31 July 2024
By Tim Koch
Tim Koch posts a media release from World Rowing summarising the fifth day of the 2024 Olympic Regatta.
For immediate release: Paris, Wednesday, 31 July.
Wednesday saw the first medals of the 2024 Olympic Regatta be awarded in two epic races. Ahead of the two finals, a series of semifinals saw heartbreak for two of the host nation boats.
The reigning Olympic Champions from Croatia, Martin and Valent Sinkovic, have set the marker to defend their title, winning their semifinal of the men’s pair comfortably, while the Netherlands had the fastest women’s pair.
There was disappointment for the host nation, France when both their lightweight men’s and women’s double sculls failed to qualify for the A-Finals, finishing an agonising fourth place on both occasions.
Ireland are looking to defend their Olympic Champion title in the lightweight men’s double sculls and were the fastest boat across the semifinals. Despite a brief challenge from New Zealand, the Great Britain lightweight women’s double remained unbeaten.
First to race for 2024 Olympic medals was the men’s quadruple sculls. The Dutch reigning World and Olympic Champions got out fast to try and stamp their authority on the race and took the early lead. Italy and Poland were chasing them hard, with Great Britain, who were silver medallists at Tokyo 2020, sitting in fourth. While Poland and Italy continued to exchange places for silver, nobody could catch the Dutch. They defended their Olympic Champion title and won the Netherlands’ first medal of the Games across all sports. Silver for Italy and bronze for Poland.
In the women’s quadruple sculls, Great Britain came to Paris as reigning World Champions and as one of the favourites, but 500m into the race, they were only sat in third place, behind the Netherlands and Ukraine. The British women gradually worked their way through the field and were attacking the Dutch hard into the closing stages. They crossed the line too close to call. It was a photo finish. Great Britain had made history, they had beaten the Netherlands to the line by 0.15 seconds and it was the first time a British quad had won Olympic Gold. The Netherlands took silver and Germany the bronze.
With two sets of medals already awarded, there is much more to look forward to on Thursday as a further four boat classes race their Olympic finals.
In the women’s double sculls, all three medal-winning nations from Tokyo 2020 are back in the final (Romania, New Zealand and the Netherlands), but the British have also looked impressive and led Romania for the majority of the semifinal.
Meanwhile, in the men’s boat class, it’s only the Netherlands looking to improve on their silver medal from Tokyo 2020 – with the same line-up. They’re likely to face competition from Ireland, who posted the fastest time in the semifinals.
In the women’s four, Great Britain is arguably the crew to beat. They qualified directly from the heats where they set the fastest time, but watch out also for the Dutch boat who won the other heat and Romania will undoubtedly provide tough opposition too. New Zealand come into the final of the men’s four as potential favourites having posted the fastest time in the heats when they beat Great Britain, but will the British be out for revenge? The USA won the other heat so will also be looking to secure a podium place.
Day 6 of the Paris 2024 Olympic Rowing Regatta will start at 09:30 CEST with the first medal final at 11:18 CEST. For the full Thursday start list in CET, click here.
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
For those especially interested in the fortunes of British crews, the British Rowing website also has a Day 5 Report.
The fourteen-event Olympic Regatta runs 27 July – 3 August. The five-event Paralympic Regatta runs 30 August – 1 September.