Rowing 2024 Paris Olympics Review

Men’s Single Sculls

No major shocks occured in the heats, with Simon Van Dorp (Netherlands) fastest. Oliver Zeidler (Germany) went quickest in the quarter-finals. He repeated that in the semi-finals, in an Olympic record, with Van Dorp taking the other. In the final, the two surged ahead early with Zeidler leading Van Dorp at 500m. By halfway, the gap had stretched to 1.44. Stefanos Ntouskos (Greece) held third place ahead of Tom Mackintosh (New Zealand). At 1500m, the gap from first to second, grew to 2.09 with Macintosh moving into bronze medal position. Van Dorp faded over the last 250m and instead, Yauheni Zalaty (Belarus) finished fast, taking silver. 

🥇Oliver Zeidler 🇩🇪

🥈Yauheni Zalaty 🇧🇾

🥉Simon Van Dorp 🇳🇱

Prediction analysis; 2 Medalists correct, 1 perfect prediction. 

I thought Zeidler was one of the strongest favourites of the regatta and so it proved. I expected Van Dorp to chase him home but perhaps he ruined his race to chase Zeidler. I mentioned the form of Zalaty but ultimately went for the Olympic experience of Ntouskos

Men’s Double Sculls

Lynch/Doyle (Ireland) were quickest in the heats, with Cornea/Enache (Romania) and Twellaar/Broenink (Netherlands) winning the other heats. Ireland and the Netherlands won the semi-finals. In the final, Romania led Garcia/Conde (Spain) at 500m and still held the advantage at halfway from the Netherlands. With 500m to go, the Netherlands led by 0.32 ahead of Romania,  Koszyk/Davison (United States) and Ireland. The closing stretch saw two separate duels and Romania began to row away from the Netherlands as Ireland saw water run out as they began to close in.

🥇Andrei-Sebastian Cornea/Marian Enchea 🇷🇴

🥈Melvin Twellaar/Stef Broenink 🇳🇱

🥉Daire Lynch/Philip Doyle 🇮🇪

Prediction analysis; 1 Medalist correct

I called this as a close race. I thought the Dutch pair would go on to get victory and rather ignored the Romanian chances, possibly due to the newness of the pairing. Ireland were mentioned as possible outsiders but did not factor into my calculations. 

Men’s Quadruple Sculls

The Netherlands were the quickest team in the heats, with Italy winning the other heat. In the final, the Netherlands came out fastest, ahead of Italy by half a second. It remained the same leaders at halfway, with Poland edging Great Britain for third. By the 1500m mark, Poland had overtaken Italy but the Netherlands looked like the clear winners. No one came close to them but the battle was for the silver medal. Italy pulled back past Poland to take silver.

🥇Netherlands 🇳🇱

🥈Italy 🇮🇹

🥉Poland 🇵🇱

Prediction analysis; 3 Medalists correct, 3 perfect predictions. 

This was one of my most accurate predictions including Britain being fourth. 

Men’s Coxless Pair

Canalejo/Garcia (Spain) set the pace in the heats, with Sinkovic/Sinkovic (Croatia) and Wynne-Griffith/George (Great Britain) winning the other heats. In the semi-finals, Croatia won the first semi, while Arteni/Lehaci (Romania) who wonthe second. The British pair led the final out, with over a second advantage after 500m but by halfway Romania had closed to within 0.31. With 500m to go, Britain led by 1.38 from Romania with Roeoesli/Gulich (Switzerland) in third. The Croatians surged from the pack and they caught Britain within the last 20m. 

🥇Martin Sinkovic/Valent Sinkovic 🇭🇷

🥈Oliver Wynne-Griffith/Tom George 🇬🇧

🥉Roman Roeoesli/Andrin Gulich 🇨🇭

 

Prediction analysis; 2 Medalists correct

The problem here was having the Sinkovic brothers down as doing a different event. I think I would have had them winning bronze. Romania were dangerous as expected whilst the Spanish pair were not as consistent as expected. 

Men’s Coxless Four 

New Zealand were the fastest in the heats, while the United States claimed the other heat. In the final, the United States and New Zealand were dead level at the 500m mark with Italy in third. By halfway, the United States led by almost a second with Italy still in third. The gap narrowed by 1500m as Great Britain moved into third. New Zealand threatened a comeback but at the 1750m mark, the United States started to move away from New Zealand again. 

