Four Great Britain crews and two coaches announced as finalists at 2024 World Rowing Awards
Great Britain is the country with the most finalists this year, with crews shortlisted for Men’s Crew of the Year, Women’s Crew of the Year, and two finalists in each category for Para Crew of the Year and Coach of the Year
After a golden summer, four GB Rowing Team crews and two coaches have been selected as finalists for the World Rowing Awards 2024.
Following public nominations, the World Rowing Executive Committee selected finalists based on analysis from expert panels created for each award.
Men’s Crew of the Year
The Team GB Men’s eight had a glittering Olympiad, crowned European Champions in 2022, 2023 and 2024, World Champions in 2022 and 2023 and finally Olympic Champions at Paris 2024.
Sholto Carnegie, Rory Gibbs, Morgan Bolding, Jacob Dawson, Charles Elwes, Thomas Digby, James Rudkin, Tom Ford and Harry Brightmore, coached by Steve Trapmore, poured everything they had into their final race of the season, but the result was never in doubt as they crossed the line ahead of the Netherlands and USA.
Women’s Crew of the Year
Our first gold medal of the 2024 Olympic Rowing Regatta went to the Women’s quadruple sculls of Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Georgina Brayshaw – the first ever Olympic gold medal for Great Britain in this boat class. The nail-biting race ended in a photo finish, but a heroic sprint from the GB crew saw them finish 0.15 seconds ahead of the Dutch.
The crew, coached by Head Olympic Coach (Women’s Squad) Andrew Randell, were defending 2023 World Champions and 2024 European Champions.
Para Crew of the Year
Paris 2024 was Great Britain’s most successful Paralympic Games to date – it’s therefore not surprising that we have not one, but two crews nominated in this category!
Lauren Rowles and Gregg Stevenson were unbeaten from their first international race togetherin the PR2 Mixed double sculls, and were World Champions in 2023 and European Champions in 2023 and 2024. They set a World and Paralympic Best Time in the Paris 2024 heats, and their gold medal was Lauren Rowles’ third Paralympic gold.
Benjamin Pritchard’s phenomenal regatta in the PR1 Men’s single sculls started with a Paralympic Best Time in the heats and ended with him being crowned Paralympic Champion. The Welsh rower finished 11.37 seconds ahead of Ukraine’s Roman Polianskyi in silver.
Coach of the Year
Paralympic Head Coach Nick Baker led a team of coaches, support staff and athletes to GB’s most successful Paralympic Games this year.
The British national anthem played out an incredible three times across the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium on the final day of the regatta, as all four of the ParalympicsGB boats took home a medal.
Darren Whiter’s work with the Lightweight Women’s double sculls saw them win gold to become the last ever Olympic Champions in that boat class. An unbeaten combination after Tokyo 2020, the crew went from strength to strength to finally execute a race that was perhaps as close to perfection as you can get in rowing in their final.
Louise Kingsley, Director of Performance at British Rowing said: “To have so many crews and coaches announced as finalists is a reflection of the breadth and depth of our current GB Rowing Team programme. It is rewarding to see our efforts recognised by our International Federation and for our GBR crews and coaches to sit alongside such a high quality field.”
Other Award categories
On 31 October, World Rowing also announced that the two finallists in the Rowing Programme of the Year award were both British – Oxford Brookes University BC and Fulham Reach BC. 1992 Olympian 2024 Olympic Artist Annabel Eyres is a finallist for the Artistic Contribution of the Year Award.
The 2024 World Rowing Awards will be held during a Gala Dinner on Sunday, 9 November 2024 at 20:00 CET in Seville, Spain.
Photos: Benedict Tuffnell and Steve McArthur.
