Paris 2024: Jess Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre qualify for women’s pair final

Jess Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre may have tasted gold in Tokyo as members of the women’s four, but they’re still as hungry to right the wrongs of the women’s pair final of 2021 in Paris.

Jess Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre have promised to race boldly for gold after avoiding the disappointment that dogged their Tokyo campaign by qualifying comfortably for the final.

While the duo won gold at the last Olympics as members of the women’s four, they also raced the pair but missed the final.

Rescheduling due to poor weather meant Morrison and McIntyre were forced to row just an hour after their gold medal win in Tokyo and they were devastated to miss the chance to compete for another medal.

It’s why they ensured they won their semi-final on Wednesday night (AEST) to secure a good lane for Friday’s final.

“I think I said something on the (start) line, like ‘remember this time’,” Morrison said of wanting to erase the memories of Tokyo.

The Aussie pair stormed home to pass the USA side. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

“I never want to feel like that again. It’s just about reminding yourself of that feeling and going, okay, let’s change that right now.

“It’s definitely powerful to tap into those memories and it helped us today.”

The pair built throughout the race, overtaking the US combination of Azja Czajkowski and Jess Thoennes with about 300m to go and winning by just under a boat length.

“Semi-finals are really interesting races,” McIntyre said of what she termed the Olympics’ “scary” day.

“You’ve got nothing to lose or everything to lose basically. So people go out and just really ‘front-end’ the race.

“We sort of knew that was going to happen so we just had to stay calm and try and push through.”

The world champion Dutch pair sailed through to the final with a time almost four seconds faster than Australia, while Romania, second in the opening semi, was also slightly faster.

But times will count for nothing in Friday’s final.

“It just comes down to racing and who’s not afraid to go after it and who’s brave,” Morrison said.

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“That’s really what it comes down to.

“People can have perfect plans of how they’d like to execute in a perfect world but it really just comes down to racing the boats next to you, taking opportunities as they present themselves in the race and being aware of those and being bold enough to go and take them.”

Australia’s women’s quad four – a medal-winning boat in Tokyo – finished second in the B final on Wednesday, with Ria Thompson, Rowena Meredith Laura Gourley and Caitlin Cronin finishing just behind Romania in their final race of the regatta.

Australia has its first medal chance of the regatta on Thursday night, with the men’s four attempting to defend their Tokyo title, while the men’s and women’s eights face repechage rounds to advance to the final.

The women’s four and double scull will race B finals.

Originally published as Paris 2024: Jess Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre qualify for women’s pair final