Small boats deliver Silver lining for Aussies at key Olympic lead-up regatta

By Rupert Guinness with the Australian Rowing Team in Europe

The first hit-out by the 2024 Australian Rowing Team (ART) with a full-strength squad has confirmed the great promise of its small boat fleet after a series of strong performances at World Rowing Cup II in Lucerne, Switzerland. 

The ART had nine of its 13 boats in the A-Finals on Sunday, with four of them winning Silver Medals – the Women’s Single Scull, Double Scull and Pair; and the PR1 Men’s Single Scull.

Other crews showed their potential is further away than first thought, in particular the Men’s Coxed Eight (fourth), Coxless Four (fourth) and the Women’s Coxed Eight (fourth).

Either way, the biggest regatta after the Olympics and World Championships showcased where every ART crews stands this far out from the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“There was some great racing today with all our medal boats pressing the front end of the race demonstrating their potential for Paris,” Rowing Australia Performance Director Paul Thompson said. 

“We also know that some of the boats left their speed on the training track and will be working hard to fulfil their potential ahead of the next World Cup in Poznan, Poland.”

A-FINALS

Women’s Single Scull

Tara Rigney heralded her intent with a superb Silver Medal in the Women’s Single Scull that will leave the Dutch winner, World Champion Karolien Florijn, plenty to consider as she tries to convert years of dominance into Olympic Gold.

Rigney, who is coached by Ellen Randell and a Bronze Medallist in the last two World Rowing Championships, fired everything at Florijn and showed she is a genuine contender for victory in Paris.

Florijn still won Gold (7:25.76) but Rigney threw down her greatest challenge to the Dutch star to date, placing second (7:27.33). New Zealand’s Tokyo Olympic Champion Emma Twigg finished third (7:28.25).

Rigney raced herself into complete exhaustion but did not let the success sway her focus form the enormous challenge that still faces her in Paris.

“My goal today was just to go out and race freely and fearlessly, and I think I did that,” Rigney said.

“It is definitely a good starting platform but I am very aware that countries are in different training blocks and doing different things. I still take a bit of confidence from today.”

Women’s Double Scull

The Women’s Double Scull of Amanda Bateman and Harriet Hudson, coached by Ellen Randell, continued its upward trajectory with a Silver Medal win behind the United States.

Bateman and Hudson, in their third international race since being selected in March, charged their way into the lead from second place in the third 500m, but then the United States boat moved up to challenge them, and then edge by them in the last 100m.

Only 0.78s separated the United States (6:53.15) and Australia (6:53.93), with Norway third (6:55.54). 

“Today, we had to step on it, going from our semi and bring a little bit more intensity to our first 500m, and also knowing that there had to be a sprint at the end,” Hudson said.

“There was a serious sprint at the end and unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of it. But that is something we can look back at in training and look at improving on.”

Women’s Pair

Annabelle McIntyre OAM and Jessica Morrison OAM, coached by John Keogh, won Silver in the Pair, finishing behind the World Champion Netherlands and ahead of Ireland.

The Dutch (7:07.37) crew of Ymkje Clevering and Veronique Meester led from start to finish. Likewise, Australia (7:11.10) were always second; while Ireland (7:16.41) was always third.

The John Keogh-coached Australians said they will learn from their first major final of 2024.

“[We were] really solid out there again [but] not quite as fast as we wanted,” McIntyre said.

“We [were] just identifying the things that worked for us yesterday [in the Semi-Final] and comparing them to see what we can really solidify in the next couple of months.”

But Morrison said they understand the challenge ahead of them as Paris nears.

“It's a fast boat class and gets faster every year,” Morrison said. “Missing [were] the Romanians [here]. Hopefully we’ll get the opportunity to race them before Paris.

“We've definitely got our work cut out for us. I'm excited to see where we can get by Paris.”

PR1 Men’s Single Scull

Erik Horrie OAM, a triple Paralympic medallist and five-times World Champion, marked a successful return to international racing with a Silver Medal in the PR1 Single Scull.

The race was won by Italian Giacomo Perini (9:10.46). Horrie finished second (9:20.33).

Third and filling out the podium was Uzbekistan’s Egamberdiev Kholmurod (9:26.09).

Horrie was happy after 2023 was marred by his withdrawal from the World Championship A-Final in Belgrade last year due to a bicep injury.

Other races for Australia:

A-FINALS

Men’s Coxed Eight

The Eight finished fourth, the same position it claimed in the Preliminary race.

The Mark Prater-coached crew of Ben Canham Josh Hicks, Spencer Turrin OAM, Alexander Purnell OAM, Jack Hargreaves OAM, Jack O’Brien, Angus Dawson, Angus Widdicombe and Kendall Brodie (cox) started faster than in the Preliminary race, but then lost momentum.

The race was won by Great Britain (5:25.75) who pipped the United States (5:25.95. Third was the Netherlands (5:27.88) followed by Australia (5:32.12).

Men’s Four

Australia finished fourth and may have hoped for a better result after their impressive win in the heat where they beat Great Britain to qualify directly for the medal race.

The Lyall McCarthy-coached crew of Tim Masters, Fergus Hamilton, Jack Robertson and Alex Hill OAM went into the A-Final with high hopes after a brilliant heat win over Great Britain.

But the race was won by the United States (5:53.30) from New Zealand (5:55.31), Great Britain (5:57.73) and Australia (5:58.78).

Women’s Eight

The Eight, coached by John Keogh with Hally Chapman assisting, placed fourth.

First was Canada (6:04.47) who took the lead in the last 500m from second placed Great Britain (6:05.57), followed by the United States (6:08.77) and then Australia (6:12.36).

The Australian crew of Katrina Werry, Lucy Stephan OAM, Samantha Morton, Georgina Rowe, Sarah Hawe, Georgia Patten, Bronwyn Cox, Paige Barr and cox Hayley Verbunt had hoped for more but have significant work to do ahead of the Olympics.

Women’s Four

The Tom Westgarth coached Four of Eliza Gaffney, Jacqueline Swick, Molly Goodman and Jean Mitchell (moved to the stroke seat) placed sixth (6:57.37). The race was won by Great Britain (6:33.01) from the Netherlands (6:35.52) and the United States (6:36.98) in third.

Women’s Quad Scull

The Quad Scull of Rowena Meredith, Caitlin Cronin, Laura Gourley, Kathryn Rowan, coached by Tom Westgarth, finished sixth (6:30.43) in a race where the podium, from first to third place, was Great Britain (6:17.74), the Netherlands (6:20.10) and China (6:20.86).

B-Finals

Two Australian crews raced in the B-Finals of the Men’s and Women’s Pairs.

In the Men’s Pair, Rohan Lavery and Jackson Kench, coached by Rhett Ayliffe, were second. New Zealand 2 (6:38.84) won from Australia (6:40.03), followed by New Zealand 1 (6:40.10).

In the Women’s Pairs, Olympia Aldersey and Lily Alton Triggs, coached by Hally Chapman, were fourth (7:27.00). Czechia (7:20.06) won from Spain (7:22.40), Great Britain (7:22.76).

WHAT’S NEXT FOR AUSTRALIA – From Lucerne to Paris

May 27 – Australian Rowing Team (ART) returns to European Training Centre, Gavirate, Italy

June 10-16 – The ART travel to Poznan, Poland for World Cup III (June 14-16)

June 17-29 – Women’s ART training camp in Breisach, Germany

June 18-29 – Men’s ART training camp at ETC in Gavirate, Italy

June 30 – Olympic team announcement, Varese, Italy 

July 21 – The ART travel from Gavirate, Italy to Paris for Olympics