Tara Rigney pushes world champ to emerge as genuine gold medal threat at Paris Olympics

She’s been on the dais at the past two world championships but Tara Rigney’s effort to push a Dutch legend over the weekend shows she could force a massive upset in Paris.

Livewire sculler Tara Rigney has emerged as an Olympic gold medal chance in Paris after pushing the world champion to the wire at the latest rowing World Cup in Switzerland.

A bronze medallist at the past two world championships, Rigney’s presence among the medals is not a surprise but she has been well behind Karolien Florijn in the past and struggled to get within two boat lengths of the Dutch champion.

On Sunday, Rigney threatened a massive upset when less than a second separated her from Florijn at the 500m and 1500m marks.

The world champion only gained the upper hand in the dying stages of the race.

Fast-finishing Kiwi Olympic champion Emma Twigg was third, which showed the courage and quality of Rigney’s row.

Rigney raced herself to exhaustion but knows she has an enormous challenge in Paris if she is to overcome the Dutch master.

Tara Rigney celebrates after winning a silver medal in Switzerland. Picture: Rowing Australia

“It’s always so much fun getting to have a race that is that close,” Rigney said.

“I love racing and looking out and going, ‘oh, I can see Karolien Florijn’.

That’s always a bit of a pinch-me moment because she’s such an excellent athlete and same with Emma Twigg.

“My goal today was just to go out and race freely and fearlessly, and I think I did that.

“It is a good starting platform but I am very aware that countries are in different training blocks and doing different things.

“So while I do take a bit of confidence from today’s performance, it in no means sets me up for the World Cup (III) and the Games.

“It will be back to the drawing board and looking for ways to improve.”

The performance of Rigney, who is coached by Ellen Randell, shows she is a gold medal threat in Paris.

Rigney’s silver was one of four won by the Australian Rowing Team (ART) at World Cup II in Lucerne over the weekend.

Australian women's pair Jess Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre won silver as well. Picture: Rowing Australia

The women’s double scull of Harriet Hudson and Amanda Bateman won silver behind the US.

Their rival overtook them only in the final 100m after the Aussies set the early pace and almost caused an upset.

“Today we had to step on it, going from our semi and bring a little bit more intensity to our first 500m, and also knowing that there had to be a sprint at the end,” Hudson said.

“There was a serious sprint at the end and, unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of it.

“But that is something we can look back at in training and look at improving.”

The women’s pair of Annabelle McIntyre and Jess Morrison also won silver when it finished behind world champion the Netherlands.

The Aussies, who were part of the gold-medal winning four at the Tokyo Games, have put all their eggs in the pair basket for Paris and set the pace in the event early last year before the Dutch won the world championship.

The John Keogh-coached Australians said they would learn from their first major final of the year.

“(We were) really solid out there again (but) not quite as fast as we wanted,” McIntyre said.

“We (were) just identifying the things that worked for us (in the semi-final) and comparing them to see what we can really solidify in the next couple of months.”

Tara Rigney celebrates on the podium. Picture: Rowing Australia

Rigney said constantly racing the pair and double scull at the women’s training centre in Penrith was helping push her closer and closer to Florijn.

“I think one of the great parts of our women’s national training centre is that some of those hard sessions that I do are competitive sessions, especially being able to line up against crews like the Australian double and the pair,” Rigney said.

“It really replicates that side-by-side racing. There are limited opportunities for (elite racing before the Olympics) but you get that intensity close to every day at the centre, so it’s looking to take opportunities there as well.”

Para athlete Eric Horrie started his season successfully when he won silver in the PR1 category.

The news was not as good for the men’s and women’s eights, which both finished outside the medals in Lucerne.

While the women’s pair of McIntyre and Morrison has been earmarked as the priority women’s crew before Paris, the men’s priority crew was the eight and there was disappointment that it – and the men’s four – had missed the podium.

The ART now heads back to its European training base in Italy before racing in World Cup III in Poland next month.

The Olympic team is named on June 30.

Originally published as Tara Rigney pushes world champ to emerge as genuine gold medal threat at Paris Olympics