Daily Digest: Brutal repechages and heats concluded in Paris

With Vaires-sur-Marnes Nautical Stadium once again providing beautiful conditions, day three got underway with semifinals E/F in the single sculls. These were key races particularly for many of the smaller nations looking to achieve the highest possible rankings. After a series of repechages, including the elimination of two more boats, the heats of the eights took to the water, the last of the heats here in Paris.

Racing for historic positions 

With the single sculls having the biggest entries of all boat classes, E and F finals will be contested (on Friday 2 August) and today’s semifinals were all about who would be in each of those. Progression to the E final would allow the scullers to contest for positions 25-30 which, in some cases, might be the best ever result for their nation.

Olympic dream over for two more crews

The repechages of the men’s and women’s pairs both saw four crews racing for just three places in the semifinals. It was no surprise to see Switzerland’s Roman Roeoesli and Andrin Gulich leading the way in the men’s pair, as the reigning World Champions in this boat class, they probably hadn’t expected to be in the repechage in the first place. Patrick Holt and Simon Keenan of Australia found themselves in fourth place from the offset and just couldn’t quite ever get themselves into the all-important top three, so will end their campaign here. In the women’s pair, GB’s Rebecca Edwards and Chloe Brew were slow off the start and sat in fourth at 500m, but eventually found some additional speed and even gave Spain a race for their money. GB’s sprint for the line allowed them to overhaul Kiwis Kate Haines and Alana Sherman who sadly finished fourth and were eliminated.

History for Argentina

Argentina made history on the water today as they qualified both their lightweight men’s and lightweight women’s double sculls for the semifinals. It was particularly momentous for for Sonia Baluzzo Chiaruzzo and Evelyn Silvestro as it is already the highest ever position achieved by a South American crew in this boat class – the previous highest being 13th.

No repeat medal for Australia

At the Tokyo Games just three years ago, Australia claimed bronze in the women’s quadruple sculls. Three of the Tokyo crew are back in the boat here in Paris, but they won’t be racing for a medal anymore as their third place finish means they’ll go into the B Final with seventh being the best possible finish position. They were beaten to the line by China, who are the defending Olympic Champions with a completely unchanged lineup.

Can USA copy New Zealand?

Romania absolutely flew off the blocks in heat one, but the United States had the highest boat speed in the early stages and got themselves ahead of the Netherlands, silver medallists from the 2022 and 2023 World Rowing Championships. The USA held that position throughout and crossed the line comfortably ahead of the Netherlands with Germany and Romania also being forced into the repechage. The USA boat only qualified at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta a few weeks ago, could it be reminiscent of the Kiwi men’s eight that came through that qualification route for Tokyo and went on to win Olympic gold? We’ll find out in the last race of the regatta on Saturday! Competition is likely to come from the reigning World Champions, Great Britain, who went out fast in heat two. GB has four of the returning bronze medallists from Tokyo on board. In the second quarter, the GB crew really started to move away and, despite underrating both Australia and Italy, they had the highest boat speed. They were looking really impressive, and uncatchable in the second half of the race, and weren’t really being pushed so it is hard to compare their finish time (5:37.04) with that of the USA (5:29.94).

Radis and Bodnar looking for two Olympic medals

Australia got out fast, but, similar to their men’s eight, Great Britain had the highest boat speed and soon took the lead in the first heat of the women’s eight. Into the second half of the race, the British women had established clear water ahead of the field and were looking set to qualify. However, in the final quarter, Australia started to pile the pressure on and were taking seats from Great Britain, but it looked like it was too late. Nobody could catch them. It was a stunning race from GB who would go direct to the medal final. In the second heat, the reigning World Champions from Romania were certainly the crew to beat, and they went out fast to stamp their authority on the race. The Romanian boat has been bolstered by the Olympic Champions in the women’s double, Simona Radis and Ancuta Bodnar (who are also racing in the double sculls in Paris). By the third quarter of the race, Romania had established a clear-water lead on the field and despite the cheers of “USA, USA, USA” from the stands, it wasn’t enough, the USA and Italy would need to contest the repechage. Romania’s time was almost four seconds faster than Great Britain’s.