Rigney and Eights To Row for Gold

The Rowsellas will have four boats racing for medals at the Olympic regatta after Tara Rigney (Single Sculls) and the men’s and women’s Eights all progressed to A Finals at the the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.

They join the women’s Pair of Annabelle McIntyre and Jess Morrison in the medal race, with that crew in action on August 2 and the remainder on August 3.

Among the Rowsellas are NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) athletes, Rigney; in the men’s eight Alexander Purnell, Jack Hargreaves, Spencer Turrin, Jack O’Brien and Kendall Brodie (cox) along with Georgie Rowe in the women’s eight.

Rigney put down another solid row to finish second in her semi in a time of 7:23.58, behind Dutch world champion Karolien Florijn (7.21.26). Olympic champion Emma Twigg from New Zealand won the other semi and ensured all the medal winners from the most-recent World Rowing Championships will be going head-to-head.

“She’s (Florijn) quick at the start, I don’t know how she does it. I am just doing my best to try and keep up with her. I’m stoked to be in an A Final. I’m just hoping for a good race and want to do my best,” Tara said.

“It was a really solid 1500m and I think both of us have another notch to go. The big one is Saturday, so we’ll see what happens.”

Florijn has been a dominant force in the Single Scull but Tara has been making steady progress in recent encounters. She said she loved a challenge and was looking forward to leaving it all on the line for the green and gold on the weekend.

“I like to think I’m a racer and I enjoy that challenge. I’ll be gritting my teeth and I’ll be doing it for Australia. I’ll be lining up next to the Olympic champion (Emma Twigg) and world champion,” Tara said.

“You always have to aim high and if you fall short, you fall short. I don’t really get too caught up in the outcome. I just get there and race who is around me.”

There was more good news in the big boats with the women’s Eight finishing third in their repechage and the men’s Eight fourth. Both now book lanes in the final.

Georgie Rowe, from the women’s Eight, said they executed well on Friday but still had plenty of upside left when medals were on the line.

“Anything can happen on race day. Let’s just see what happens and let the results speak for themselves. Today, we had a plan, we executed some things well. We want to stick to our plan and go for that,” Georgie said.

“It’s exciting for us. We can show some great improvement.”

Men’s Eight coxswain Kendall Brodie said there was good improvement from the heats to the semis and that needed to continue in the final.

“Huge to book a spot in the A Final,” Kendall said. “Always looking to progress and the first half of that race was a step up from the heat. There’s things we need to work on and speed left on the table. There’s a bit to do in the next 48 hours but we’re motivated to make it happen.”

The Men’s Four finished sixth in their final, won by the United States with New Zealand second and Great Britain taking bronze.

“We’re a bit disappointed,” Crew member Tim Masters said. “Stiff competition and hats off to the Americans and Kiwis. They’re good crews in general, so you have to respect the game. 

“We could have performed better. We probably over-revved at the start and probably never found our mid-race rhythm.”

And the Australian Women’s Double Scull of Amanda Bateman and Harriet Hudson finished the regatta on a strong note, winning the B Final, while the Women’s Four finished third in the B Final to be ninth overall.

Article courtesy of AOC