Australian crews have thrown down the gauntlet to their Olympic rowing rivals, winning four of the six heats they contested on day two in Tokyo.
While crews in the women’s and men’s coxless pair and both coxless four boats impressed, Australia eights failed to fire on the Sea Forest Waterway course with both crews forced into repechage rounds.
The eights’ preparations may have hit a snag when their race was suddenly rescheduled from Sunday to Saturday and all of Monday’s racing cancelled with poor weather because of looming typhoon.
Jessica Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre ticked off their first Olympic goals, winning both their coxless pair and coxless four heat races as they attempt a rare medal double.
The duo comfortably won their pair heat over defending Olympic champion Briton Helen Glover and new partner Polly Swann, and backed up two hours later to join with Rosie Popa and Lucy Stephan to take out their fours race.
While Morrison and McIntyre cruised to a win in the pair to book a semi-final berth, New Zealand’s world champions Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler laid down the marker with the fastest heat time.
Glover retired after winning pair gold in both London and Rio but after having three children, including twins last year, took advantage of the one-year delay to the Tokyo Games and won selection for a third Olympics.
With the women’s coxless four event returning to the Games rowing schedule for the first time in almost 30 years, the Australians held off the fast-finishing Irish to post an Olympic best time and move directly into the medal race.
Looking to improve on their Rio Olympic silver medal and regain Australia’s Oarsome Foursome status, the men’s coxless four crew looked sharp in their heat, taking down the USA in the fastest time of the day.
Great Britain, who have dominated the Olympic event in winning every gold medal since Sydney 2000, won the other heat.
Australia’s men’s pair Joshua Hicks and Sam Hardy also stormed to victory, beating crews from Italy and New Zealand to earn a semi-final spot.
Only the winning boat in the hotly contested eights races advanced directly to the final with the rest contesting the repechage on Wednesday.
Rowing world champions Germany lived up to their top billing, beating the USA, while the Australian men were a distant fourth.
In the women’s race, Australia, who finished second at the world titles, disappointed, trailing the USA and Romania home in last spot.
AAP
