We're well and truly at the pointy end of the Paris Olympic Games Regatta - and we are SO happy to report that all five of our WA rowers have safely secured their A Final lanes. Annabelle and Jess have cleanly swept each of their races to go toe quick way to the Final, while the Eights have fitted in an extra row in the Rep - we think that's a good thing...

TLDR: A Final times

Women's Pair - Friday 2 Aug, 5:42pm

Women's Eight - Saturday 3 Aug, 4:50pm

Men's Eight - Saturday 3 Aug, 5:10pm

You can watch all the rowing live and free on the 9Now app, on Stan Sport (a paid streaming service), or come down to the Pav to watch in person!

A Final: Friday 2 August, 5:42pm AWST

Paris A Finalists: LTU, USA, NED, AUS, ROU, GRE

Olympic Champions: New Zealand

2023 World Champions: Netherlands

Annabelle McIntyre (Fremantle Rowing Club) has just 90 minutes until she and teammate Jess Morrison (Mercantile Rowing Club) take to the start line in the Olympic A Final of the Women's Pair. 

The Australian duo will face off against arch-rivals, the Netherlands, in one of the most anticipated races of the Games.

Ymkje Clevering and Veronique Meester won their heat and semi-final - just as Annabelle and Jess have. Annabelle and Jess are holders of the World's Best Time in this boat class, and were the fastest in the heats with a time of 7:16.58 - bettered to 7:14.14 in the Semi, but eclipsed by the Dutch who were 4 seconds quicker on their side of the draw.

Annabelle said of their Semi Final: "Semi-finals are really interesting races, you've got nothing to lose, or everything to lose, basically... 

After a number of Rowsellas crews didn't manage to reach the A Final for their event, Annabelle was asked about how they handle being part of such a team dynamic:

"We're coming up to three months overseas together now, so we spend a lot of time together... But it's also really important to empathise with them and then come back to yourself or bring yourself back to your own race."

Jess and Annabelle famously doubled up in the Four and the Pair in Tokyo - winning Gold in the Four but missing the A Final for their small boat after bad weather forced incompatible changes to the schedule. Much has been made about their quest for redemption - we wait with bated breath as to whether this dream comes to fruition, but no matter the outcome, they have walked an incredible path to the Paris Games that we are very proud of.

A Final: Saturday 3 August, 4:50pm AWST

Paris A Finalists: ITA, CAN, ROU, GBR, USA, AUS

Olympic Champions: Canada

2023 World Champions: Romania

Bronnie Cox (UWA Boat Club), Jacqui Swick (Swan River Rowing Club) and Giorgia Patten (West Australian Rowing Club) are the WA women packing horsepower into this crew, who will be looking for a step on the podium on Saturday. The crew recorded the third fastest time in the heats and hung with the pack through their repechage to finish third.

The Romanians were dominant in their heat, posting the fastest time (6:12.31) but those fresh legs are no longer - every one of those athletes have doubled up either into the pair, double, or the four. GB and the USA have also shown their strength, while Canada (coached by WA boy Tom Morris!) have shown improvement over the regatta.

The Australian Eight would have benefitted from the additional race in the repechage - a valuable learning opportunity for a crew who was only officially selected just before World Cup 3.

Crewmate Georgie Rowe said of their Repechage performance, "It was definitely an improvement on the heat, we executed some things that we wanted to, and we've also got room for improvement in the final... it's pretty fierce racing out there - the other crews are coming out hard, and we've gotta come out harder."

WATCH: Interview with the W8+ (9 WWOS)

For Bronnie and Giorgia, this is their second foray into Olympic Eights racing and will be hoping to better their Tokyo performance - Jacqui is the debutante although she certainly doesn't lack in experience, having raced at the top senior level since 2022. 

Good luck girls!!!

A Final: Saturday 3 August, 5:10pm AWST

Paris A Finalists: ROU, NED, USA, GBR, GER, AUS

Olympic Champions: New Zealand

2023 World Champions: Great Britain

Rowing Australia have gambled big on the Men's Eight, stacking it with the Nation's finest oarsmen, including WA legend Josh Hicks (Swan River Rowing Club) in the two seat.

The crew have improved massively across their two races at these Games - a 5:42 in the heat to a 5:31 in their repechage - no doubt the incredible depth of the A Final lineup will push them to even greater heights, and we can't wait to see how it unfolds. This event has a rich history and has been held at every Summer Games since 1900 - Australia has earned 6 Bronze and 4 Silver medals, but never a Gold. Could tomorrow be our day?

The Aussie eight has showed glimpses of greatness, beating every other country's eight at least once over the past two years - but for this crew, coxswain Kendall Brodie said success will look like "ultimately having a race that we can walk away from saying that's the best we could do". She reflected on their race in the Repechage by saying it was going to be "important to identify the key things and really hone in on those," and that they hadn't quite executed their race plan yet. No better time than the present, hey?

Much has been said about this crew - who have already achieved so much, so let's keep things in perspective - all we want to add is that we back them all the way to the podium, and we know Josh will be a steady leader for the crew - level headed, incredibly experienced, and pushing harder than anyone all the way down the course!

Good luck fellas!!