Striving to emulate her hero and Olympic champion Kim Brennan, single sculler Tara Rigney took the first step with a huge victory in her heat on the opening day of rowing competition at the Paris Games.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The 25-year-old is following in the wake of Brennan, who is the only Australian woman to win gold in the single sculls, topping the podium in Rio in 2016.
Rigney has been mentored by the retired great, who no doubt would have been impressed by her Paris debut.
"I was definitely stoked to get my first race (done) and just take a moment to enjoy it," Rigney said.
"Our theme for this whole regatta is to enjoy what we're doing and race sort of freely so it was nice to just get out there, get in front and then control the race.
"I was just looking around, really enjoying it."
While wind has affected the course during training in the build-up, conditions were still despite the rain that hit the opening ceremony on Friday night continuing.
The Sydneysider competed in the double sculls with Amanda Bateman in Tokyo, finishing seventh in her first senior regatta, and has continued to improve in the solo seat.
She has won bronze in the event at the last two world championships and arrived in France in strong form.
Rigney pushed Dutch world champion Karolien Florijn all the way to the line in a World Cup race in Switzerland in May and relegated Kiwi Olympic champion Emma Twigg to bronze.
Both Florijn and five-time Olympian Twigg were comfortable winners in heats following Rigney to advance to the quarter-finals.
Bateman partnered Harriet Hudson in the double sculls and led their heat until the final few metres when they were overhauled by Elodie Ravera-Scaramozzino and Emma Lunatti.
With just 0.32 second separating the crews, the French duo appeared to get a boost from the roar of the home fans in the stands along the course.
The top three finishers all moved directly into the semi-finals.
"It was an absolutely electric atmosphere," said Queenslander Hudson.
"It feels like you're racing for medals ... to have that energy was really cool and next time we can pretend that they're saying Allez Aus, and they're going for us."
Australia's entry in the women's quad sculls will have to go through Monday's repechage round after being off the pace in their heat and trailing home in last spot.
Three of the crew, along with Hudson, won bronze in Tokyo.
"Hopping on the water was crazy, it was so loud, especially compared to Tokyo where it was dead silent," said crew member Caitlin Cronin.
"It was good to get the first race out of the way and we want to improve for the next one.
"There's definitely things that we can work on that will put us forward in the race."
Australian Associated Press
