Overview 

Australia has a 37-strong team across nine boats for the Olympic rowing regatta at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in Paris from 27 July to 3 August. Those events are the men’s Eight with coxswain, Four and Pair; and the women’s Eight with coxswain, Four, Pair, Quadruple Sculls, Double Sculls and Single Sculls.

The first race for Australia is on 27 July 27 at 10.12am (6.12pm AEST) in the women’s Single Sculls heats with Tara Rigney, the 2022 and 2023 World Championship bronze medallist.

The Rowsellas team features six athletes making their third Olympic team, while 20 will be competing in their second Games and 11 will make their debut.

The squad of 23 women and 14 men features seven Olympic gold medallists and a further four who won bronze in Australian rowing’s famed ‘Hour of Power’ at Tokyo 2020. And while 26 athletes return from the Tokyo regatta, many of them will be racing in Paris in a different boat.

From the Tokyo Olympic champion men’s four, Alexander Purnell OAM, Jack Hargreaves OAM and Spencer Turrin OAM, will compete in the eight at Paris. Whereas, from the Olympic champion women’ four at Tokyo, Anabelle McIntyre OAM and Jessica Morrison OAM will race in the women’s pair; and Lucy Stephan OAM has moved to the women’s eight.

The team is ready for Paris. It finished on top of the medal tally at Rowing World Cup III at Poznan, Poland in mid-June with 11 medals from 13 events, including six gold.

It was a strong finale to its racing preparation after a first hit out in Rowing World Cup II at Lucerne, Switzerland in May where a number of new crews made international debuts.

Ones to Watch

Sixty five nations and 521 athletes will compete in rowing’s 14 events.
The Rowsellas boast a number of medal-contenders in the nine boats qualified. Nations to qualify the most boats are Romania and the United States with 12 boats each, followed by the Netherlands and Great Britain with 10 boats each. The host nation, France, has five.

From the Australian team, much focus has been on the men’s and women’s Coxed Eights where Australia has never won an Olympic gold medal. A silver medal by the men at Mexico in 1972 and Sydney in 2000 is the best result so far. But after third place finishes by the men’s and women’s Eights in the 2023 World Championships at Belgrade in Serbia, hopes are high that in Paris Australia will add to its medal record in the event; if not, claim a historic victory.

In the men’s Eight are Ben Canham, Angus Dawson, Jack Hargreaves OAM, Josh Hicks, Joseph O’Brien, Alexander Purnell OAM, Spencer Turrin OAM, Angus Widdicombe and coxswain Kendall Brodie. Their main threat is Great Britain and the Netherlands which won respective gold and silver at last year’s World Titles and the United States which qualified via the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta at Lucerne in May.

In the women’s Eight are Paige Barr, Bronwyn Cox, Sarah Hawe, Giorgia Patten, Georgina Rowe, Lucy Stephan OAM, Jacqueline Swick, Katrina Werry and coxswain Hayley Verbunt. Also fancied are last year’s world championship winners, Romania, the United States which was the silver medallists to Romania, as well as Great Britain and Canada.

While the eights are traditionally regarded as the blue riband event in a rowing regatta, the Rowsellas’ medal hopes also extend to smaller boat classes in Sweep and Sculling events.

The men’s Four of Alex Hill OAM, Fergus Hamilton, Tim Masters, and Jack Robertson is a strong prospect. Australia won gold in this boat at Tokyo, 2021, but this is a new crew and Hill is the only member from line-up that won in 2021. Also fancied are the United States, New Zealand and Great Britain which finished one-two-three at World Cup II in May. But Australia’s speed since its international debut where it placed fourth has lifted, as its second in World Cup III behind New Zealand and ahead of Great Britain showed.

One of the big medal chances is in the women’s Pair with Annabelle McIntyre OAM and Jessica Morrison OAM. They were silver medallists behind the star Dutch duo of Ymkie Clevering and Veronique Meester at the 2023 World Championships and again at 2024 World Cup II, but then won gold in the Dutch crew’s absence at World Cup III in June. 

Similar hope exists in the women’s Single Sculls where Tara Rigney is a serious contender in a field featuring Dutch star Karolien Florijn who won the 2022 and 2023 world titles and World Cup II this year; and New Zealand Olympic champion Emma Twigg. But Rigney is one to watch, following her bronze at the 2022 and 2023 world titles, silver in World Cup II behind Flroijn and ahead of Twigg, and a win in World Cup III that Florijn and Twigg both missed to focus on their training.

One of the most exciting Australian prospects though is in the women’s Double Sculls with Harriet Hudson and Amanda Bateman. In their first season together, this ‘uncut diamond’ of the Rowsellas jewellery box has progressed with every race. After a silver in its first international race; that being, World Cup II, the crew then won gold at World Cup III.

Other events to watch are the men’s Pair where Australia’s crew is Simon Keenan and Patrick Holt; the women’s Four featuring Australia’s Olympia Aldersey, Lily Alton, Molly Goodman and Jean Mitchell; and the women’s Quadruple Sculls where Australia’s representative crew is Caitlin Cronin, Laura Gourley, Rowena Meredith and Ria Thompson.

Sport Format

There are 14 Olympic events with all races staged over 2000 metres.

There are eight events in sculling where two oars are used by each athlete with one in each hand, and six events in sweep oared rowing where the rower uses one oar with both hands.

The Sculling events are the Single Sculls, the Double Sculls and the Quadruple Sculls for men and women, as well as the Double Sculls for lightweight men and women who compete under weight limits. The average weight of a men’s lightweight crew is 70kg with the maximum for any member being 72.5kg. For women, the average crew weight must not exceed 57kg, with the maximum for any member being 59kg. However, Australia has not qualified any lightweight event.

