Emma Twigg, New Zealand (Bronze)
The oldest competitor in the field, Twigg is also the most experienced and is something of a legend in the single. She has been competing on the senior international stage since 2006 and, after initially racing in the eight, made the move to this boat class in 2007, winning the U23 world championships that season and making the A-Final of the senior world championships. She has spent the rest of her career racing in the single and, during that time, has won the world title in 2014 as well as world championship silver four times and bronze twice. Paris will be her fifth Olympic Games despite the fact that after taking a second successive fourth-placed finish in Rio, she retired from international competition. However, the lure of the river was too great and in 2018 she returned to competition. She fulfilled her dream in Tokyo by becoming Olympic champion, becoming the first New Zealander to medal in the women’s single at the Olympics. In 2022, she again took silver at the world championships as well as medaling at the world Beach Sprints. In 2023, she took yet another silver medal at the world championships and this season has made one appearance, taking the bronze medal behind Florijn and Rigney at the Lucerne 2024 World Rowing Cup.
Tara Rigney, Australia (Silver)
Rigney, from Sydney University Boat Club, made her senior international debut in 2021; after winning the Australian Championships in the double with Amanda Bateman, she was selected for this boat class for the Tokyo Olympics, so her first senior race was the Olympics. She and Bateman won the B-Final in Tokyo to give them seventh overall. Post Tokyo, she moved into the single, winning medals at both the second and third 2022 World Rowing Cups and ending the season with a bronze medal at the world championships. She repeated that performance in 2023, finishing as runner-up to Florijn at the third 2023 World Rowing Cup (and to Alexandra Foester of Germany at the second edition) and then taking her second world championship bronze medal. This season she again raced at the second and third 2024 World Rowing Cups, again finishing as runner up to Florijn in Lucerne before claiming her first 2024 World Rowing Cup gold in Florijn’s absence in Poznan (Australia’s first 2024 World Rowing Cup gold in the women’s single since 2016).
Karolien Florijn, Netherlands (Gold)
Karolien Florijn is the most outstanding sculler in the world right now. She made her senior debut in 2016 whilst still a junior, and the following year, as a 19-year-old, won senior medals at the opening 2024 World Rowing Cup and the 2024 European championships, as well as U23 world gold. In 2018 she was a member of the quad that won world and European bronze and the following year she switched back to sweep, winning the European title in the coxless four and ending the season with world championship silver. She continued in the four for Olympic year and went unbeaten throughout the season until the Games themselves, where the Dutch were pushed into silver by Australia. However, it’s post-Tokyo where Florijn has pushed her – already impressive – career to another level. In 2022, she switched to the single and is currently unbeaten. She is not just unbeaten though – in two years, no-one has really come close to her. She won the 2022 world title by three seconds and by five seconds last year. She’s currently on a nine-race winning streak, a feat that has only been bettered by the legendary Ekaterina Karsten (who produced a run of 15 unbeaten events between 2005-2008). It will be a major shock if Florijn doesn’t take the gold in Paris. If she does, it’ll be the first time the Netherlands have won an Olympic medal in this event (their best previous result was fourth in 1988 – the last time the Netherlands had a women’s single sculler in an Olympic final).
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