With six boats, Swiss Rowing is represented in Paris as never before at the Olympic Games. At least one medal should be on the cards.
Swiss rowing head coach Ian Wright is synonymous with hard work, so to speak. He focuses on speed-oriented training. This is not everyone's cup of tea, but it works. The 62-year-old New Zealander's success speaks for itself. During his first stint in Switzerland from 2014 to 2016, he led the lightweight four with Mario Gyr, Simon Niepmann, Simon Schürch and Lucas Tramèr to Olympic gold. Now more podium places are to follow in Paris.
The medal candidates
Two Swiss boats have legitimate hopes of winning a medal: the double scull with Roman Röösli and Andrin Gulich and the lightweight double scull with Jan Schäuble and Raphaël Ahumada.
This will be Röösli's third Olympic Games in a third boat category. In Rio de Janeiro in 2016, he rowed in the quadruple sculls (7th) and in Tokyo in 2021 in the double sculls (5th). He has only formed a team with Andrin Gulich since last year. In their first season together, the pair won both the European and World Championship titles. "We have the same idea of the rowing stroke and how we want to move the boat," says Röösli, describing the recipe for success.
Röösli/Gulich have always made it onto the podium this year too, but they have never managed to beat Great Britain's Tom George/Oliver Wynne-Griffith. They are still unbeaten in 2024 and are the top favorites in Paris. However, anything is possible for the Swiss.
This also applies to Schäuble/Ahumada, who last finished off the podium in fourth place at the 2022 World Championships and successfully defended their European title this year. At the World Cup on Lake Rotsee at the end of May, the pair managed to beat Ireland's Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy in a final race for the first time. They won the gold medal at both the 2021 Olympic Games and the last three World Championships. Nevertheless, Schäuble/Ahumada were not enough to win at their home World Cup, as the Italians Gabriel Soares/Stefano Oppo were faster. It would not be surprising if the same three duos as in Lucerne were on the podium in Paris.
Those who also qualified early
Like Röösli/Gulich and Schäuble/Ahumada, the two Swiss quadruple sculls also achieved an Olympic quota place at last year's World Championships. Célia Dupré, Pascale Walker, Lisa Lötscher and Fabienne Schweizer finished 4th in the women's race, while Maurin Lange, Scott Bärlocher, Jonah Plock and Dominic Condrau came 5th in the men's race. Both boats are competing in the French capital with the same people and are clear candidates to make it into the A finals of the top 6. However, winning a medal would be a surprise.
The "latecomers"
In May, skipper Aurelia-Maxima Janzen and the coxless four with Kai Schätzle, Patrick Brunner, Tim Roth and Joel Schürch took advantage of their last chance at an Olympic ticket on Lake Rotsee. The former is only 20 years old and seems to have a great future ahead of her. However, the 2023 European Championship silver medallist is unlikely to finish in the top six. The coxless fours have a better chance of reaching the A final, but a lot has to come together for this to happen.