Meanwhile, the six Sweep events at the Games are the men’s and women’s Pair and Four, and the Eight with coxswain.

Rowing was scheduled for the 1896 Athens Games, but it was cancelled due to bad weather. Its Olympic debut was at Paris, 1900. Women’s rowing was first held at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Lightweight rowing first featured at Atlanta, 1996.

Competition Schedule

The Rowsellas journey (in order of first race):

Women’s single sculls
Tara Rigney will kick off the Rowsellas' Olympic campaign as the first Australian to compete in the heats of the women’s single scull on 27 July (starting 10.12am local/6.12pm AEST).
Form indicates she should avoid the 28 July repechages (9.00am local/5pm AEST) and qualify directly for the 30 July Quarter-Finals (9.30am local/5.30pm AEST), followed by the 1 August Semi-Finals (9.30am/5.30pm AEST) and the race for medals on 3 August in the Final A (10.18am/ 6.18pm AEST).

Women’s Double Sculls 
Second of the Australian crews to race on Day 1 of the Olympic regatta, 27 July, will be the women’s Double Scull of Harriet Hudson and Amanda Bateman in their heat (12.00pm local/8.00pm AEST). Their form in their first season together indicates that they should by-pass the 28 July repechages (10.10 local/6.10pm AEST) and qualify directly for the 30 July Semi-Finals (10.50am local/6.50pm AEST) which will determine their destiny on 1 August in either the Final B (10.30am local/ 6.30pm AEST) or Final A (11.18am local/ 7.18pm AEST) which will be the medal race.

Women’s Quadruple Sculls
The last Australian boat to race in the Olympics will be the women’s Quad Scull of Caitlin Cronin, Laura Gourley, Rowena Meredith and Ria Thompson with their heat on 27 July (12.50pm local/8.50pm AEST). The quad scull event includes the 29 July repechages (11.30am local/ 7.30pm AEST); followed on 31 July with the Final B (12.14pm local/ 8.14pm AEST) or race for medals in Final A (12.38pm local/ 8.38pm AEST)

Women’s Pair
Day 2 of the Olympic regatta will feature the first appearance of Annabelle McIntyre OAM and Jessica Morrison OAM in the women’s Pair heats (10.30am local/6.30pm AEST) on 28 July. The 2023 World Championship silver medallists will be expecting to race well and by-pass the 29 29 July repechages (10.30am local/6.30pm AEST) by qualifying directly for the Semi-Finals on 31 July (10.54am local/6.54pm AEST); before their ultimate tilt for Olympic glory on 2 August in the Final A (11.42am local/7.42pm AEST).

Men’s Pair
For Patrick ‘Paddy’ Hill and Simon Keenan, their campaign starts on 28 July with the heats of the men’s Pair (11:00am local/7.00pm AEST). Pending the result in that round, the repechages await on 29 July (10.20am local/6.20pm AEST); but they will nonetheless have their eyes set on the 31 July Semi-Finals (10.34am local/6.34pm AEST) that will determine if they finish on 2 August in either the Final B (10.42am local/6:42pm AEST), or Final A, the medal race (11.30am local/7.30pm AEST).

Women’s Four 
The Australian women’s four of Olympia Aldersey, Lily Alton, Molly Goodman and Jean Mitchell will start its Olympic campaign on 28 July in the heats (12.30pm local/8.30pm AEST). If it has to, the crew will get to race through repechages on 30 July (11.30am local/ 7.30pm AEST) that will determine which final they race on 1 August, the Final B (10.54am local/6.54pm AEST) or the medal race, the Final A (11.50am local/7.50pm AEST).

Men’s Four
The Australian men’s Four of Alex Hill OAM, Fergus Hamilton, Tim Masters, and Jack Robertson has its eyes set on showing intent early in its July 28 heats (12.50pm local/8.50pm AEST). It would be a shock to see them race in the 30 July repechages (11.40am local/7.40pm AEST). The big day will be 1 August, and ideally not with the crew racing in the Final B (11.06am local/7.06 AEST) but the Final A (12.10pm/8.10pm AEST) in which Australia won gold at 2021 Tokyo – and with Hill in the winning crew.

Men’s Eight with coxswain
Australia’s gold medal winning prospects in the men’s Eight with coxswain will be clear by what time it posts in the 29 July heats (11.40am local/7.40pm AEST). Crews in this event go flat out in the heats in a bid to qualify directly for the final.

Failure to do so will send it to the 1 August repechages (10.20am local/7.10pm AEST). But the Australian men’s eight of Ben Canham, Angus Dawson, Jack Hargreaves OAM, Josh Hicks, Joseph O’Brien, Alexander Purnell OAM, Spencer Turrin OAM, Angus Widdicombe and coxswain Kendall Brodie will want a heat win to book a finals berth and a shot at making that gold medal winning dream come true in the Final A on 3 August (11.10am local/7.10pm AEST).

Women’s Eight with coxswain 
Last to brush off the pre-Olympic butterflies among the Rowsellas will be the women’s Eight with coxswain. The plan for the women’s Eight will be the same as that of the men’s Eight in their heats on 29 July (12.00pm local/8.00pm AEST).

The crew of Paige Barr, Bronwyn Cox, Sarah Hawe, Giorgia Patten, Georgina Rowe, Lucy Stephan OAM, Jacqueline Swick, Katrina Werry and coxswain Hayley Verbunt will want for a fast and powerful start to their campaign to ensure that they miss the ‘last chance saloon’ repechages (10.10am local/6.10pm AEST) on 1 August and qualify directly for the Final A (10.50am local/6.50pm AEST) on 3 August.