight men’s double sculls.

Six down to two

The morning racing session was rounded off with an epic repechage in the men’s quadruple sculls when six boats were racing for just two spots in tomorrow’s final. The Ukrainian crew seemed to time the race to perfection and worked their way through the field. They were sat in third until the second half of the race when they overhauled France to take the win. The French crew took the second qualifying place and for the remaining four, it was all over.

The A-finals will start tomorrow morning at 10:05 AM CET and will be livestreamed on worldrowing.com.