A grand finale on final day of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Regatta

The four remaining and breathtaking finals took place at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games regatta today. What was expected to be a relatively short session of racing, became slightly extended after the men’s single sculls had to be delayed to the last race of the competition, due to athlete transport disruption. Packed grandstands of rowing fans were once again treated to a thrilling session of racing in which four new Olympic champions were crowned.

Women’s single sculls (W1x) – Final

The Dutch flyer, Karolien Florijn established the early lead, being chased by the defending Olympic Champion, Emma Twigg (New Zealand). Florijn was first to the 500m marker but, into the second quarter, Twigg started to catch on to Florijn. Australia’s Tara Rigney was sat in bronze medal position and those top three looked relatively comfortable. In the third quarter, Twigg looked round her shoulder to see how far ahead Florijn was. Could it be done?  With 500m to go, Twigg was now piling the pressure on to Florijn and Rigney was also looking under pressure from Lithuania’s Viktorija Senkute. Into the closing stages, Florijn was going up. What had Twigg got left? Not enough. Twigg was fading. Florijn looked set for gold and the chasing pack was closing. Twigg was holding on, but third place had changed hands, there was not to be an Olympic medal for Australia. The Olympic title was handed over from Twigg to Florijn. Senkute took an historic bronze of Lithuania in the single sculls.

Results: NED, NZL, LTU, AUS, USA, BUL

B-Final

Demonstrating the competitiveness of this field, the B-Final had two thirds of the A finalists from Tokyo 2020. Magdalena Lobnig of Austria, bronze medallist from Tokyo was the early leader, but she was being chased hard by the young Swiss sculler, Aurelia-Maxima Janzen. In the second half, Tatsiana Klimovich (AIN) started to move and Alexandra Foester (Germany) took the lead. What a competitive field for a B-Final! Nobody could catch 22-year-old Foester as she crossed the line with almost clear water ahead of Klimovich.

Men’s single sculls (M1x) – Final

The race – which was delayed by an hour – was much-anticipated, as the last race of the Olympic Regatta. Reigning World Champion Oliver Zeidler (Germany) got out fast, trying to stamp his authority on the race, and he established the early lead, but Simon van Dorp (Netherlands) was chasing him hard. With a slight tail wind helping the scullers along the way, we were expecting a fast time. At halfway, Zeidler was still leading – but would the pressure get to him again? Van Dorp was still sitting in silver medal position and the reigning Olympic Champion Stefanos Ntouskos (Greece) had moved into bronze medal position, but was still up for grabs as Thomas Mackintosh (New Zealand) was hot on his heels. With 500m to go, Zeidler was still looking supreme and Van Dorp appeared to look set for silver too, but then here came Yauheni Zalaty, the Individual Neutral Athlete AIN. Where had he come from! Zeidler claimed an epic gold and Zalaty had stolen the silver from Van Dorp, who had sat in second the rest of the race.

Results: GER, AIN, NED, BEL, NZL, GRE

B-Final

It was a surprise to see Croatia’s Damir Martin in the B-Final ; he has won Olympic medals in 2012, 2016 and 2020. Denmark’s Sverri Nielsen, who took fourth place at Tokyo 2020, took the early lead in this race and, into the second half of the race, was being chased by Romania’s Mihai Chiruta, who was, in turn, being chased by Japan’s Ryuta Arakawa – looking for Japan’s best-ever finish in this boat class at an Olympic Regatta! Chiruta and Nielsen had exactly the same finish time, but were able to be split by the photo finish camera – with the result in favor of the Romanian. What a race!

Women’s eight (W8+) – Final

The reigning World and European Champions from Romania flew out of the blocks at 52 strokes per minute, but Canada was piling the pressure on. Great Britain was sitting in third place. At the 500m marker, it was all so close, with Canada having just taken the lead over Romania, but Romania regained control. Great Britain were going with them too. Romania was starting to pull out a solid lead by halfway and the defending Olympic Champions, Canada, appeared to be being caught by Great Britain. Here came the USA too! Surely nobody could catch Romania, with 3/4 length lead. 500m to go, Great Britain were still piling the pressure on Canada. Romania now with a length lead – nobody could catch them, they were going to become Olympic Champions. Canada held off the charge from Great Britain to claim the silver. It was a second and historic Olympic bronze for Great Britain’s cox Henry Fieldman, who had coxed the British men to the same medal at Tokyo 2020.

Results: ROU, CAN, GBR, AUS, USA, ITA

Men’s eight (M8+) – Final

It was a rapid start as the six men’s eights flew off the start on the hunt for an Olympic medal. The Netherlands had the early lead but at 500m, Great Britain was piling on the pressure. At halfway, it was still neck-and-neck between the Netherlands and Great Britain. What could the reigning World Champions do? Into the final quarter, it was where the British traditionally made their move, and they had taken the lead. They were now moving ahead of the Netherlands and moving away. USA looking set for bronze.  The British went up to 42 strokes per minute, the Netherlands to 44 and the Americans to 45. Great Britain had done it, the World Champions had become Olympic Champions, crossing the line over a second ahead of the Netherlands. It was bronze for the United States of America – their first medal in this boat class since 2008.

Results: GBR, NED, USA, GER, ROU, AUS

An incredible way to round out the Paris 2024 Olympic Regatta. We’ll be back in Vaires-sur-Marne in a few weeks time for the Paralympic Regatta, taking place 30 August – 1 September 2024.