Women’s Single Scull – QuarterfinalsÂ
Tara Rigney of Australia followed up on her heat win with a decisive victory in the opening quarter-final of the morning. The Sydney-born athlete led from the off, establishing nearly a length over the USA’s Kara Kohler in the opening 25 strokes. For what it is worth, Kohler was comfortable in second, fending off any approaches from Bulgarian Desislava Angelova, who quietly sewed up the third and final qualifying spot into the A/B semi-finals.
Faster to the 500m and 1000m before she took her foot off the gas, the imperious Karolien Florijn showed no signs of letting up in her quarter-final. She had clear water within 250m and from there could dictate the terms of the race, although the young German, Alexandra Foester, managed to first overhaul the Induvial Neutral Athlete, Tatsiana Klimovich, before reconnecting with Florijn in the closing strokes. Those three will progress to the semi-finals.
If anyone thought Emma Twigg – reigning Olympic champion – would have a comfortable ride in the third quarter-final, they clearly had not shared that view with Aurelia-Maxima Katharina Janzen of Switzerland. The 20-year-old punched hard in the opening 1000m, essentially matching the great Kiwi stroke for stroke before Twigg turned on the afterburners in the second half to open up a length. Behind them, Jovana Arsic sat in third for much of the contest before Virginia Diaz Rivas of Spain woke up in the closing 500m to overtake and snatch the final qualifying spot into the A/B semi-finals.
Viktorija Senkute of Lithuania was not on many people’s bingo card as a medal threat at this Olympics but the quality of her sculling at this regatta has been exceptional. The romantic eyes were automatically drawn to Magdalena Lobnig, the storied Austrian sculler who won bronze in Tokyo, whilst silver medallist in the same race, Anna Prakaten, seemed equally determined to lock up a slot in the A/B semi-finals. Times in this last quarter-final were significantly slower than the three that came before, indicating that the fight for medals may not contain any of the aforementioned.
Men’s Single Scull – QuarterfinalsÂ
Incoming Oxford University President and Olympic gold medalist, Tom Mackintosh, was always the favourite to progress in the opening quarter-final of the men’s single and was able to lead this race for basically the entire course. A good battle ensued between Denmark’s Sverri Nielsen and Uruguay’s Bruno Cetraro Berriolo for second and third; the latter led for 1900m but was overhauled in the final sprint by the fast-finishing Dane.Â
The fly-and-die was on full show in the second quarter-final via Paraguay’s Javier Insfran, who led the field to 250m but was steadily overhauled by every other sculler in the following 750m. Out front, the world champion, Oliver Zeidler, was the first to overtake the Paraguayan and got to the 1000m marker a second faster than Mackintosh did in the previous quarter-final. The race for those all-important A/B semi-final slots really came alive in the closing 500m as Belgium’s Tim Brys – who had been hanging out in second throughout – was put under intense pressure by Romania’s Mihai Chiruta and the USA’s Jacob Plihal. Over the line, it was Brys who clung on to second with the Romanian securing the third slot. Zeidler’s winning time was three seconds quicker than his Kiwi counterpart and ended up as the quickest single time of the day.Â
The theme of the Flying Dutchmen (and women) was pervasive once again in the third quarter-final, as Simon Van Dorp rowed through a fast-starting field to lead by clear water at the 1000m (in a time that was only marginally slower than Zeidler). He was flanked either side by Olympic champion, Stefanos Ntouskos, and Damir Martin, three-times Olympic medalist and bronze medal winner in Tokyo. The latter appears to be improving throughout the regatta, as his second-placed quarter-final performance was altogether more convincing than his heat. It is also looking increasingly unlikely that the Greek Ntouskos will be repeating the feats of three years ago as he trickled over in third.Â
The last of four quarter-finals was a three-way tussle between Yauheni Zalaty (Individual Neutral Athlete), Giedrius Bieliauskas of Lithuania and Ryuta Arakawa of Japan. Zalaty played his cards perfectly, stalking Bieliauskas for the opening 1500m before turning on the gas to overtake and scull away as the fourth and final winner. The Lithuanian will have no shame in attaining second from Lane 5 whilst Arakawa now has a good chance of improving on his 11th-placed finish from Tokyo. Â
Women’s Double Scull – SemifinalsÂ
In the opening rowing semi-final of the Paris Olympic Games, New Zealand’s double were keen to repeat the feat they achieved on Saturday in winning their opening heat. The Dutch – who disappointed slightly in the same race three days ago despite being Olympic bronze medalists – were out to spoil the Kiwi party whilst home favourites from France battled it out with Czechia for the third and final spot into the A-final. A gripping finale saw Francis and Spoors of New Zealand take a narrow win over the Netherlands in second and the charging French in third.Â
The race of the day unfolded in the second semi-final as four crews fought tooth and nail for three slots into the A-final, including world champions from Romania and European champions for Norway. Leading for 1900m – as they did for much of their heat – were the surprise package of this category from Great Britain, who were only knocked over by an explosive final punch from Romania. Norway edged out Australia to secure the final berth in Thursday’s A-final.Â
Men’s Double Scull – Semifinals
The drama continued at a near-unrelenting pace as a fascinating men’s double semi-final unfolded between the world champions from the Netherlands, world silver medalists in 2022 from Spain plus a Serbian crew who led for nearly the entirety of a course and a Romanian boat who flirted throughout with places one to four. In the end, the Netherlands’ freight train proved decisive as they won the semi-final ahead of the Spanish, who unleashed their trademark closing sprint to go past Serbia. The latter seemed to have third place secured before their stroke-man Nikolaj Pimenov fell apart in the last ten strokes, allowing Romania to close up and move into the A-final.
Another corker in semi-final two as the crowds, lounging in the blistering sun at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, enjoyed three exceptional crews driving down towards the line. It was the Irish – who won bronze at the world championships in 2023 – who secured the win, sculling down first Germany then the USA. The latter put on a great showing to finish second, narrowly clear of a New Zealand combination that started their wind to the line slightly too late. Those three boats will join the Netherlands, Spain and Romania in the A-final.
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