Great Day for Australian Coxed Boats Day 2: World Rowing Under 23 Championships

Day 1 was about our two Heavyweight Single Scullers – Laura Gourley and Cormac Kennedy-Leverett – getting Australia off to a winning start. On Day 2 of the World Under 23 Championships, it was our coxed boats – the Men’s Eight and Women’s Coxed Four – that showed Australia’s depth, as the two crews won their respective Heats. The Women’s Four has been the talk of the rowing world in the last 24 hours, as they set a new Championship best time of 6:52.9. The previous record was 7:02.22, set at the 2019 World Rowing Under 23 Championships.

The coach of the Women’s Coxed Four, Annabelle Eaton, said post-race, “We set out to win this race. Our girls were desperate to race as it has been a long time since their last hit out. They brought their A game today and our challenge in the next 36 hours is to better today’s performance. What also helped our girls was what Paul Thompson (Performance Director) said in the lead up to the race – the most important stroke is the one that you are on. Don’t rush. One stroke at a time.”

Men’s Eight Coach, John Bowes, commented that he was happy with his crew’s win in Heat 1, but he did say that the main challenge now would be the crew from Great Britain who comfortably won Heat 2. John said, “It is now all about strength of character. Nobody is going to get fitter or stronger in the next few days. What makes our guys so special is that they are there for one another. The boys have been stressing to each other, let’s do this for our three mates who are in their final year as Under 23 athletes. Paul’s words are true – race when you get there, but not before.”

Conditions today were labelled as a moderate tail wind with warm water conditions, which produced some very fast times. Our Men’s Coxed Four were unlucky to be pipped on the line by Germany, after leading their race for the first 1500 metres. They will now race the Repechage to qualify for the A Final. Grace Sypher came 2nd in the Women’s Lightweight Single Repechage and will compete in the Semi Finals later this week.

The Men’s Coxless Four of William Achermann, Nicholas Smith, Torben Ungemach and Charlie Batrouney put on a brave show in their Heat to finish in 3rd position. Our young Women’s Coxless Four – Paige Barr, Jacqueline Swick, Genevieve Hart and Eliza Gaffney – also placed 3rd in their Heat and will be looking to “bounce back” in their Repechage today to qualify for the A-Final.

Our small boat crews of Kate Oliver and Sophie Robinson (Women’s Lightweight Pair), and Alexander Wood and Harry Crouch (Men’s Double Sculls) were both competitive in the first 1000m of their respective Heats and will be looking to make some positive adjustments to their race plans during the week. The Men’s Quadruple Sculls quartet of Marcus Della Marta, Lukas Matic, Xavier Hall-Sullivan and Alexander Rossi are using this regatta as a learning curve to build their international race experience.

The third day of the regatta (Wednesday 27th July) will see the start of the World Rowing Under 19 Championships. Our Junior Women’s Double Scull and Men’s Quadruple Scull crews will be the first Australian Under 19 crews to race. There will also be seven Under 23 crews racing in the Repechage round.

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Results can be seen via the World Rowing website: 

https://worldrowing.com/event/2022-world-rowing-under-19-under-23-championships

Follow the Rowing Australia social media channels for the latest updates, as well as photos and video coverage of the Australian Under 23 and Under 19 Rowing Teams. 

Full Regatta Results (Day-2): 

Men’s Under-23 Eight (U23M8+) – 1st, Qualified for the A-Final.

Jamie Arnold

Marcus Emmett

Patrick Long

Joshua Hill

Alexander McClean

Angus Dawson

Darcy McCluskey

Fergus Hamilton

Harry Keenan (Coxswain)

Women’s Under-23 Coxed Four (U23M4+) – 1st in Preliminary, Qualified for the A-Final.

Isabella Scammell

Samantha Morton

Emma Wilson

Emmie Frederico

Nicholas Dunlop (Coxswain)

Women’s Under-23 Lightweight Single Scull (U23WL1X), 2nd in Repechage, Semi-Final A/B.

Grace Sypher

Men’s Under-23 Coxed Four (U23M4+) – 2nd In Heat 1, Repechage.

Nikolas Pender

Miller Eagle-Rowe

Fraser Miscamble

Harrison Fox

Hannah Cowap (Coxswain)

Women’s Under-23 Coxless Four (U23W4-), 3rd in Heat 2, Repechage.

Paige Barr

Jacqueline Swick

Eliza Gaffney

Genevieve Hart

Women’s Under-23 Lightweight Coxless Pair (U23W2-), 3rd in Heat 1, Repechage.

Kate Oliver

Sophie Robinson

Men’s Under-23 Coxless Four (U23M4-), 3rd in Heat 1, Repechage.

William Achermann

Nicholas Smith

Torben Ungemach

Charlie Batrouney

Men’s Under-23 Double Sculls (U23M2X), 3RD in Heat 1, Repechage.

Alexander Wood

Harry Crouch

Men’s Under-23 Quadruple Sculls (U23M4X), 5th in Heat 3, Repechage.

Marcus Della Marta

Lukas Matic

Xavier Hall‐Sullivan

Alexander Rossi

World Under-23 Crew Lists:

Women

U23W1X

Laura Gourley

Coach: Hally Chapman

U23LW1X

Grace Sypher

Coach: Lachlan Carter

U23LW2-

Kate Oliver

Sophie Robinson

Coach: Shaun Finlayson

U23W4+

Isabella Scammel

Samantha Morton

Emmie Frederico

Emma Wilson

Nicholas Dunlop (Coxswain)

Coach: Annabelle Eaton

U23W4-

Paige Barr

Jacqueline Swick

Eliza Gaffney

Genevieve Hart

Coach: Tom Westgarth

Men

U23M1X

Cormac Kennedy‐Leverett

Coach: Lincoln Handley

U23M2X