Australia’s boats will race heats in a bid to progress through to either semi-finals or finals and avoid racing repechages.

Today

Starting Australia’s Olympic campaign will be debutants Amanda Bateman and Tara Rigney, in the Women’s Double Scull. The duo will need a top three finish in their heat to progress to the semi-finals, drawn in Lane 1, they take on Germany, Lithuania and Netherlands. This fresh Aussie crew will have a challenge on their hands taking on the experienced European crews, but will be certainly look to challenge the more senior crews.

Joining the double on Day One of the rowing will be the Australian Men’s and Women’s Quadruple Sculls, both of whom need top two finishes to progress straight to their respective A-Finals and not race repechages.

The Men’s Quadruple Scull includes Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallist, Cameron Girdlestone, who is this time joined by debutants Jack Cleary, Caleb Antill and Luke Letcher. The crew is drawn in Lane 4 and are taking on China, Great Britain, Lithuania and The Netherlands, with the latter the reigning World Rowing Champions in the boat class.

The Women’s Quadruple Scull, that qualified late for these Games by virtue of winning the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta, are drawn in Lane Five of their heat. The crew of Ria Thompson, Rowena Meredith, Harriet Hudson and Caitlin Cronin take on 2019 World Championships gold and silver medallists, China and Poland, along with France and Italy.

Saturday

Saturday’s racing will see the sweep boats begin their campaigns in earnest. The 2019 World Rowing Championships dual silver medallists, Jessica Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre, will race the first of their two events that day, the Women’s Pair. The duo, drawn in Lane 3, will take on China, the Russian Olympic Committee and reigning Olympic Champions, Great Britain. They need a top three-finish to progress to the semi-finals.

McIntyre and Morrison will then hop into the Women’s Four, two hours later, alongside Rio Olympian Lucy Stephan and debutant Rosie Popa. The crew, drawn in Lane 1, will race Ireland, Romania, Denmark and the United States – all of whom are strong crews in the boat class. The Australians will need a top two finish to progress straight to next Wednesday’s final.

The Men’s Pair, and 2019 World Rowing Championships bronze medallists, Sam Hardy and Joshua Hicks, will take on New Zealand, Italy and France in their heat and also require a top three finish to progress to Tuesday’s semi-finals. There is sure to be some quality Trans-Tasman rivalry in the race, with New Zealand the silver medallists from the 2019 Worlds.

The Men’s Four, who in various iterations through the cycle have only lost one race, will hit the water on Saturday too. Rio Olympic silver medallist, Alex Hill will be in the stroke seat of the Four once again, and he is joined by fellow Rio Olympian Spencer Turrin, along with debutants Jack Hargreaves and Alex Purnell. Drawn in Lane 1, the crew will take on Romania, Netherlands, South Africa and the United States. A top two finish will secure the crew a spot in next week’s final.

Sunday

Sunday is big boat day for Australia with both the Men’s and Women’s Eights racing. The Men’s Eight, drawn in Lane 3 will take on the reigning World Champions, Germany, in their heat, along with Romania and the United States. The crew, featuring three-time Olympian, Josh Booth, will need a top place finish to avoid the repechage.

The Women’s Eight, the 2019 World Championships silver medallists in this boat class, are drawn in Lane 2 in their heat and also need to win the heat to progress straight to next Friday’s final. The crew, featuring Rio Olympians in Olympia Aldersey and Genevieve Horton, take on United States and Romania who finished third and sixth behind the Australians in 2019 in Austria.

Those crews that do not progress to their respective semi-finals and finals will contest repechages between Saturday and Tuesday.

Race times for Australian Heats and progression requirements

Friday 23 July

Women’s Double Scull (Bateman and Rigney)
12.20 AEST
Top three finish progress to semi-finals, fourth place goes to repechage

Men’s Quadruple Scull (Cleary, Antill, Girdlestone and Letcher)
12.30 AEST
Top two straight to A-Final, third place and below go to repechage

Women’s Quadruple Scull (Thompson, Meredith, Hudson and Cronin)
13:00 AEST
Top two straight to A-Final, third place and below go to repechage

Saturday 24 July

Women’s Pair (Morrison and McIntyre)
11.00 AEST
Top three finish progress to semi-finals, fourth place goes to repechage

Men’s Pair (Hardy and Hicks)
11.30 AEST
Top three finish progress to semi-finals, fourth place goes to repechage

Women’s Four (Stephan, Popa, Morrison and McIntyre)
13.00 AEST
Top two straight to A-Final, third place and below go to repechage

Men’s Four (A Purnell, Turrin, Hargreaves and Hill)
13.10 AEST
Top two straight to A-Final, third place and below go to repechage

Sunday 25 July

Men’s Eight (Lavery, O’Brien, Booth, Keenan, N Purnell,  Masters, Dawson, Widdicombe, Sim)
12.00 AEST
First place to A-Final, second place and below to repechage

Women’s Eight (Horton, Aldersey, Cox, Patten, Hawe, Rowe, Werry, Goodman and Rook)
12.30 AEST
First place to A-Final, second place and below to repechage