29 July 2024
By Tim Koch
Tim Koch posts a media release from World Rowing summarising the third day of the 2024 Olympic Regatta.
For immediate release: Paris, Monday, 29 July.
The third day of the 2024 Olympic Regatta was a short, but critical session of racing, once again in stunning conditions on the lake in Vaires-sur-Marne. For some crews, it was a race to stay in the competition whereas for others, it was their first appearance of the regatta.
The first races of the day were the semifinals E/F of the single sculls. With the single sculls having the biggest entries of all boat classes, E and F finals will be contested on Friday, 2 August and today’s races were all about who would be in each of those. Progression to the E final would allow the scullers to contest for positions 25-30 which, in some cases, might be the best ever result for their nation.
Find more about some of the history being made in the single sculls here.
The repechages of the men’s and women’s pairs both saw four crews racing for just three places in the semifinals. In the men’s pair, Patrick Holt and Simon Keenan of Australia found themselves in fourth place from the offset and just couldn’t quite ever get themselves into the all-important top three.
Meanwhile, in the women’s pair, although Great Britain’s Rebecca Edwards and Chloe Brew were slow off the start, they found some additional speed in the second half of the race which allowed them to overhaul Kate Haines and Alana Sherman of New Zealand, who sadly finished fourth and were eliminated.
Today’s racing session concluded with the much-anticipated heats of the eights. With two heats each for the men and women, the progression was tough with just the top crew from each race securing direct qualification for the finals (to be raced on Saturday, 3 August) and the remainder needing to race the repechages (to be raced on Thursday, 1 August).
In the men’s eight, the United States of America, who qualified for Paris through the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in May this year, got the better of last year’s world silver medallists, the Netherlands. While the USA looked impressive, they are likely to face fierce competition from Great Britain who comfortably won the second heat ahead of Australia.
Great Britain also finished ahead of Australia in the first heat of the women’s eight to secure the single direct qualifying place for the final. The qualifying place from the second heat was claimed by a strong looking Romanian crew. The crew has been bolstered by the Olympic Champions in the women’s double, Simona Radis and Ancuta Bodnar (who are also racing in the double sculls in Paris). Romania’s time was almost four second faster than Great Britain’s winning time, but it could all change when they go alongside each other on Saturday.
Tuesday’s programme will see the quarterfinals of the single sculls, semifinals of the double sculls and a repechage for the women’s and men’s four. Racing will start at 09:30 CET.
Follow all the results live on worldrowing.com
Live updates are 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:
For those especially interested in the fortunes of British crews, the British Rowing website also has a Day 3 Report.
The fourteen-event Olympic Regatta runs 27 July – 3 August. The five-event Paralympic Regatta runs 30 August – 1 September.