SA rowers nail men's pair Olympic qualification at world championships

South Africa’s rowing squad secured their first qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics when the men’s pair finished third in their semifinal at the world championships in Belgrade on Thursday morning.

Veteran John Smith, a gold medallist from the 2012 London Games, and young buck Chris Baxter, a gold medallist at the 2022 under-23 world championships, delivered a well-timed race as they came from the back of the field to take third in the faster of the two semifinals.

The top three from the two semifinals advanced to Saturday’s six-lane A-final. The top seven boats in this class book their spots in Paris, with the seventh being the winner of the B-final.

Smith and Baxter clocked 6min 55.67sec behind defending champions Romania (6:51.21) and Ireland (6:54.70).

Britain, third last year, won the first semifinal in 6:59.61, ahead of Switzerland (7:01.60) and Tokyo Olympic bronze medallists Denmark (7:23.24).

Winning Olympic spots was the RMB-sponsored squad’s primary goal.

The men’s four will compete in their semifinals later in the morning and the women’s double sculls crew of Katherine Williams and Paige Badenhorst race in their semifinals on Friday.

South African rowing has not won a senior world championship medal since 2017, but five of the country’s eight medals since 2001 have come in the men’s pair.