It was an exciting week that saw Filippi boats excel at the Paris 2024 Games with 27 medals won (9 gold, 9 silver and 9 bronze) out of 42 (64%). This marks a significant leap in quality compared to Tokyo 2020 with three more medals overall and above all two more gold medals. The premise was also exceptional with 137 boats qualified in Paris, representing 54 nations.
In the folds of success, an explicit reference cannot be missed to the new Performance line with which Filippi has won medals 15 times at the Games, 5 of which have achieved the maximum goal.
In addition to the somewhat expected gold of Romania in the women's eight (F42), among the most prestigious successes were that of the F40 Performance configuration for the men's four of the United States. This represented a first gold in 64 years in this speciality.
Our golden date was Thursday August 1st, when Filippi crews won 4 golds in the men's and women's pair (Croatia and Holland respectively) before Holland and the USA secured victory in the men's and women's coxless four. For the first time since Filippi began lining up on the start of the Olympic Games, we had four of six A-finalists in the coxless four racing in our shells.
But let's go and experience all the emotions of Paris in the daily resumes of the events that have marked this Olympics.
Day 1
Saturday 27th July
“In Paris, on day 1 at Stade Nautique de Vaires-sur-Marne, Filippiboats picked up 15 wins out of 22 heats, qualifying 33 crews to the quarterfinals of men’s and women’s double and single scull. Already in the “A” finals on July 31st, the “quartets” (4x) from Italy and the Netherlands (men), and Ukraine and the Netherlands (women) stood out. 12 out of today's 15 winners rowed with the new Performance range of Filippiboats.”
Day 2
Sunday 28th July
Day 2 in Paris for Filippiboats meant five more places in the “A” finals for New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Romania in the women’s four, and for the USA and New Zealand in the men’s four, where our new Performance range F40 won both heats. Overall, Filippiboats raced successfully in 11 heats (out of 16), qualifying 26 crews for the next semifinals. It was also a good step forward for home crews from France, especially for the lightweight men’s and women’s doubles, pushing the Performance F13 and F36 to secure a direct pass to the semifinals.
Day 3
Monday 29th July
“The best news on Day Three in Paris for Filippiboats was that the USRowing F49 qualified directly for the A-final of the men’s eight, which will take place on Saturday. There will also be repechages for Italy and the Netherlands in the F49. A solid performance was also banked by the world champion Romanian women’s eight, which confirmed this talented group of athletes as key contenders for gold. Women’s eight world silver medallists from the USA will race in the repechage on Thursday, August 1st, alongside Italy and Denmark, who are both enjoying their first experience at this level. Tomorrow, 24 Donoratico-built men’s and women’s single sculls will compete for a place in the A/B semi-finals.”
Day 4
Tuesday 30th July
“The first finals begin tomorrow at 12:20 p.m. CET with the men’s and women’s quads, but today at the Nautical Stadium in Vaires sur Marne, a new chapter was opened in the five-circle history of Filippiboats.
We have never before had four boats (out of six) in the men’s and women’s finals in a top specialty like the coxless four. In fact, in the men’s repechages this morning, Italy (who won the race) and Romania, both in F40s, joined New Zealand and the United States, who were already in the A-final. Amongst the women, the United States won their repechage and will go on to compete for gold in their Filippi F52 from the new Performance line, together with New Zealand, Holland, and Romania, who have already qualified.
En plein in the women’s doubles, where we will have six boats out of six in a final featuring France, New Zealand, Romania, Norway, Holland, and Great Britain. In this line-up will be a first-time appearance for the senior Filippi F13 doubles at an Olympics.
There will be five (out of six) men’s doubles built in Donoratico thanks to Holland, Spain, Ireland, New Zealand, and Romania.
Finally, as a result of this morning’s results, we will have four women’s singles in the semi-finals and six in the men’s semi-finals.”
Day 5
Wednesday 31st July
“The Dutch men’s quad won the first 2024 Paris gold this morning in Vaires sur Marne, with our new Performance F40, its second consecutive Olympic title in this specialty. Koen Metsemakers, their strokeman who also won in 2020, led the orange crew to a clear but hard-fought victory.
Two seconds and 40 hundredths behind were Italy, with exactly the same hull, which is always “Performance” equipped, winning a medal for our country (silver) in this event for the first time in 16 years.
