Image credit: World Rowing
With the start of the Paris Olympics just a few weeks away the time has come for the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta, aka “The Regatta of Death”. This is the last chance for 28 boats to book their place at the Olympic party. Held on the glorious waters of the Rotsee in Lucerne – the aptly-named Lake of the Gods – it is, perhaps, the hardest and most brutal set of races throughout the entire Olympic cycle. The maths is very straightforward (unlike the Continental Qualifiers which are anything but); finish in the top two and you’re in. If you don’t then that’s it – the Olympic dream is over for another four years.
Entries: 6
A small field and one that has two clear favourites – Ireland and Denmark. These two crews finished fourth and fifth at the Varese World Cup, separated by just 2/tenth of a second.
Ireland has had a very strong crew in this event throughout the last few seasons. They took bronze at the Tokyo Olympics and have two of that crew racing this season, Eimear Lambe and Emily Hegarty. They are joined by Natalie Long (who was in the W4- that won silver at the 2022 Europeans) and Imogen Magner. All but Hegarty were in this boat for the 2023 world championships (along with Sanita Puspure) but were somewhat disappointed with only managing ninth, a result which, crucially, saw them miss qualification for Paris.
Denmark have the same line-up that finished one place ahead of the Irish last year (and one place off qualifying), Astrid Steensberg, Julie Poulsen, Frida Sanggaard Nielsen and Marie Skytte Hauberg Johannesen. This quartet also raced in 2022 where they won the B-Final (ahead of New Zealand who reversed that result in 2023 to claim the final Olympic qualifying spot).
Chile made history in 2023 when they won gold in this boat class at the opening World Cup (the first ever gold medal for Chile in an Olympic-class event). They have one returner from that crew, Victoria Hostetter Wells. She’s joined by her younger sister, Cristina, who is a graduate of Temple University in the USA where she rowed in their Varsity eight. The sisters were both members of the Chilean W4X that won silver at the 2023 Pan-American Games. They are joined by two members of the 2023 U23 silver medal BW4- Antonia Pichott and Isidora Niemeyer. They are also medallists from the 2023 Pan-Americans, taking the bronze in the W8.
Poland were fifth (out of five) at the European championships, but have made two changes to that crew. Zuzanna Lesner and Weronika Kazmmierczak join the boat having raced in the pair at the Euros. They join 19-year-old Kinga Stalega and 22-year-old Anna Potrzuska, the latter was U23 world champion in the BW4- last season.
Japan could well be the dark horses in this event. They are unchanged from the line-up that finished eighth at the final World Cup last season, Sahoko Kinota, Haruna Sakakibara, Akiho Takano and Sayaka Chujo. That performance was the best-ever by an open-weight Japanese women’s crew and they finished one place behind Denmark and beat the likes of Germany and Canada.
The final crew in the event is Spain featuring Rocio lao Sanchez, Iria Jarama Diaz, Olivia Del Castillo and Maria Fernandez Valencia Nunez. Three of this crew finished ninth (out of nine) at the Varese World Cup and the new member of the crew is Nunez who returns to the boat she raced in during the 2023 season and that won the C-Final at the world championships.
Prediction
Ireland and Denmark in first and second (but I think the Japanese will be a lot closer than many people think).
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