🥇United States 🇺🇸

🥈New Zealand 🇳🇿

🥉Great Britain 🇬🇧

Prediction analysis; 2 Medalists correct 

Britain had shown me what this boat was this season rather than over the past years of the cycle. I thought the United States would be a contenders but overestimated the Netherlands and underrated New Zealand. 

Men’s Eights

The United States went quickest in the heats with Great Britain winning the other heat. In the final, the Netherlands went out fastest and had an edge of 0.12 over Britain at 500m. By halfway, it was the same gap, with the United States over a second behind. By the 1500 mark, Britain had surged into the lead, with a gap of 1.02 back to the Netherlands and 1.64 back to the United States. The gaps would not really change over the last 500m. 

🥇Great Britain 🇬🇧

🥈Netherlands 🇳🇱

🥉United States 🇺🇸

Prediction analysis; 2 Medalists correct, 1 perfect prediction. 

It was faith in the Australian boat that cost me here. Britain looked strongest over the cycle and they repaid my expectation. I did point out the United States as the likely fourth-placed finishers and when Australia struggled, it made sense that they stepped into the gap.

Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls

Ahumada/Schauble (Switzerland) went quickest in the heats with Oppo/Soares (Italy) and McCarthy/O’Donovan (Ireland) winning the others. In the semi-finals, it was Ireland and Italy who took the wins. In the final, Gkaidatzis/Papakonstantinou (Greece) joined the battle, edging Ireland and Italy with an early lead. With 500m to go, Ireland led by 0.98 from Italy. With 250m it looked like only being a battle for silver as Ireland pulled away. It was a photo finish for silver that Italy held on for.

🥇Fintan McCarthy/Paul O’Donovan 🇮🇪

🥈Stefano Oppo/Gabriel Soares 🇮🇹

🥉Raphael Ahumada/Jan Schauble 🇨🇭

Prediction analysis; 3 Medalists correct, 1 perfect prediction. 

Perhaps tried a bit too hard to pick a surprise and went against one of the strongest boats in recent years. It did come down to the three teams suggested but Ireland were the clear winners. 

Women’s Single Sculls

Viktorija Senkute (Lithuania) set the pace in the heats. Emma Twigg (New Zealand) went fastest in the quarter-finals, before repeating the feat in the semi-final. Karolien Florijn (Netherlands) took the final out hard, leading Twigg by almost two seconds. She still led at halfway with Tara Rigney (Australia) in third. At 1500m, Florijn still led but the gap had narrowed to less than a second, while Senkute began to reel in Rigney. By 1750m, the gap between Twigg and Florijn was closer but Twigg looked tired and soon the Dutchwoman was pulling away. The battle for bronze was on though and Senkute was able to take Lithuania’s first-ever rowing medal. 

🥇Karolien Florijn 🇳🇱

🥈Emma Twigg 🇳🇿

🥉Viktorija Senkute 🇱🇹

Prediction analysis; 2 Medalists correct, 1 perfect prediction. 

Florijn was a stronger favourite than Zeilder entering the Olympics which surprised me but she duly did the job. I thought it would be Twigg and Rigney but Senkute was able to cause an upset as someone I did not really focus on. 

Women’s Double Sculls 

After adjusting their lineup, Romania started their top pair Bodnar/Radis (Romania) and they were quickest in the heats. They won the second semi-final while Francis/Spoors (New Zealand) took the other semi. In the final, Hodgkins-Byrne/Wilde (Great Britain) edged the Romanian pair at the 500m mark. By halfway, Romania had grabbed a one-second lead ahead of Great Britain and New Zealand. New Zealand pushed on and at 1500m had a slight lead. The gaps only looked to have extended at 1750m with Scheenaard/Veldhuis (Netherlands) attempting to break into the podium. Instead, there were no changes to the medal position over the final section.

🥇Brooke Francis/Lucy Spoors 🇳🇿

🥈Ancuta Bodnar/Simona Radis 🇷🇴

🥉Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne/Rebecca Wilde 🇬🇧

Prediction analysis; 1 Medalist correct, 1 perfect prediction. 

As referenced, the Romanian changing entries affected my predictions. I would have had the pairing that competed as strong favourites to win the gold but they could only get the silver that I eventually predicted. New Zealand were mentioned as a possible threat whilst Great Britain came from nowhere as medal contenders for me. 

