NSWIS Trio Join Men’s Eight

Rowing Australia (RA) will throw its weight behind the Men’s Eight by prioritising it for the Olympic Games in Paris this year in an unprecedented bid for glory in the blue riband event.

RA today announced the Australian Rowing Team (ART) for its 2024 campaign after a week of gruelling trials at the Sydney International Regatta Centre (SIRC) in Penrith.

The flagship boat of the ART is the Women’s Pair of Annabelle McIntyre OAM and Jessica Morrison OAM, who were part of the Gold Medal Four in Tokyo and also won Silver at last year’s World Rowing Championships in Belgrade.

Australia has never won an Olympic Games Gold Medal in the Eight. The best result for Australia has been Silver by the Men’s Eight in 1968 at Mexico and 2000 in Sydney.

Both Eights should be medal contenders in light of their performances at last year’s World Rowing Championships, where both crews won Bronze Medals. The Men’s Eight also won a Gold at the World Cup regatta in Lucerne before the world titles.

The decision to attach the priority label to the Men’s Eight for Paris was a result of world-class race times clocked by various crew combinations throughout the week at the SIRC.

Hopes are just as high for the Women’s Eight, but the final crew is not yet selected. While RA named a crew for the Men’s Eight, it named a squad of 14 for the Women’s Eight and Four.

“The Eights are the nation’s boats. We’re a proud nation of Eights as well,” RA Performance Director Paul Thompson said.

“Both Eights have been winning medals at the World Cups and World Championships. So, we want to be building on our strengths, and not watching what everybody else is doing.”

RA has bolstered the Men’s Eight with three Olympic champions and NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holders – Jack Hargreaves OAM, Spencer Turrin OAM and Alex Purnell OAM – who were in the Tokyo Gold Medal Four in 2021.

Other selected members of the Mark Prater-coached Eight are: Kendall Brodie (cox), Angus Widdicombe, Joseph O’Brien, Josh Hicks, Angus Dawson and Ben Canham.

“We’ve got an outstanding Eight,” Thompson said. “We’ve got three Olympic champions in the Men’s Eight now to add an extra bit of bit of punch with our ambitions.

“And we still believe that we will have a fabulous Four for Paris too.”

While the Women’s Eight coached by John Keogh is yet to be confirmed, performances this past week have given selectors belief that the final crew could still be a major contender.

“As with the Men, we have a lot of depth in the Women,” Thompson said. “And whoever is finally in it, whether they are from last year’s Eight or Four, we will have two fast boats.”

In other major selections:

• NSWIS athlete Tara Rigney, a Tokyo Olympian in the Double Scull, was selected in the Women’s Single Scull in which she has won a Bronze Medal at the 2022 and 2023 World Rowing Championships
• Alex Hill OAM, from the Olympic champion Men’s Four in Tokyo, returns to the boat with a new-look combination
• Harriet Hudson, a Tokyo Bronze Medallist in the Women’s Quad Scull, is in the Double Scull with Amanda Bateman.
• Nikki Ayers and Jed Altschwager were picked in the PR3 Mixed Double Scull, with the world champions now heading towards a Paralympics debut.
• Erik Horrie OAM was selected in the PR1 Single Scull in which he has won three Silver Paralympic Medals and five Gold Medals at the World Rowing Championships.

RA also today named its ‘Australia A’ and Under 23 teams, with one eye on developing its talent pool for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The ‘Australia A’ team will compete in World Cup I at Varese in Italy on April 12-14; whereas the Australian Under 23 team will race at the Under 23 World Championships at St Catharines in Canada from August 18-24.

For the senior Australian team, the 2024 season will culminate in Paris with the Olympic Games from July 27-August 3 and the Paralympic Games from August 30 to September 1.

Australia has so far qualified nine boats for the Olympics from 14 classes (seven men, seven women) and three for the Paralympics.

RA has been considering three boats for entry in the Final Qualifying Regatta for Olympics and Paralympics at Lucerne in May – the Men’s Double Scull, Men’s Quad Scull and Women’s Lightweight Double Scull – but today confirmed one.

RA named David Bartholot and Marcus Della Marta as the Men’s Double Scull for Lucerne, but opted to not send a Men’s Quad Scull.

