Australian women’s pair set pace in rowing heats as they eye gold at Paris Olympics

Jess Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre have dismissed talk that it’s a two-horse race for the women’s pair Olympic gold medal despite the Australian and Dutch rowers blitzing their heats.

Gold medallists in the women’s four in Tokyo, where they also doubled up in the pair and finished seventh, Morrison and McIntyre have a single, steely focus in Paris.

And it appears to be paying off.

After a sluggish start, the Australians posted the fastest time of the three heats on Sunday morning, just ahead of Dutch world champions Ymkje Clevering and Veronique Meester, who also won their heat.

The next best time, clocked by Greece, was almost three seconds behind in perfect conditions at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium course.

McIntyre said it was “exciting” to put out a strong first showing and be quickest, after finishing second behind the Dutch duo at last year’s world championships.

“We were a little bit surprised as there’s some really fast crews out there, so it’s pretty exciting to get that top seed position,” the West Australian said.

But McIntyre said the Australians dismissed talk that only they or Clevering and Meester could win gold.

“We try not to listen to the commentators too much,” the 27-year-old said.

“We learnt that a few years ago and now we watch our races back without commentary to try and pick what we think we need to work on.

“There are definitely two or three other crews that move fast so there’s a lot of people to pick from.”

While the women’s pair appeared in stellar form, Patrick Holt and Simon Keenan were way off the pace in their heat of the men’s pair and will go through the repechage round.

AAP