GB Team selected for World Rowing U23 Championships in Plovdiv

46 athletes have been selected to represent Great Britain at the 2023 World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria from 19-23 July

With 36 new athletes representing the GB Rowing Team for the first time at U23 level, the group for Plovdiv has a new look to it and provides these athletes with their first opportunity to perform on the world stage.

The team also contains 10 athletes who have previously represented GB at U23 level. This includes the Men’s pair of Harry Geffen and Miles Beeson, who are gold medallists from 2022 in the men’s eight and men’s four respectively, and Theo Bell and Jake Wincomb, racing this year in the men’s four after winning gold in the men’s eight in 2022. Joining them in the men’s four is Iwan Hadfield, who won bronze in the same event in 2021.

Three 2022 silver medallists will return to the women’s squad. Lauren Carey and Abigail Topp will race the Women’s four having raced separately in the women’s four and women’s eight last season and Phoebe Snowden returns to the women’s eight. Vwairé Obukohwo and Katherine George will be looking to improve on their 2022 U23 World bronze medal in the women’s double.

Peter Sheppard, GB Rowing Team Head Coach for the Olympic Pathway said: “Our selected athletes represent many clubs and Universities from both the UK and USA and it is exciting to see what they can achieve in Plovdiv as a step on the pathway to being future seniors and maybe Olympians! Thanks also to the team behind the team – as well as support staff, we have some top quality coaches travelling both from clubs and from the GB Rowing Team.”

The Great Britain crews racing at the 2023 World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Plovdiv are:

Men’s Crews

Under 23 Men’s pair (M2-)

Harry Geffen (Molesey BC/Yale University)
Miles Beeson (Molesey BC/Yale University)
Coach: Franz Imfeld (Molesey BC)

Under 23 Men’s four (M4-)

James Forward (Oxford University BC)
Theo Bell (Leander Club)
Jake Wincomb (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Iwan Hadfield (Leander Club)
Coach: Brian Young (GB Rowing Team)

Under 23 Men’s coxed four (M4+)

Caspar Griffin (Thames RC/Stanford University)
Zac Day (Molesey BC)
Connor Brown (Leander Club/Henley RC)
Oliver Parish (Cambridge University BC)
Zahir Ala (cox) (Imperial College BC)
Coach: Chris Tebb (Oxford Brookes University BC)

Under 23 Men’s eight (M8+)

Toby Lassen (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Felix Rawlinson (Thames RC)
Gabriel Obholzer (Tideway Scullers School)
Joe Willis (Leander Club)
Andrew Mettrick (Durham University BC)
Fergus Woolnough (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Luca Ferraro (Cambridge University BC)
Louis Nares (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Tom Bryce (cox) (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Coach: Brendan Gliddon (Oxford University BC)

Under 23 Men’s single sculls (M1x)

Miles Devereux (Leander Club)
Coach: Ali Brown (Leander Club)

Under 23 Men’s quadruple sculls (M4x)

Keyan O’Donnell (Bewl Bridge RC)
Stephen Hughes (Leander Club/Maidenhead RC)
Marcus Chute (Windsorian RC)
Balthasar Issa (Leander Club/University of California, Berkeley)
Coach: Kieran Clark (GB Rowing Team)

Women’s Crews

Under 23 Women’s four (W4-)

Abigail Topp (Leander Club)
Philippa Emery (Durham University BC)
Angharad Broughton (Molesey BC)
Lauren Carey (Leander Club/York City RC)
Coach: Will Fletcher (Durham University BC)

Under 23 Women’s eight (W8+)

Anna Grace (Durham University BC)
Phoebe Snowden (University of London BC)
Rhianna Sumpter (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Imogen Cabot (Leander Club)
Arianna Forde (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Grace Richards (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Evelyna Davies (Durham University BC)
Emma Dabinett (Marlow RC)
Jack Tottem (cox) (Leander Club/Oxford University BC)
Coach: Ross Hunter (Leander Club)

Under 23 Women’s double sculls (W2x)

Vwairé Obukohwo (Twickenham RC)
Katherine George (Leander Club)
Coach: Helen Brown (GB Rowing Team)

Under 23 Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x)

Hannah Supple (Edinburgh University BC)
Ellie Cooke (Reading University BC)
Molly Curry (Queen’s University Belfast Ladies BC)
Rachel Bradley (Newcastle University BC)
Coach: Peter Sheppard (GB Rowing Team)

Under 23 lightweight Women’s double sculls (LW2x)

Isobel Sellers (Durham University BC/Maidenhead RC)
Annabelle Ruinet (Twickenham RC)
Coach: Chris Bartley (Reading University BC)

Team support

Anna Liddell (Team Manager)
Clodagh Dugdale (Doctor)
Becky Davison (Physiotherapist)
Marie Grant (Physiotherapist)
Jack Brown (Sport Scientist)
Alice Tourell North (Strength & Conditioning)