Bronze for Gavin Horsburgh at European Rowing U23 Championships

All eight of Great Britain’s crews finished in the top seven places at the European Rowing U23 Championships in Brest, Belarus, with a bronze medal for Gavin Horsburgh

Gavin Horsburgh took bronze at the European Rowing U23 Championships, racing in the lightweight single scull for the first time at an international regatta.

The Edinburgh University BC sculler was one of 12 athletes competing for Great Britain in Brest, Belarus, with all eight crews finishing in the top seven places.

Horsburgh – a Junior and U23 world champion, as well as a senior World Championships silver medallist – found his own rhythm as eventual winner Simon Kleuter (Germany) and silver medallist Rainer Kepplinger set a ferocious early pace.

The Brit moved away from his Russian and Greek rivals to secure third place by nearly three lengths, cheered on by the British Ambassador to Belarus Fiona Gibb, who was in attendance in Brest.

While Horsburgh was the only medallist for GB, two crews finished agonisingly close to the podium in fourth place.

The men’s pair of Sam Nunn and Henry Blois-Brooke, both of Oxford Brookes University BC, were less than half a length down on Greece, while Newcastle University duo James Stevenson and Dom Jackson were edged out of third place by Austria in the lightweight double sculls.

George Bourne (Durham University BC) finished fifth in the men’s single sculls, the same position as Megan Slabbert (Molesey BC) and Rachel Heap (Leander Club) in the women’s pair and Laura Macro (Bath University BC) in the lightweight women’s single.

And GB crews also won two B finals, with Tideway Sculler Katy Wilkinson-Feller taking the win and seventh place in the women’s single sculls and the Reading University combination of Rory Harris and George Lawton beating Romania in the men’s double sculls B final.

Peter Sheppard, British Rowing Chief Coach for U23s and Juniors, said: “We’re pleased to see some good performances by British crews in Brest, many of who were racing in small boats for the first time in a Championships setting.

“All of the athletes will have learned a lot from the tight racing as we tried to make as many A finals as possible. Having all eight crews in the top seven is a solid performance and a good way to round off the season for the U23 squad.”

Romania followed their strong World U23 Championships performance by winning an incredible eight gold medals in Brest, with Greece second on the medal table with five golds.