The hot conditions continued Saturday at the Sea Forest Waterway with Australian rowing crews on the water for their second day of competition. Tokyo saw the Women’s and Men’s Pair progress to the semi-finals and the Men’s and Women’s Four heading directly to finals, while both the Men’s and Women’s Eights crews will head to a repechage.
The Women’s Pair of 2019 World Rowing Championships dual silver medallists, Jessica Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre faced off against the reigning Olympic gold medallists of Helen Glover and Polly Swann of Great Britain as well as experienced crews from the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and China. The pair started strong, holding pace throughout the race to finish 1st in their heat with a time of 7:21.75 to progress straight to the semi-final ahead of ROC and Great Britain.
Following shortly after, the Men’s Pair was on the water, with 2019 World Rowing Championships bronze medallists, Sam Hardy and Joshua Hicks, took on New Zealand, Italy and France. The favourites going into the heat, Hicks, who has won a medal at every World Championships since 2017, and Hardy were fast out of the blocks, taking and early lead and maintaining consistent speed to take first place. Their great result sees them also progress directly to a semi-final.
“I thought it was a good start.” Hardy said. “I thought we got into a good rhythm and took control of the race. It was a good way to start our Olympic campaign. It’s been just under two years since our last race so it was really good to line up, call out Australia and race against other countries.”
Looking to continue the Australian success for the day, the Women’s Four consisting of Lucy Stephan and debutant Rosie Popa alongside Jessica Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre, making their second race of the day, were favourites in their heat and looking to finish in the top two to progress to the A-Final. With their biggest rivals the Dutch crew in the previous heat, the Australians were strong from the start against a strong field of Ireland, Romania, USA and Denmark, taking an early lead. The crew maintained strong form through the full length of the course, coming in 1st to progress to the A-Final next week, ahead of Ireland and Romania with a time of 6 minutes 28.76 seconds.
Rose Popa said, “We’ve been waiting for such a long time and it’s so exciting that we can again race against the best countries in the world and the best crews in the world. I think as racers, this is what we have been waiting for so it’s time for us to really execute what we have been doing and have fun doing it.”
The Men’s Four of Rio Olympic silver medallist, Alex Hill joined by fellow Rio Olympian Spencer Turrin, along with debutants Jack Hargreaves and Alex Purnell took to the water looking to secure a top two finish in order to progress directly to the A-Final to contest for a medal. Having drawn in Lane 1, the crew faced Romania, Netherlands, South Africa and the United States, in prime position to win their heat. The crew dominated the race from the start, quickly finding a good rhythm, working hard to secure a two second lead by the half way mark. The Australians finished 1st in their heat with 5 minutes 54.27 seconds ahead of the USA and Netherlands.
A change in the schedule due to coming weather saw the Men’s and Women’s Eight added to the schedule for Day 1, and it was the Men’s crew, featuring three-time Olympian, Josh Booth, that was up first for Australia. Facing rowing powerhouses of the reigning World Champions Germany and the USA as well as Romania, the fast race was dominated early by the American and German crews, with Australia finishing 4th behind Romania to proceed to the repechage with 5:43.66, with only Germany as the top qualifier going through to the final.
Finally, the Women’s Eight, the 2019 World Championships silver medallists in this boat class, featuring Rio Olympians in Olympia Aldersey and Genevieve Horton, faced Romania and the United States of America, needing to finish first in order to go directly to the final. Despite being fast off the blocks, the Australians came in 3rd with 6:18.95 behind the USA who claimed 1st ahead of Romania and will head to a repechage.
Tomorrow will see Australia’s Women's Quad race in the repechage take to the water, with the Women’s Double Scull set to race their semi-final.
Shannon Knaus
