Daily Digest: The 2024 Olympic Regatta gets underway!

It was a wet start to competition at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium as the highly-anticipated Olympic Regatta got underway. Despite the wet conditions, it didn’t deter the rowing fans filling the stands as six boat classes opened up their Olympic racing campaigns.

33 men’s single scullers begin competition

The men’s single sculls was the first boat class to begin their racing and the field was stacked with familiar names. The reigning Olympic Champion Stefanos Ntouskous settled for second place in heat one where the win went to New Zealand’s Tom Mackintosh, who is also a reigning Olympic Champion, but in the men’s eight.

Tokyo bronze medallist Damir Martin also didn’t manage a heat win in the second heat, where Romania’s Mihai Chiruta took the win – he is the first Romanian to contest this boat class since 1976!

The Dutch Sculler Simon van Dorp demonstrated his strength securing the win in heat three. His time of 06:49.93 was the fastest across the six heats.

The fifth heat saw the reigning World Champion Oliver Zeidler of Germany who is keen to improve on his performance from Tokyo where he missed out on the A Final. Zeidler demonstrated he was on good form today as he dominated his heat, crossing the line nearly ten seconds ahead of second place.

Denmark’s Sverri Nielsen won the sixth and final heat. He finished fourth in Tokyo so will be keen to make the podium here in Paris.

Defending Olympic and World Champions impress in women’s single

Australia’s Tara Rigney secured bronze in the single scull at last year’s World Rowing Championships and she’s looking to add an Olympic medal to her collection in Paris. It was a good start to her mission as she comfortably won the first heat.

The second heat was controlled by reigning World Champion, Karolien Florijn (NED) who won silver in the women’s four in Tokyo, before switching to sculling.

The reigning Olympic Champion, Emma Twigg (NZL) dominated the third heat, with a a smile on her face the whole way. Twigg took silver at the 2022 and 2023 World Rowing Championships behind Florijn so there’s a fierce rivalry there!

The fastest time across the six heats was posted by Lithuania’s Victoria Senkute, who posted 7:30.01 in the fourth heat. Germany’s Alexandra Foester is one of the youngest in the field, and led the fifth heat from the start and secured a comfortable win. In the sixth and final heat, Kara Kohler of the United States of America worked her way through the field from third at 500m to take the win.

Ireland fastest men’s double

After a short breather, the three heats of the men’s double sculls got underway. The Dutch duo indicated that they were a crew to watch in this boat class as they won the first heat in 6:14.13. Meanwhile, in the second heat, the Romanian crew of Andrei Sebastian Cornea and Marian Florian Enache got out in front and led from their start, posting a time of 6:16.47.

Norway will be one to watch – it was the first international race of this combination for Martin Helseth and Kjetil Borch and they worked their way through the field to take the second qualifying place.

Ireland’s Daire Lynch and Phil Doyle impressed in the third heat, posting the fastest time across the three heats, an impressive 06:13.24.

Tight times across W2x heats

In heat one of the women’s double sculls, Rebecca Wilde and Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne of Great Britain, who qualified at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta just a few weeks ago, shot off the blocks and established the early lead, which they held most of the way. However, in the closing stages, New Zealands Brooke Francis and Lucy Spoors crept through to secure the win, posting a time of 6:51.68.

Heat two saw Australia’s Amanda Bateman and Harriet Hudson get out fast and to the front of the field but, as the noise from the crowd increased, so did the speed of the French boat – and, just before the line, they took the lead. It was a heat win for Elodie Ravera Scaramozzino and Emma Lunatti. Their time of 6:48.89 securing them the win by less than half a second.

The defending Olympic Champions lined up in the third and final heat; Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radis got out fast and quickly established a strong lead. They’ll also be racing in the women’s eight at this Olympic Regatta. Bodnar and Radis clocked 6:48.49 – the fastest across the three heats – but indicating we could be in for some exciting semifinals on Tuesday.

First finalists already

With nine entries in the men’s quadruple sculls, the first two from each of the two heats were to progress directly to the final, which will be held on Wednesday (the first medal race of the Olympic Regatta), so they were expected to be even more competitive. The Dutch crew were absolutely dominant in heat one while the real race was on for the all-important second qualifying place, to miss out on the rep. It was Great Britain that took the second qualifying place – finishing behind the Netherlands, as they did in the final in Tokyo.

The incredible experience of the Estonian crew didn’t really show in the second heat. Between them, they have raced at nine Olympic Games (not including Paris) – with Tony Endrekson here at his sixth Games. However, they will need to contest the repechage to book their place in the final as it was Italy who won the second heat, with Poland taking the second qualifying place. The Dutch had posted the fastest time across the two heats; 5:41.69

Reigning Olympic Champions into the rep

The women’s quadruple scull from China come to Paris as reigning Olympic Champions and the only boat to have no first time Olympians on board – in fact the crew is exactly the same as the line-up that won gold in Tokyo. However, it seemed that perhaps the rest of the world has caught up, and it was the Dutch crew that looked absolutely dominant in heat one. The Netherlands crossed the line with clear water ahead of the crew from Ukraine – both those boats securing direct progression for the final on Wednesday. China meanwhile will need to go through the repechage, on Monday.

Great Britain are the reigning World Champions in this boat class and they indicated that they are looking to add “Olympic Champions” to that as they led the second heat from the start looking controlled throughout. Their time of 06:13.35 was several seconds faster than the winning time of the Netherlands, but anything could happen in the final. Germany also secured qualification direct to the final

Looking ahead to day two

Tomorrow’s programme will start with the repechages for the singles and doubles before another block of heats – in the coxless pairs, lightweight double sculls and the fours. Racing will start at 09:00 CET. The start list can be found here.