Final tune-up for Paris begins in Poznan

The 2024 World Rowing Cup III in Poznan, Poland, is the last opportunity for crews to fine-tune their race strategies ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and many boats showed they are in good shape with only a few weeks to go.

Horrie takes preliminary victory

The PR1 men’s single sculls is shaping up to be a superb contest in Paris, and even with Paralympic, world and European champion Roman Polianskyi absent the preliminary race was a close one between Italy’s Giacomo Perini, Australian Erik Horrie and Britain’s Benjamin Pritchard right down the course. Horrie’s fantastic finish means he takes the bragging rights, but the final will surely be a cracking race. In the PR1 women’s single sculls, Germany’s Manuela Diening cruised to a preliminary win.

World champions shine in mixed doubles

Paris 2024 will be the first time the PR3 mixed double sculls is raced at the Paralympic Games, and Australian world champions Nikki Ayers and Jed Altschwager have stamped their mark among the favourites with a big heat win over European silver medallists Germany in Poznan. They go through to the final with the fastest time, 7:42.70, alongside the British European champions, Sam Murray and Annie Caddick, who won heat 2. World champions Lauren Rowles and Gregg Stevenson looked supreme in the PR2 mixed double sculls preliminary, but the rest of the field was close. The Netherlands took second ahead of Germany.

Another win for GB PR3 4+

It was business as usual for the British PR3 mixed coxed four, earning yet another win in their lengthy streak in this boat class. Behind them in the preliminary race, there was a cracking race for second won by the rejigged USA crew, who took silver at the 2023 World Rowing Championships behind the British. They edged out France by about half a length.

Schaeuble strong in single sculls

There was one place in the final from each heat of the lightweight men’s single sculls, and Swiss Jan Schaeuble posted the fastest time by winning heat 2. Schaueble is half of the Swiss lightweight men’s double sculls crew heading for Paris. The USA’s Samuel Melvin won heat 1 at a canter, well ahead of the rest of the field. In the lightweight women’s single sculls, both the Netherlands and USA qualified both their boats for the semifinals.

Are the Sinkovics back on form?

There was only one direct qualifying spot in the final from each heat of the women’s and men’s pairs. In the women’s event, World Rowing Cup III silver and bronze medallists Australia and Ireland both cruised to victory. Australia’s Jessica Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre posted the fastest time by some margin, 7:16.55. On the men’s side, Swiss world champions Roman Roeoesli and Andrin Gulich won a good race with New Zealand to take heat 1, while Olympic champions Valent and Martin Sinkovic of Croatia looked like they have put in a good training block and won heat 2.

New Zealand push Olympic champs

All eyes were on the reigning Olympic men’s double sculls champions France, who were fifth at World Rowing Cup II as they returned to international competition after more than a year. Hugo Boucheron and Matthieu Androdias found themselves pushed by New Zealand’s Jordan Parry and Robbie Manson, but held on for the win in the fastest time of the day, 6:31.54. Ireland and Germany won the other two heats. Three crews in each race progressed to the semifinals, so Parry and Manson know they are through too. In the women’s double sculls, only one crew would progress directly to the final and it was Norway’s European champions, Thea Helseth and Inger Seim Kavlie, who emerged as the fastest boat of the day (7:15.86), ahead of Australia, who won the other heat.

All about Oceania in the fours

Australia and New Zealand won their heats of both the men’s and women’s fours. Direct A-final qualification was straightforward for both the Kiwi boats, who earned big wins in their heats, but Australia’s boats found themselves more challenged. On the women’s side, the Danish ‘Sweephearts’, who recently qualified for the Olympic Games at the ‘Last Chance Regatta’ in May, pushed the Australians right to the line. In the men’s race, it was GBR1 and Switzerland pushing the Aussies on, with the British development boat pipping the Paris-bound Swiss on the line.

Rigney racing to the semifinals

Australia’s Tara Rigney looked imperious in her heat of the women’s single sculls, winning in the fastest time of the day (7:47.63). But Swiss sculler Aurelia-Maxima Janzen also posted a quick time (7:48.25) in winning heat 2, fresh off her Olympic qualification in Lucerne. Austria’s Magdalena Lobnig won heat 3 in her first appearance this season, having suffered a neck injury earlier in the year. The three heat winners qualified for the semifinals alongside Margaret Fellows (USA1), Juliane Faralisch (Germany) and Wiktoria Kalinowska (Poland).

Favourites through in men’s single sculls

The form scullers of the season all came safely through the heats of the men’s single sculls. Denmark’s Sverri Nielsen set the fastest time of the four heats, 7:05.04, almost three seconds clear of Slovenia’s Filip-Matej Pfeifer. Kiwi world bronze medallist Tom Mackintosh was challenged by Bruno Cetraro of Uruguay early in his heat but emerged with a comfortable victory, with Piotr Plominski of Poland second. Heat 3 was a win for Brazilian Lucas Verthein over Japanese sculler Ryuta Arakawa. In heat 4, experienced Croatian Damir Martin beat Britain’s George Bourne for the top spot. The top two in each heat went through to the semifinals, with the remaining crews racing in the afternoon’s repechages.

France find their form

After qualifying for their home Olympic Games at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta, France’s lightweight double sculls crews continued a good run in Poznan. The women, Olympic silver medallists Claire Bove and Laura Tarantola, won heat 1 of their event well clear of Poland, who are also Paris-bound. New Zealand’s Jackie Kiddle and Shannon Cox were the heat 2 winners, taking the second direct A-final place. In the men’s preliminary race, Hugo Beurey and Ferdinand Ludwig also took a comfortable win in the four-boat field.

Young Germans shock in men’s quads

Germany’s Olympic-qualified men’s quadruple sculls crew were drawn in the same heat as their under-23 teammates – and it was the young guns who surprised for the heat win, jumping out to a lead at the 500m and holding on as Switzerland and Germany 1 came through China in a close race. Switzerland ended up second, taking the other direct place in the final, while Germany 1 have to race the repechage. In heat 1, things were a lot more straightforward for the Polish world bronze medallists, who set the quickest time of the day (5:50.84), almost seven seconds up on Netherlands 1. In the women’s preliminary race, Switzerland outsprinted Germany for a 0.13 second victory, both crews well clear of Australia and Poland.

Doubling up poses no challenge for PR2 scullers

The majority of the PR2 single scullers were doubling up in the PR2 mixed double sculls, but despite this there was still some great racing in the preliminary races. Men’s world champion Corne de Koning of the Netherlands was strong at the front of the field, ahead of the two Irish scullers, Tiarnan O’Donnell and Steven McGowan. Germany’s Jasmina Bier won the women’s preliminary race.

Eights preliminaries conclude the day

Australia won both the preliminary races for the women’s and men’s eights. The women were chased hard by the Dutch development boat, while the men were able to establish a good early lead over Germany. The Germans have tweaked their line-up since World Rowing Cup II, where they were fifth behind Australia in fourth, but could not close the gap on the men in green and gold. Ukraine 1 were a close third.