Women’s Quadruple Sculls

The Netherlands won heat A but Great Britain claimed the second heat, going faster. Netherlands started the final fastest with Ukraine looking to keep pace. By halfway, Britain had closed the gap and were back in second. By 1500m, it was a clear two-race battle as Britain trailled by 1.1. Ukraine paid the price for the fast start as Germany and Switzerland both went past them. The lead tightened and after looking like they were running out of water, Britain was able to steal the gold by 0.15. 

🥇Great Britain 🇬🇧

🥈Netherlands 🇳🇱

🥉Germany 🇩🇪

Prediction analysis; 2 Medalists correct, 1 perfect prediction. 

I suggested this would be one of the races of the competition with hardly any gap between the big three. I was right to some extent, as China were nowhere near competitive with the big two. Germany was the team able to get bronze which also surprised me. 

Women’s Coxless Pair

Morrison/McIntyre (Australia) were quickest in the heats, with Clevering/Meester (Netherlands) and Vrinceanu/Anghel (Romania) taking the others. The Australian and Dutch pairs who won the semi-finals setting up a big showdown in the final. The Netherlands were fastest out in the first 500m, leading by over two seconds. At halfway, it was a gap of 3.78. With 500m to go, it was five seconds and the only battle was for the medals. Australia led Romania but Kralikaite/Adomaviciute (Lithuania) were chasing. Instead, the expected pairs were able to move away from Lithuania and Romania began to close on Australia. They surged past them over the final 50m to take silver

🥇Ymkje Clevering/Veronique Meester 🇳🇱

🥈Ioana Vrinceanu/Roxana Anghel 🇷🇴

🥉Jessica Morrison/Annabelle McIntyre 🇦🇺

Prediction analysis; 3 Medalists correct, 1 perfect prediction. 

I thought the Dutch pair were one of the stronger pairings and so they proved with a dominant display in the final. Australia looked like coming second for a long time only to be edged by Romania. 

Women’s Coxless Four

Great Britain dominated their heat, winning by almost three seconds, while the Netherlands took the second heat. In the final, the Dutch led Britain by almost a second. By halfway, the gap had closed to just 0.31. Behind them, New Zealand led China in the battle for bronze. At 1500m, the gap was just 0.15 while Romania were catching New Zealand. Britain went ahead just before the 1750m mark but it was back and forth depending on the stroke. Netherlands started to go ahead though and this time Netherlands would edge it on the line by 0.18. New Zealand held onto bronze. 

🥇Netherlands 🇳🇱

🥈Great Britain 🇬🇧

🥉New Zealand 🇳🇿

Prediction analysis; 2 Medalists correct

For most of the race, I thought I was going to be correct with Britain taking gold, only for them to be edged on the line. I thought Romania were contenders and they did finish fourth 

Women’s Eight 

Romania were fastest in the heats with Great Britain winning the other heat. In the final, Canada led the first 500m ahead of Romania. By halfway, Romania had stormed into a strong lead of over a second from Canada with Britain in third. The gap had only extended at 1500m. It looked like the medals were sorted with 250m to go and although Britain closed, they could only take bronze. 

🥇Romania 🇷🇴

🥈Canada 🇨🇦

🥉Great Britain 🇬🇧

Prediction analysis; 3 Medalists correct, 3 perfect predictions. 

My conviction of the Romanian win only became stronger when it was revealed who was rowing and it became clear this was the ultimate priority. 

Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls

Cox/Kiddle (New Zealand) were quickest in the heats with Scott/Craig (Great Britain) and Beleaga/Cozmiuc (Romania) taking the others. Britain and Romania won their respective semi-finals. In the final, Romania started quickest but Britain led at 500m. By halfway, the gap was almost a second. The gap had grown at 1500m and Great Britain would hold on to take gold. The surprise came as Kontou/Fitsiou (Greece) were able to beat the New Zealand pair into bronze. 

🥇Emily Craig/Imogen Grant 🇬🇧

🥈Gianina Beleaga/Ionela Cozmiuc 🇷🇴

🥉Dimitra Kontou/Zoi Fitsiou 🇬🇷

Prediction analysis; 2 Medalists correct, 1 perfect prediction. 

I expected Britain to take this quite easily and they did it well. Romania, again, made it difficult by messing around with the pairings. The Greece pairing was mentioned but not really a team I considered for medals. France never really competed to the extent I expected.