Any decision on the future of the Women’s Lightweight Double Scull of Anneka Reardon and Giorgia Miansarow will be made after they undergo speed trials at Australian Rowing Championships in Penrith on March 18-24.

“We’ve got a really strong team, especially with the depth of it,” Thompson said.  “We can be really confident the crews will do Australia proud in the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“The selectors have left no stone unturned. They have followed the speed. They have followed the data and they have followed all the evidence that they’ve collected.

“Everybody’s got an opportunity. The selection is done. It is now about making your boat the best boat we need it to be. We should be looking to have a strong team performance.”

AUSTRALIAN ROWING TEAM 2024

WOMEN

Women’s Single Scull (W1X) Tara Rigney (Sydney University Boat Club)

Women’s Double Scull (W2X) Amanda Bateman (Melbourne University Boat Club), Harriet Hudson (Sydney Rowing Club)

Women’s Quad Scull Squad (W4X) Caitlin Cronin (University of Queensland Boat Club), Laura Gourley (UTS Haberfield Rowing Club), Rowena Meredith (Sydney University Boat Club), Kathryn Rowan (Sydney University Boat Club), Ria Thompson (University of Queensland Boat Club)

Women’s Coxless Pair (W2-) Annabelle McIntyre OAM (Freemantle Rowing Club), Jess Morrison OAM (Mercantile Rowing Club)

Women’s Coxed Eight Squad (W8+) and Women’s Four Squad (W4-)  Olympia Aldersey (UTS Haberfield Rowing Club), Lily Alton (University of Queensland Boat Club), Paige Barr (Mercantile Rowing Club), Bronwyn Cox (University of Western Australia), Eliza Gaffney (Melbourne University Boat Club), Molly Goodman (Adelaide Rowing Club), Sarah Hawe (Sydney Rowing Club), Jean Mitchell (Melbourne University Boat Club), Samantha Morton (Sydney Rowing Club), Giorgia Patten (West Australian Rowing Club), Georgina Rowe (UTS Haberfield Rowing Club), Lucy Stephan OAM (Melbourne University Boat Club), Jacqueline Swick (Swan River Rowing Club), Katrina Werry (Mercantile Rowing Club), Hayley Verbunt – Coxswain (Mercantile Rowing Club)

MEN

Men’s Coxless Pair (M2-) Paddy Holt (UTS Haberfield Rowing Club), Simon Keenan (Melbourne University Boat Club)

Men’s Double Scull (M2x) Dave Bartholot (Sydney University Boat Club), Marcus Della Marta (Sydney University Boat Club)

Men’s Coxless Four (M4-) Fergus Hamilton (Mercantile Rowing Club), Alexander Hill OAM (Adelaide Rowing Club), Tim Masters (UTS Haberfield Rowing Club), Jack Robertson (Mercantile Rowing Club)

Men’s Coxed Eight (M8+) Kendall Brodie – Coxswain (Sydney Rowing Club), Ben Canham (Melbourne University Boat Club), Angus Dawson (Adelaide Rowing Club / University of California Berkeley), Jack Hargreaves OAM (Sydney University Boat Club), Josh Hicks (Sydney Rowing Club), Joseph O’Brien (Sydney University Boat Club), Alexander Purnell OAM (Sydney University Boat Club), Spencer Turrin OAM (Sydney Rowing Club), Angus Widdicombe (Mercantile Rowing Club)

Men’s Reserve Athletes Jackson Kench (Sydney University Boat Club), Rohan Lavery (Melbourne University Boat Club)

PARA 

PR1 Men’s Single Sculls (PR1 M1X) Erik Horrie OAM (Sydney Rowing Club)

PR3 Mixed Double Sculls (PR3 Mix2X) Jed Altschwager (Torrens Rowing Club), Nikki Ayers (Capital Lakes Rowing Club), Lisa Greissl – reserve athlete (Lake Macquarie Rowing Club)

PR3 Mixed Coxed Four Squad (PR3 Mix4+) Thomas Birtwhistle (UTS Haberfield Rowing Club), Hannah Cowap (Sydney Rowing Club), Toby Goffsassen (University of Queensland Boat Club), Susannah Lutze (Banks Rowing Club), Harrison Nichols (Hunter Valley Grammar), Alexandra Viney (Mercantile Rowing Club)