Reactions from Day 1 of the 2024 Olympic Regatta

With the first heats of the 2024 Olympic Regatta getting started in damp conditions at Paris’s Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical stadium, here are some of the reactions.

The first race of the competition saw a reigning Olympic Champion being beaten as Thomas Mackintosh of New Zealand beat Stefanos Ntouskos to the line in heat one of the men’s single sculls. Speaking after the race, Mackintosh said;

“He’s a very, very fierce competitor. So I’m certainly still expecting anything from him. Happy with my performance and a good confidence booster for what I can do out there. I had a race plan in my mind and feel like I executed what I set out to do, and that just illustrated itself in the race that presented there.”

Meanwhile, Ntouskos indicated that there is perhaps more to come in the later stages of the competition;

“It was good. The heat was always one race that you test yourself how it was, and I was OK. I try to fix some things in the next races, but the first goal was to be in the next step, so I’m happy to qualify for the quarterfinals and then we will see how it goes.”

Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Damir Martin (Croatia) also had to settle for second place in today’s heats as he was beaten by Romania’s Mihai Chiruta. Speaking about Chiruta after the race, Martin said;

“I wanted to check how the Romanian breathes, and I saw he breathes, so he has good lungs.The field is really, really hard. It gets really crowded (with) 6:50 times, so there’s no easy races any more. Every race will be like the final one.”

Dutch sculler Simon van Dorp posted the fastest time across the six heats and while he was pleased with his time, he acknowledged that it was still early stages.

“There’s still definitely more speed in it, but preparation has gone well. I’m the fittest I’ve ever been, I’m rowing the best I ever have. The question is what the others can bring.

“Everyone is going to be at their best here, but that’s the exciting part, we get to figure that out in the next days.

“I’m not peaking yet, and I’ve got to keep taking steps during the next races.”

The women’s single sculls sees the reigning Olympic Champion Emma Twigg (New Zealand) back to defend her Olympic title. She claimed a heat win today at the start of her fifth Olympic campaign.

“After Tokyo I just thought I’d keep going as long as I enjoyed it. The shorter Olympic cycle made it possible, because if it was four years I think I’d have probably hung the oars up.

“I can say now I’m not doing LA.

“For me, it’s quite a cool position to be in a team with a lot of younger athletes and just watching them at their first Games. It almost takes me back to my first in Beijing. I keep telling them yarns about Beijing and they look at me like I’m really long in the tooth.”

Twigg finished second to Karolien Florijn (Netherlands) at last year’s World Rowing Championships and there may be a rematch here in Paris as Florijn also secured a heat win and indicated there might be more to come;

“It’s always nice to be starting in a tournament. There’s some things to improve, but that’s good because I still have some rounds to go.”

Tara Rigney (Australia) also secured a heat win today. This is her second Olympic Games, and she’s excited to be racing in this boat class along the experienced opposition;

“I hoped to be in the single because I really wanted the opportunity to compare myself against the best. So even being in races where I’ve been able to look round and see Karolien (FLORIJN, NED) and Twiggy (Emma TWIGG, NZL) is a very good feeling and is everything I want to do.”

The men’s double sculls saw both the gold and silver medal-winning crews from Tokyo unchanged. While the Dutch duo of Melvin Twellaar and Stefan Broenink, who won silver in Tokyo, proved they are still a crew to watch in this boat class, the reigning Olympic Champions from France, Hugo Boucheron and Matthieu Androdias, had to settle for third place in their heat, which was won by Ireland. Speaking after the race, Boucheron expressed his disappointment;

“It’s a really frustrating situation. The way we did it was kind of OK. We were lacking some prep and some juice. Technically fine. Physically we weren’t quite there. We’re used to this type of sensation but it always hurts when you’re behind.”

Twellaar (Netherlands) on the other hand was pleased with their performance;

“First one after a while, so of course it makes some pressure, and it’s pretty intense to finally start at the Olympics, but we are happy with the result and the race and try to improve each race, step by step.”

The reigning Olympic Champions in the women’s double sculls are also here; Simona Radis and Ancuta Bodnar look to defend the title for Romania. Speaking after winning their heat, Radis said;

“It was a good race. The first half was perfect, and the other half I think we can improve much more. This is a great thing for us because the next races will be much stronger.”

Radis and Bodnar will also race in their eight, but Radis indicated that the double is their priority;

“The double is the first boat. In the eight we don’t have so many trainings together, but it doesn’t matter because all of us are strong athletes. When you put together such strong women it can be only good.”

France took the win in the second heat and Elodie Ravera Scaramozzino and Emma Lunatti were very pleased to overhaul Australia in front of a home crowd. Lunatti reflected;

“The public were incredible. I’ve never seen that before, I’ve only seen Tokyo when it was Covid and it was absolutely calm and flat.

“Even when we were doing our warm-up we could hear everyone cheering. We could hear the fervour of the public – given the time, it was the boys (Hugo BOUCHERON(FRA), Matthieu ANDRODIAS(FRA)) who were starting their race – and all those things put together, knowing that all my family and lots of my friends were in the stands, it generated a lot of emotions.”

In heat one, the top two boats contained three rowers who raced at Tokyo and have become mothers since. Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne was in the British double while Lucy Spoors and Brooke Francis  took the win for New Zealand. Spoors said afterwards;

“It feels like today when we walked in, it feels like there’s an extra-special element of having the families here, extra appreciation and probably being aware of what it’s taken us to get here.

“There’s a real sense of pride for us to just be out there and represent our families and what it means for mothers to be returning to sport.”

“I like to think that they were cheering us through the last 200 metres but in reality they were probably eating crackers and watching Peppa Pig if they didn’t want to sit still.”

Tonu Endrekson is taking part in his sixth Olympic Games here in Paris, the only rower at Paris to do so. He is racing in the Estonia men’s quadruple sculls. Unfortunately the experience didn’t quite pay off and they will need to go through the repechage. After the race, Endrekson reflected;

“The start wasn’t very good. We had a problem, our first 300 (metres) was OK but getting over to race mode technically wasn’t good and we were giving up too much energy. We know what to do now. We know what not to do.”

On competing in his sixth Olympic Games, Endrekson said;

“I just like to row. The sport, rowing, if you have good friends and your family (are) supportive, it’s important.

“Last year (at the world championships) we were the first ones that didn’t get the (qualification) ticket, so it wasn’t a good idea to quit knowing that maybe I still can get it. We got it and now we are here and we are happy.

“I started (in the Olympics in) 2004, now it’s 20 years later. I was very nervous, and right now I’m not thinking about these things that I was thinking then. I don’t need to.”

Great Britain secured direct qualification to the Final A and Matthew Haywood, was pleased with their performance;

“It was great. It’s my first race at the Olympics and it was really good fun. Had a lot of nerves going into it, but it’s good to get the first one out of the way and make my first Olympic final.

“We’ve got some stuff to work on but we’ve got a few days now to have in the back of our minds that we’re in the final.”

The women’s quadruple sculls was the last boat class of the day and also secure Great Britain achieve direct qualification with a dominant performance, posting the fastest time across the two heats. Lola Anderson was pleased they had booked their place in the final, but that would need to stay focussed;

“We’re never going to take for granted that if you have a lead it means you keep it, or if you’re down it means you stay down. We’re always sharp on it and we always know that the race isn’t finished until you cross the line. We’re ready for that.”

Racing begins again at 09:00 CET tomorrow, Sunday 28 July and we’ll bring you further reactions then.