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: 4
Italy will start as the most likely favourites to take the top qualifying spot. They finished sixth at the world championships last year and come into the 2024 season with an unchanged line-up, Giorgia Pelacchi, Linda de Filippis, Alice Gnatta, Alisha Rocek, Alice Codato, Silvia Terazzi, Elisa Mondelli, Veronica Bumbaca and Emanuela Capponi. They made a strong start to the season, outsprinting the British to take the win at the opening World Cup and then picking up bronze (behind the Romanians and British) at the Europeans. Should Italy get one of the qualifying places it will be the first time in their history that they got a W8 to the Olympics.
China won bronze in this event in Tokyo but none of that crew remained for the Paris campaign. In 2023 they missed out on a place in the A-Final at the world championships and ended up winning the B-Final for seventh overall. They have made a number of changes to their line-up for 2024, with just five of that boat returning (Lijun Bao, Fengiao Sun, Xiya Dong, Hairong Zhang and coxswain Xiaohan Xu). Coming into the boat are international debutants Huajin Liu and Chengyang Zhu along with former U23 international Xinje Huang and senior international Yihui Wu (who was 15th in the W2- in 2022).
Denmark is a crew that mixes youth with experience. Anchoring the boat in the stern pair are Sofie Vikkelsoe and Nikoline Laidlaw. This duo were 11th in the W2- in 2022. The crew also includes Nanna Vigild and Sara Johansen who made their international debuts in Varese along with former junior international Frida Werner Foldager and U23 international Clare Hornnaess. At the opening World Cup they reached the A-Final, finishing sixth (although they were beaten by the Italian second eight). It would be great to see Denmark qualify a W8 for the first time but they will have their work cut-out.
The final crew in the event is Germany. They placed fourth at both the European championships and the Varese World Cup (although the Euro’s was only a four-boat race). German women’s sweep rowing has always been the poor relation to their sculling programme (the German W8 last won a world championship medal in 2006 and you have to go back to 1992 for the W8 to have last won an Olympic medal). Their crew is a mix of youth and experience. Sophie Leupold, Lena Osterkamp and Melanie Goeldner finished 11th in the W4- last year and Nora Peuser and Tabea Kuhnert were in the crew that finished fourth at the European championships last year. The youth element of the crew comes from former junior world medallist Annabelle Bachmann and U23 international Judith Guhse.
Prediction
Italy to take top spot. China are a bit of an unknown quantity but they did finish just ahead of the German’s last season so I’m going to stick my neck out and say they repeat that feat in Lucerne. Italy and China to qualify.
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