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: 15
A smaller entry than for the men’s single, but just as with the men the battle for the top two places will come down to just four or five scullers. Probable favourite will be the 2019 World Champion, Sanita Puspure of Ireland. The 42-year-old is looking to qualify for her fourth Olympics. She was one of the favourites heading into Tokyo but illness robbed her of a chance of competing for a medal. She’s ‘retired’ several times since Tokyo, but returned to race in the W2X in 2022, winning bronze and then the W4- in 2023, taking ninth. For 2024 she’s moved back into the single for, what you’d have to assume, is one last hurrah. She raced at the first World Cup of the season, placing fifth.
At the other end of the age/experience spectrum is Switzerland’s wunderkind, Aurelia-Maxima Janzen. The 20-year-old is the reigning U23 world champion and also took the senior circuit by storm in winning silver at the 2023 European Championships (using her trademark Macon blades). She came back down to earth with a little bump at the world championships as her 11th placed-finish was two off automatic qualification. This season she’s also found the competition a little tougher as she finished eighth in Varese and then won the B-Final at the European Championships in Hungary.
Spain hasn’t had a W1X at the Olympics since Beijing, but they stand a really good chance of making Paris with their sculler, Virginia Diaz Rivas .She raced in the W2- at the Tokyo Olympics before moving into the single in 2022. She made the A-Final at the 2022 worlds and then in 2023 also made the A-Final at the Europeans. This season she raced in Varese, making the A-Final again.
A depleted field at the European Championships last month allowed some less well-known names to step up. One of these was Czechia’s Alice Prokesova. She took bronze in Szeged, a huge step on from her previous best result of 11th in the W2X at the 2023 Europeans. This will give her a huge confidence boost heading into Lucerne.
A couple of scullers with an outside chance of getting a top-two finish are Evangalina Fragkou of Greece and Mazarine Guilbert of Belgium.
The 21-year-old Fragkou is a two-time U23 medallist (including gold in the BW2- in 2022). She was tenth in the W1X at the 2023 Europeans and 20th in the W2X at the Worlds. Her form this season is a bit unknown as she didn’t race at either the World Cup or the Europeans.
Belgium’s Guilbert finished fourth at the 2023 U23 World Championships and then this season placed eighth at the European Championships.
The FOQR also sees the three scullers who finished fourth, fifth and sixth at the European Qualifying Regatta a few weeks ago, Nina Kostanjsek of Slovenia, Wiktoria Kalinowska of Poland and Elis Ozbay of Turkey.
P.s. it’s an interesting fact that, as far as my records show, this is the first time that both the M1X and W1X at the FOQR has included former World Champions in their respective boat classes (Borch and Puspure)……well, I think it’s interesting anyway!
Prediction
Puspure to claim the top spot with the young Swiss, Janzen, just pipping the Spaniard for the all-important second qualifying spot.
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