New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder Emily Sheppard celebrated her being a member of Australia’s Women’s Coxed Four crew, alongside Katherine Easton, Sophie Houston, Zara Collisson, and coxswain Nicholas Dunlop, after becoming back-to-back World Champions after surging to a gold medal at the World Rowing U23 Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

The Annabelle Eaton-coached crew needed all of the tools at their disposal after an inauspicious start that saw them fourth at the 500m mark. But after some key adjustments just before 1000m, they took the lead and powered their way to the first gold Medal of the regatta for the Australians.

It was the first instalment of a quality day of racing from the green and gold crews, with the Men’s Coxless Pair of Mitch Salisbury and Jarrod Lord (coached by Scott Rowe) collecting Bronze in their event.

Salisbury and Lord took it out hard and had the lead through 500m before the Great Britain and Italian boats made their move. The Australian duo fought tooth and nail to earn a spot on the podium behind Team GB and the second-placed Italians.

The Men’s Coxed Four, including NSWIA duo Torben Ungemach and Alexander Wood with Riley Rees-Turner, Dylan Rhodes, and coxswain Hannah Cowap, coached by Matt Ungemach, had high hopes of a medal in their final following great form in their heat. After a slow start, the crew rowed a solid final 500m but narrowly missed the medals by less than 0.4 of a second.

The day finished off with all crews contesting semi finals coming away with wins in their respective events. NSWIS athlete Grace Sypher (pictured above) in the Women’s Lightweight Single Scull, the Men’s Quad Scull of Nicholas Blackman, Harrison Fox, Johnson Daubney and Alexander Rossi, and the Men’s Coxless Four of NSWIS pair Nicholas Smith, and Nikolas Pender will join crewmates Austin Reinenhr and Fraser Miscamble in taking their place in A Finals.

“It was an outstanding day of racing, headlined by the back-to-back World Championship gold in the Women’s Coxed Four. It was a nail-biting bronze medal for our Men’s Pair and an incredibly courageous row by the Men’s Coxed Four, who were beaten off the podium by the smallest of margins,” said Deputy Performance Director, Jaime Fernandez OLY.

“Our three crews competing in the semi finals rowed magnificently, winning their races, which results in this team having all eight crews contesting A Finals,” he said.

“We are excited about the racing on the final day. Just as all our crews have done throughout the regatta, we have little doubt they will race with courage, grit and determination.”

Story and photo courtesy of Rowing Australia

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