27 July 2024
Tim Koch has read a press release from World Rowing which summarises the opening day of the 2024 Olympic Regatta.
For immediate release: Paris, Saturday 27 July.
Persistent rain didn’t dampen the spirits of the thousands of rowing fans gathered at Paris’s Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium as the 2024 Olympic Rowing Regatta got underway. Six boat classes began their racing today; the single sculls, double sculls, and quadruple sculls – for both men and women.
The field in the men’s single sculls is vast and includes both the reigning Olympic Champion; Stefanos Ntouskos of Greece, and the reigning World Champion; Oliver Zeidler of Germany. Zeidler won his heat, but Ntouskos had to settle for second place, with New Zealander Tom Mackintosh finishing with clear water ahead. The fastest time across the six heats was posted by Dutch sculler Simon van Dorp, who clocked 6:49.93.
The women’s single sculls entry also has the reigning Olympic and World Champions – Emma Twigg (New Zealand) and Karolien Florijn (Netherlands) – Twigg here racing her fifth Olympic Games. Twigg finished second to Florijn at last year’s World Rowing Championships and they’re looking likely to meet again in the Olympic final. Lithuania’s Viktorija Senkute was the fastest across the six heats in 7:30.01, with Australia’s Tara Rigney also posting an impressive time (7:30.71) with a heat win.
In the men’s double sculls, both the gold and silver medallists from Tokyo were back in action in unchanged formations. The Dutch duo of Melvin Twellaar and Stefan Broenink, who won silver in Tokyo, once again indicated that they were a crew to watch in this boat class as they won the first heat in 6:14.13. However, the reigning Olympic Champions from France, Hugo Boucheron and Matthieu Androdias, had to settle for third place in their heat, which was won by Ireland’s Daire Lynch and Phil Doyle in an impressive time of 06:13.24.
Great Britain’s women’s double sculls of Rebecca Wilde and Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne, who only qualified at the recent Final Olympic Qualification Regatta, led for the majority of the first heat until Brooke Francis and Lucy Spoors (New Zealand) stole the lead in the closing stages. The home crowds were delighted to see Elodie Ravera Scaramozzino and Emma Lunatti pip Australia to the line in the second heat while the third heat saw the defending Olympic Champions take the win. Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radis will not only look to defend their title in the women’s double sculls, but they will also race in the Romanian women’s eight in Paris.
The first day of racing was concluded with the quadruple sculls where the first boats booked their places in medal races.
The Dutch men’s quad looked absolutely dominant in the first heat with Great Britain securing the second qualifying place while in the second heat, it was Italy and Poland confirming direct progression to the final.
There was a surprise in the first heat of the women’s quad when the reigning Olympic Champions from China, in a crew unchanged from the Tokyo Olympics, missed out on direct qualification. They were beaten by another dominant looking Dutch crew, with Ukraine taking the second qualifying place. Great Britain’s women’s quad looked like a class act in the second heat of the women’s quad – as reigning World Champions, their time of 06:13.35 was several seconds faster than the winning time of the Netherlands. Germany took the second qualifying place.
Sunday’s programme will start with the repechages for the singles and doubles before another block of heats – in the coxless pairs, lightweight double sculls and the fours.
Racing will start at 09:00 CET. For the full Sunday start list, click here.
Follow all the results live on worldrowing.com, on olympics.com and live updates on World Rowing’s social media channels.
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/WorldRowing
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/worldrowingofficial/
X – https://x.com/WorldRowing
YouTube – https://twitter.com/WorldRowing
TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@worldrowing
HTBS adds: Rachel Quarrell is at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium. Her take on the first day is on Row360 as are her impressions of the Stadium. All of Row360’s Olympic pieces are here. Rachel’s regular posts on Rowing Voice are also a good way of keeping up with the action.