US Men finish first, women move to repechage

 

The United States men's eights rowing team in their opening heat at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. 

The United States men’s avoided the repechage, making the finals at the Paris Olympics on Monday. The men set the pace and stayed out front, while the women trailed in theirs and suffered dropped into the repechage at the Vaires-sur Marne Nautical Stadium. Team Great Britain on both sides of the class, made their way to the finals, winning each of their heats. 

The United States men took off in their heat, setting a hot pace that saw the Netherlands on their tail. By the halfway mark, the US opened up to a two-seat lead and continued their pace. At the finish line, they had a five-seat lead to the line coming in with a time of 5:29.94. Joining them in the final was Great Britain, who defeated Italy and Australia. Their time of 5:37.04 was well below the mark the Americans set, but enough to get them into the final on Saturday. 

“It was an exciting one,” said Pieter Quinton of the American boat. “We knew it was going to be a tight race. We were definitely expecting the Dutch to come at us hard, so we knew we had to be ready from the start.”

The women didn’t fare well in their heat against the defending Olympic champs from Romania, who they remained behind in their heat with Italy in tow. The Romanians had a phenomenal pace that the American women couldn’t match on the day. At the 500-meter mark, Romanian had six seats on the United States. 

At the halfway mark, they had more than a boat length on the Americans, flying away with the win. Romania’s time of 6:12.31 was the mark to get into the final. The British women posted a finish of 6:16.20, beating the defending Olympic champions from Canada by more than a boat length. 

The United States joined Italy, Canada, and Demark to fight for a spot in Saturday’s final