On the other hand, 15 hundredths of a second separated the Dutch women’s quad from gold after a race they led from the start until 5 meters from the finish.
In some other Day Five highlights, Filippiboats are also celebrating a third A-final starting grid with only our shells after the completion of the women’s lightweight double and pair semi-finals.
Two-time Olympic champions from Croatia - Martin and Valent Sinkovic - have also confirmed their durable winning attitude and will lead a quartet of Filippiboats in the battle for gold in the men’s pair along with Romania, Spain, and Ireland. We also had four Filippi boats qualify for the A-final of the men’s lightweight double thanks to Italy, the Czech Republic, Greece, and Norway.”
Day 6
Thursday 1st August
“Today exceeded even the brightest of forecasts for Filippiboats: four out of four victories this morning at the Vaires nautical stadium in a stunning succession of silverware. Gold medals came thanks to the Netherlands in the women’s 4-, Romania in the men’s doubles, New Zealand in the women’s doubles, and the United States in the men’s 4-. The latter is the first Olympic gold for Filippi with the American Federation, for whom we have been official suppliers since Tokyo 2020. This was a gold obtained with a boat from the new “Performance” line, which had been missing in that specialty in America for 64 years, having last been conquered in Italy at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
Today was a changing of the guard, an epochal moment, as four boats out of six competing in both the men’s and women’s coxless fours were Filippi. It is notable that another three silver medals and the same number of bronze medals arrived with the usual “greats” of world rowing as protagonists: Holland, Romania, and New Zealand, joined today by Ireland and Great Britain with bronze, respectively, in the senior men’s doubles and in the women’s equivalent.
Unlucky Italy also did well, finishing fourth in the men’s 4- but with a burgeoning team that includes a women’s eight making their debut at the Games and reaching the final with their F42 eight (one of Cambridge’s victorious hulls at the Boat Race, so to speak). So, in the final of the women’s eight, Filippi will present not only Italy but also the USA and Romania on Saturday. In the men’s competition, we will be focused on the United States and Holland, who won the repechage this morning.
On Saturday, there will also be the singles finals, and for Filippi, there will be three boats competing for the men (Holland, New Zealand, and Belgium) and two for the women (Lithuania and Australia).”
Day 7
Friday 2nd August
“If this was to be their last dance, then these incredible men went out in the perfect way. Valent and Martin Sinkovic were extraordinary in the A-final of the men’s pair this morning at the Nautical Stadium of Vaires.
Where in the past they would win by immediately taking off with power and poise, today they waited for the right moment to launch a searing attack that earned them their third Olympic title in a row after Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, and now Paris 2024. We like to think that their new PERFORMANCE F17 helped them in their winning comeback.
Including their gold, a further nine medals arrived on the penultimate day of the Olympic finals: three gold (M2- Croatia, W2- Netherlands, LW2x Great Britain), three silver (W2- Romania, LM2x Italy, LW2x Romania), and three bronze (W2- Australia, LW & LM2x Greece).
Tomorrow is the last day of racing with Filippi represented both in the single and the eight with 11 boats out of 24 chasing gold.”
Day 8
Saturday 3rd August
“Thanks to a magnificent romanian performance, today on Parisian waters, we reached the summit of a mountain we have been climbing for years: the gold in the women’s eight at the Games. As we bid farewell to the rowing at Paris 2024, it is clear that any perception of Filippiboats as exclusively small boat-builders can be vanquished. Two victories in successive Games – in the men’s and women’s eights respectively – cement us as the world’s preferred water-bound vehicle for victory.
As with any job well done, there is a great deal of work that supports the milestones achieved. On August 1st in Vaires, we had four boats out of six in the finals of the men’s and women’s coxless four, a big-boat trend that continued with silver and bronze for the Netherlands and the United States in the men’s eight, three years after New Zealand’s coup in Tokyo with the F49.
27 medals won in Paris (an increase of three compared to Tokyo), with nine of each type, but critically we won two more gold medals than in Japan. A great result because nothing is taken for granted in the Olympic finals, even if Filippi arrived in Paris with 70% of the qualified boats. What matters most when looking ahead is that the investment in the new Performance line has produced something like 50% of the 27 medallists who have adopted it. Thanks, therefore, go to those athletes, coaches, and Federations who believed in it, successfully anticipating the adaptation times for each innovation. Thank you for the trust that we believe we have earned over the years.”
