Early risers in the French capital woke up to thunderstorms and heavy rain but fortunately the racing was unaffected on day six of the Paris Olympic regatta. Romania secured their first Olympic gold medal of the regatta but not in the event many might have anticipated. Great Britain and New Zealand put on a display of mum-strength and each secured a hat-trick of medals, one of each colour in the case of the Kiwis. The Dutch were pickpocketed in one event but came good in another, their women’s four learning from Wednesday’s women’s quad race to deny Helen Glover (GBR) a third Olympic gold medal.

Mothership (W2x)

The women’s double sculls were the first to fight for Olympic glory on Thursday. All eyes were on the Romanians, who dominated this Olympiad until their cloak of invincibility slipped at the Europeans. The defending Olympic champions Simona Radis and Ancuta Bodnar (ROU) led at halfway, stalked closely by New Zealand, Great Britain and the Netherlands.

Lucy Spoors and Brooke Francis (NZL) kicked hard with 700 meters to go, overhauling Radis and Bodnar. The Kiwi mothers led the pack through the last quarter of the race, but only just, flanked either side by Romania and Great Britain.

A canvas down and closing, ragged with exhaustion, Radis and Bodnar threw themselves at the finish. But it wasn’t enough, Spoors and Francis held firm with just 0.24 seconds to spare. Gold for the New Zealand mothership. “Crazy. I’m still in shock. I’m proud of Brooke, I’m proud of myself, I’m proud of the whole package really,” said Spoors.

Spoors continued: “They (her children, and Francis’ children) are definitely our superpower. Since Tokyo we’ve both believed we could win this race. It’s been a slow build but to be here and finally do it in front of them, I can’t believe it.”

“We’ve said the whole way along that we’re just mums, this is our job, and we’ve been able to have a job that allows us to work hard and chase our dreams. We’re not going to lie, it hasn’t been easy, but it’s absolutely been worth it.”

“It was a tough race,” said Radis, who will race again with Bodnar in the women’s eight on Saturday. “We are not sad. This year was really hard for us, so I think this silver is of more value than the gold because we could make it.”

Becky Wilde and Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne (GBR), the latter another athlete-mum with a son cheering in the grandstand, defied their status as last-minute qualifiers to deliver another excellent race and secure a bronze medal ahead of the Dutch.

“It means everything,” said Wilde. “It was a dream come true to make it here, and to win a medal is beyond anything we could have imagined. We’ve worked so hard, so hard, and to do it is incredible.”

An outside chance (M2x)

“I don’t care who is the world champion, who is the silver medallist. I have respect for all the crews that compete against me. I told them before: if they want to beat me, they must die.”

Marian Florian Enache (ROU) did not mince his words in the post-race mixed zone, and he and his M2x partner Andrei Sebastian Cornea were equally direct in the race. They shot out in the first half and weathered the Dutch response from the outside lane.

World champions Melvin Twellaar and Stefan Broenink (NED) hit the lead with 500m to go. And still the Romanians refused to yield, pulling back in front by the finish. As Enache celebrated, the Dutch double looked shell-shocked.

“It was a killer race. It’s the Olympic finals and things change in the Olympics. That’s something you can really feel. People are just going for it like crazy – we were going for it as well. Our plan was really to stay with them in the first 500 (metres), and then go from there. Every time we pushed, the field responded. It was really competitive,” said Broenink, who considers his partnership with Twellaar a brotherhood. “Towards the end, I focused on rowing as fast as I could, that was the only thing on my mind. I didn’t know the speed, I don’t know how it went, it was just rowing, rowing, rowing.”

“It’s starting to settle in more and more that this is really special. Not everyone can say they have two Olympic silver medals in this really hard boat field. It’s really intense. It’s hard to describe the final 250 (metres) of an Olympic final. You only race for the gold.  It’s hard to describe, you need to try it by yourself some time,” said Twellaar. “It’s so tense to come here as the favourite, and we tried everything to give our maximum race, and this was the maximum.”

Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch became Ireland’s first ever openweight men’s Olympic medallists. Doyle said his neck seized up in the final 500 but that it didn’t make too much difference to the end result. “I’m not sure if we would have got the Dutch but we could have put a bit more pressure on them and maybe they would have made a mistake. We went earlier than we usually do. I don’t think we made too many calls either, we were just working off of each other and feeling each other’s leg [power] the whole way down. Obviously, the double is all about synchronicity and working together.”

The Irish medallists joked that all year they had expected Paris to be rough and had dragged themselves out into Cork’s worse conditions whenever they got the chance, and likewise while training on camp in Varese. “I don’t think we’ve seen a single wave out here,” said Lynch with a smile. “It’s a perfect course.”

Brits Beaten By ‘Berggeiten’ (W4-)

Not this time. The Dutchwomen did what their quad couldn’t. Like their sculling counterparts the world champions were out fast and led the British. The Dutch crew are known by their teammates as the ‘Berggeiten’ (Mountain Goats) for their ability to respond to altitude training, which has been a big part of the Dutch team’s programme.

Great Britain mounted a counter attack: again and again the Brits came at the race leaders, at first it was effective but then began to wane. With 250 meters left, the race was set to be another barnstormer. The two crews passed the grandstand, bowball-to-bowball.

“We were inspired by the British (W4x) actually. Firstly we were disappointed of course that the Dutch team was beaten right before the finish line. But then we changed it around real quick and said ‘look at the British, look what they did, how calm and collected they stayed in the entire race and they won gold. So that basically inspired us to do the same today. It wasn’t the same today, it was a different race because we were in front from the start, but basically we were inspired by the British to just keep going until the finish line,” said two-seat Hermijntje Drenth (NED).

Bowwoman Marloes Oldenburg, who broke her neck in a horrific cycling accident two years ago, was asked if she ever thought she’d be racing at the Olympics post-injury. “At that moment, not at all. I was in a lot of pain, could not move, could not walk – but that was two years ago.”

Oldenburg’s counterpart in the British boat, Helen Glover, was conflicted as to her feelings on wining a silver medal. “Very mixed,” she said. “Because on the one hand, we knew we had the potential to win. On the other, we felt like we raced as strong as we could.”

New Zealand’s women’s four were delighted to hold off the Romanians by less than half a second. “This journey to Paris has been unlike any other,” said stroke Kerri Williams. “We have just gone from strength to strength as a crew.”

Red wins Gold (M4-)

The Americans landed their first gold medal of the regatta with a fearless race in the men’s four. It’s the first men’s USA Olympic gold since 2004 and medal of any colour since 2012.

New Zealanders attempted to dismantle the USA, who led early and made a big kick with 650 meters to go. Behind them the slow-starting British played a canny game to secure bronze ahead of Italy.

“It feels unbelievable. I crossed the line and I thought I was going to have some sort of celebration but I just put my hands on my head and I couldn’t believe it. It’s crazy,”

Liam Corrigan (USA). “The word special doesn’t do it justice,” his teammate Michael Grady added. “Funerals, weddings, and social occasions you have to miss. What it takes to get to this moment is all encompassing. We are four guys that love each other. Special can’t describe it because it’s that ethereal bond we’ve created over the last two years. I’m so happy to see, after all of that, [we’ve] come out on the right side of things.”

“We definitely executed really well,” said Corrigan. Grady checked with his teammates before revealing their key weapon. “We have a call, ‘Red!’ You see red and you put your bow ball out in front with some of the biggest strokes you can take. It’s not necessarily the smartest race plan you can do but psychologically-wise you take two or three seats… Liam made that call ‘Red’. We all went with him. And that was enough to take us into the sprint. We trusted each other to all make that move together.”

Singular Ambitions (W1x)

The first semi saw Tara Rigney (AUS) stick limpet-like alongside the race leader Karolien Florijn (NED). The Aussie sculler, in second place, matched the Dutchwoman for rate trailing half a length back for most of the race, until Florijn extended her lead in the final few hundred. Behind them Bulgaria’s Desislava Angelova proved to be the best of the rest, knocking the Olympic silver medallist Anna Prakaten (UZB) into the B-final.

