Reactions from the Qualifying Crews at the 2024 Final Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta

It was a day of mixed emotions in Lucerne, Switzerland as the finals of the “Last Chance Regatta” were raced with crews hoping to secure one of just a few remaining places available for the Olympic and Paralympic Games taking place later this summer.

Alexis Sanchez of France prevented Brazil’s Rene Campos Pereira from qualifying for a third Paralympic regatta and Sanchez’s emotions were palpable after the crossing the line:

“It has not sunk in yet. I have prepared for this for two years, a lot of work and sacrifice went into this.. I thank all my friends, everyone who supported me since my accident, my family, my friends, coaches, everyone!!

It’s not only my victory it is the victory of my family and the whole team.”

Speaking to Grace Prendergast as New Zealand’s reigning Olympic Champion in the women’s pair, Kate Haines who had just qualified her boat to defend the title said:

“It’s a very emotional moment. We went out there to try and dominate the race. We knew it was going to be a tough battle so we had to make sure we got all our pushes right along the way and when we gained momentum we had to make sure to stay on to it.”

Meanwhile, Germany won an epic race in the men’s pair and strokeman Soenke Kruse expressed his delight:

“I cannot believe it. This was a battle to the line and so so tight; I saw them flying towards us and we just went with it and luckily the finish line was close. It probably didn’t look nice but it was enough and we are do thrilled.”

Back in 2021, Ireland’s women’s four came through the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta and went on to win bronze in Tokyo. They’ve set themselves up for a repeat having qualified in top position today. Natalie Long was pleased with their execution:

“We were just focussed on the race, listened to all the calls and were trusting ourselves. We all had a crazy journey to get here and it’s amazing to see hoe all the hard work paid off.”

Moments later, a strong looking men’s four, who beat reigning World Champions Great Britain earlier in the season, comfortably qualified their boat for the Paris Olympic Games. Member of the crew Nicholas Kohl was delighted with their result:

“It’s pretty crazy, this will be my first Olympics and the 3rd for the others. i’m ready for the big stage and we are very excited with this result We worked very hard all season.”

In the PR3 mixed double scull, Brazil was looking likely to take the single qualifying spot, but then Ukraine sculled through them. Stanislav Samoliuk (UKR) explained how it had panned out:

“We were really upset when BRA beat us on first 500m but we found our strength over the next 100 to do a fast finish and are very happy with the result.”

While the Tokyo gold medallists (Italy) missed out on qualifying in the lightweight women’s double scull, the silver medallists from Tokyo (France) were triumphant today and will be racing at a home Games.

“The race was just magic. The speed was really fun. It is a dream come true and it will be amazing to experience this dream at home!”

In the openweight double sculls, Czechia crossed the line first whilst the relatively new line-up from Great Britain overcame the odds to take the second qualifying place. International debutant Becky Wilde said:

“To be honest I’m in shock, I don’t know what happened there. It’s been a lot of hard work. There has been a lot of downs as well as ups and we’ve worked really, really hard and Tom our coach has been brilliant so I can’t believe it! I think it will take a while to settle in!”

 

 

 

Serbia finished second to the USA in the men’s double sculls, despite challenging circumstances in their preparation. Strokeman Nikolaj Pimenov said

“I feel like I’m in a dream. We only found out three days ago that we would be able to race and this really means the world.”

Despite the disappointment of missing out in the PR1 men’s single, there was succcess for Brazil in the PR3 mixed coxed four when they took the second qualifying place behind Italy. Stroke of the crew Alina Dumas was over the moon with their achievement;

“We still can‘t believe this happened and that we are going to the Paralympics! It was a great race & we managed to execute our plan. it all worked out and we are so excited to go to Paris.”

Ukraine will be represented in the women’s quadruple scull again this year having finished just 0.23 seconds behind the USA. Nataliia Dovgodko and her crew will be proud to race for their country;

“It was hard work; three of out of the girls were sick a couple week ago. But we do everything for our country and the second place was like finishing first as we will now go to Paris and be able to represent Ukraine there.”

In the men’s quad, Norway absolutely flew off the start, and dominated the race from start to finish, despite challenges from Estonia. Jonas Juel was happy with how they had executed the race:

“Our race all went to plan. We took it up gradually and were able to hold off the USA and Estonia who were pushing hardand we are really stoked about that. It was the first time we did a proper sprint. We only have been together since 10 days and it has been very productive days and we will make sure to make all the next days count as well so it will take us as far as possible in Paris.”

 

History was made towards the end of the racing as Italy and Denmark qualified a women’s eight for the Olympic Games for the first time ever. On Denmark’s qualification, Nanna Vigild said;

“This crew never had a race before. This project started only 3 months ago. We knew this wasn’t much time but we looked each other in the eyes and said we were gonna give it our all. We made it and we are so excited.”

In the last race of the day, the USA stormed to victory but there was arguably more celebrations after the photo finish for the second place when it was confirmed that Italy had beaten Canada by 0.01 seconds. Gennaro Di Mauro from the Italian boat was understandably emotional after the race:

“This is hard to put into words. It was a really hard race, we stayed internal and believed in ourselves. We knew this would be decided on the line and kept it up. We are so excited and I thank my whole crew. This is a new line up so we will have a lot of work to do for Paris but we can‘t wait”

While 37 crews now turn their attention towards training for the Games, most crews leave the Rotsee with mixed emotions after not finishing in a qualifying position. George Bourne of Great Britain, finishing fourth in the men’s single sculls, took to Instagram:

“A 99 day project that started and ends with tears but filled with epic experiences and the 99 most fulfilling days of my rowing journey on the GB Rowing team. A sad reality that I will not be racing at the Paris Olympics but there are plenty of athletes more talented than me who have missed out before and will in the future, that’s sport and that’s life!”.