Hoo boy, the first day of finals at Tokyo's Sea Forest Waterway was all of that, and more. After the morning's B-Finals, the wind picked up, blew a few crews home, decimated 10 world records, and probably significantly changed at least a few races throughout the late morning (and possibly a podium spot or two as well).
Crews medaled, flipped, crabbed, had subs due to Covid, nearly crashed, and more; read on for the full story.
Women's Double
The Romanian double of Simona Radis and Ancuta Bodnar built an open water lead by the 1000m mark and took this one home, setting the first of a true pile of new World and Olympic best times on the day. NZ's Brooke Donoghue and Hannah Osborne took second and the Netherland's Lisa Scheenard and Roos de Jong took third.
For New Zealand's Donoghue, two years of waiting was worth it. "I think this is something I've thought about every day for the past 2 years, so it's a great feeling," she said after the race.
The USA double of Gevvie Stone and Kristi Wagner kept it close early, but could not match the leaders, and finished fifth. Read our post-race interview with Gevvie and Kristi here.
Men's Double
In Rio, the French pairing of Matthieu Androdias and Hugo Boucheron finished 6th, but in Tokyo, the crew got it done, hanging on by 2/10s of a second to beat the Netherlands and the 2019 world champs China.
"We have learned a lot. Five years ago, we were not ready to step up to the podium, but it seems that today we were ready to go to the podium," said Androdias after the racing.
Bow seat Boucheron gave his gold medal to his coach, Alexis Besancon after the race.
"It seemed only fair," said Boucheron. "I know him very well. He's very reserved. He has a low profile. He never steps into the light, he prefers the shade, but I'd like to bring him back what he gave us because we couldn't have raced without him. It's clearly a triumph."
Women's Four
Australia captured the Women's Four ahead of the Netherlands and Ireland today, in the first Olympic edition of this event since 1992.
Australia's Jessica Morrison put the Australian success on the day (four medals overall) down to a revamped approach Down Under. "Since Rio (2016) our programme has become centralised, and the past five years we've all trained together, which is different from before, and it's benefited all our crews, just being able to push each other and train at the same place.
"As a result we're seeing a lot of success. Today was such a good day for Team Australia and I have no doubt that this momentum will carry on to the next Olympic cycle."
The Irish Women's Four captured bronze for their country's first-ever women's rowing medal at the Olympics, and just the second Irish rowing medal overall.
The Irish result, as expected, occasioned much social media happiness:
The USA Women's campaign in this event ended with a win in the B-Final earlier in the morning; read our interview with the crew here.
Men's Four
With their win in the Men's Four, Australia ended a five-Olympics streak of GB dominance in the event; it's hard to believe it's been that long. Behind the Aussies the finish of this race was wild, as Romania charged on the outside, while the GB crew, still in contention, left their lane and nearly collided with the Italians, who passed them for the bronze medal with 5 strokes to go.
That the Italians were in the race, and even medalled is pretty miraculous; at breakfast this morning, 2-seat Bruno Rosetti received a call from the team doctor telling him that he had a positive COVID test and could not race; Marco di Costanzo was called up from the men's pair, and definitely made the best of his shot at Olympic glory.
After the race, stroke Giuseppe Vicino commented on the near-collison.
"We hit their blades. It wasn't easy for us to keep going. I was steering and it was difficult for me to avoid a collision because they came into our lane, so it was really difficult to keep steering our boat during the last 30, 40, 50 metres.
"We were the fastest boat because we had a look at the video footage of the last 50 metres and we saw that it was head-to-head, so we're a little bit sad. We could have won silver or gold.
"It wasn't like this unfortunately. But it's because of something that we can't explain at the moment. Britain left their lane, we're not happy about it. Nevertheless, we're really happy that we won a medal."
The US crew had qualified directly for the final in Friday's heat, but struggled today, finishing fifth. Read our interview with the crew here.
Women's Quad
China had been dominating this event in recent years, and today was not an exception, as they sculled away from the field for a dominant win. Behind them, Germany looked to be a lock for silver before a disastrous mishap knocked the crew out of contention, allowing Poland and Australia to claim silver and bronze.
Lyu Yang of the winning Chinese quad was asked after the race if they thought, going in, that they could win the race. "We had the confidence since the 2019 world championship). We've been racing all the other finalists. We've also been beating them, that's why we were confident going into the race."
Yep.
The US women had a tough week in Tokyo, ending the regatta with a 10th place finish; read our interview with the US crew here.
Men's Quad
The Netherlands capped a four-medal performance on the day with a win in the men's quad; the Dutch have had a tough week, with their Men's Single having to withdraw due to a positive COVID test, and members of the Dutch squad having to isolate separately from the team.
"It was quite a tough week, a lot of things happened but it feels great to finish it in this way, and not just us but also the double and the women. It has been a real privilege to end it on a high," said stroke seat Koen Metsemakers.
Fresh off a historic first-ever medal in the Men's Quad for the GB, a silver, Angus Groom wasted no time before looking ahead. "I think the only way is up to be honest. I think this was a big monkey to get off our backs, the first men's quad sculling medal. We've been chasing the Dutch, they've been really setting the standards in this event over the past couple of years and to be honest our target has got to be the gold medal now."
Semifinals
A slate of semifinals in the Men's and Women's Lightweight Doubles and Men's and Women's Pairs set tomorrow's finals. Racing in the semis was wild, with crabs in nearly every race, and a catastrophic flip of the Norwegian men's light double, Rio bronze medalists, and medal contenders here.
The crew spent several minutes adrift, then righted the shell, and bow seat Kristoffer Brun paddled the boat across the line alone in the boat; the crew received a finish time, and will race in the B-Final tomorrow.
The USA Lightweight Women's Double of Michelle Sechser paced their field at world-best-time pace before being caught at the line by the Italians; the crew will race for the medals tomorrow. Read our interview with Michelle and Molly here.
For about 10 minutes today, Greek W2- rowers Maria Kyridou and Christina Bourmpou were the sole owner of the world best times in the pair at the Junior, U23 and Elite levels, having set the new mark in the first semi of the women's pair. The trifecta only lasted until the NZ crew of Grace Prendergast and Kerry Gowler set yet another world best time in the second semifinal just one race later.
Two out of three ain't bad.
The US women's pair of Tracy Eisser and Megan Kalmoe couldn't quite get their race going in the second semifinal, and finished fifth. They will contest the B-Final tomorrow.
For NZ's Gowler and Prendergast, who are doubling into the women's eight, having avoided the rep in the eight was critical; today, their pairs semi and the women's eights repechage were scheduled 10 minutes apart, whew.
Men's & Women's Eights Reps
Racing today concluded with reps in the men's and women's eights, each with five crews racing for four spots in the final.
In the women's eights rep, Romania rowed a screamer and set even another world best mark in the event, at 5:52.99. Moving into Friday's final alongside Romania were Canada, China and Australia.
In the men's rep, Great Britain, eager to bounce back after a subpar heat on Saturday, put the pedal to the metal early, with New Zealand and the USA in pursuit. NZ pushed into the lead, with GB, USA and Australia joining them in Friday's final.
See our post-race interview with the USA's Justin Best and Julian Venonsky here.
The result lead to a bold prediction from at least one rowing observer:
Notes from the Course
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