New Zealand’s Olympic champion won the second semi. Emma Twigg (NZL) remained resolute in the face Viktorija Senkute (LTU) testing pace in the final stages. Kara Kohler (USA) was strong enough to deny Alexandra Foester the final qualifying spot, despite the German’s best-efforts. Magdalena Lobnig (AUT) will also race in the B-Final, unable to muster the medal winning form she had at Tokyo after struggling with injury.

“It’s just a cool head,” said Twigg on the key to beating Florijn in the final. “Everyone starts from scratch in an Olympic final, and I can say I’m the only one to have won one of those, so I will take confidence from that and just give it everything to be there on Saturday. Whatever the result, it is an absolute privilege to be at my fifth Games.”

Brilliant Brys and Damir Denied (M1x)

Belgian ex-lightweight Tim Brys is enjoying a fantastic regatta. He made life super tough for the Kiwi M8+ Olympic champion Tom Mackintosh in the first men’s single semi. A length in front, the highly-favoured Dutchman Simon van Dorp sculled a smart race to stay out of trouble. Mackintosh kicked hard to the line to get back into second place ahead of the Belgium upstart while Japan missed out.

Redemption for Oli Zeidler (GER), who missed out on the medal race in Tokyo after falling in the semis. “I’m feeling very good. The race plan was really controlling the field, and when I saw it was pretty quick I just stayed on the splits,” said Zeidler. “Yesterday when I saw others winning the medal then I was like wow it’s already such an incredible performance to be here now, which eluded me once. I made a big step in my career I think.”

The reigning world champion lowered the Olympic best time by five seconds. He beat the Greek Olympic champion, Stefanos Ntouskos, and looked to be sculling at his best and with absolute confidence. Behind him three scullers fought for two remaining A-final places. Sverri Nielsen (DEN) unable to overturn Yauheni Zalaty (AIN) or Ntouskos (GRE) in the closing stages.  

“The target was to go to the final,” said Ntouskos. “We are all good scullers at the top of the world – now that we are in the final, it is very good progress. I know now we don’t have anything to lose. We don’t leave anything in the tank.”

At the back of the field it was a sad sight to see the three-time Olympic medallist Damir Martin off the pace, he dropped out of the running early: Paris will be Martin’s first Olympics without a podium finish.

Eights Eliminated from the Rep

From the smallest boat class to the biggest. The women’s eights blasted down the Stade Nautique course. It was a race not to be last, and the Danish Sweephearts were ditched early. The Danish women will not have a crew in the final but enjoyed a solid season, nonetheless.  An all American finish ensued with the USA crew crushing Canadian hopes. The defending Olympic champion from Canada held off the Aussies.

In the men’s race the Netherlands chopped down the German eight, a.k.a. Deutschland Achter, in the final 500. Despite racing without Mattes Schoenherr (out of action for medical reasons) the Germans, held off the Romanian sprint finish to finish in second place by a canvas.

Reps aren’t always celebrated, not in the same way as a final anyway, but Germany were pumped up. Their last-minute two-man, Julius Christ, subbed in for ill stroke Mattes Schoenherr, spared himself blushes by saving a near crab after the finish line, after losing control of his blade in the excitement of getting the job done. It isn’t looking good for the Aussies. They missed the men’s four podium and their stacked men’s eight which scraped through to the final in fourth seems to be misfiring.

B-finals

With your heart set on a top six finish, or a place on the podium, rallying for a B-final is tricky. Nevertheless, it’s an opportunity to end the Olympiad on a winning note, and more importantly, a performance to be proud of.

Australia did just that in the women’s double, stroked by Tokyo W4x bronze medallist Harriet Hudson. In the men’s race, Serbia’s Martin Mackovich and Nikolaj Pimenov weathered Hugo Boucheron and Matthieu Androdias’s (FRA) mid-race push, to finish their chaotic season with a win.

No consolation prize for the French Tokyo gold medallists or their adoring fans then. Likewise the Turlan twins in France’s men’s four narrowly missed their mark, finishing half a length behind the Dutch. Ireland’s women’s four claimed the top spot in their race against Denmark and Australia.

Row360 coverage of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games