Returning medallists headline Great Britain squad for World Rowing U23 Championships
Five of the six gold medal-winning athletes from 2017 return to the GB team for the World Rowing U23 Championships
Fifty-six athletes will compete for Great Britain at the World Rowing U23 Championships in Poznan, including five of the six gold medallists from 2017.
Five British crews reached the podium in 2017, with memorable golds for the men’s double sculls and the women’s quad.
Sam Meijer was dominant alongside Seb Devereux in the double sculls and this year will race in the men’s quad alongside former world junior champion Josh Armstrong, World Class Start athlete Matt Haywood and Leander Club’s Rowan Law.
Charlotte Hodgkins-Byrne, who subbed into the quad ahead of the final after an illness to Kyra Edwards, and fellow gold medallist Anna Thornton team up in the double sculls. The duo won the Stonor Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta this summer.
Saskia Budgett and Lucy Glover return to the quad alongside Edwards and 2017 world junior champion in the double scull Zoe Adamson.
Adamson’s partner in that gold-medal double scull, Holly Dunford, will race in the women’s eight in Poznan, while fellow 2017 junior champion Felix Drinkall rows in the men’s four.
Drinkall joins Charlie Elwes, who returns after winning silver in the four last year, David Ambler, who took bronze in the eight, and Sam Nunn, a silver medallist at the European U23 Championships in 2017.
Tom Digby, who also won silver in the four last year, moves to the eight alongside returning bronze medallists David Bewicke-Copley and Matt Aldridge.
Gavin Horsburgh won silver with the senior lightweight quad at the World Rowing Championships in Sarasota-Bradenton last season, and will look to add a second World U23 title to his collection alongside James Temple in the lightweight double. The duo rowed together at the first senior World Cup of the year in Belgrade, winning the C final.
Lightweight single Imogen Grant also raced in Belgrade, missing out on a medal by less than half a length. Grant was a member of the victorious Cambridge crew in the 2018 Women’s Boat Race.
More than half of the athletes selected represent clubs supported by British Rowing in the High Performance Programme in Clubs (HPPC) initiative, which covers the universities of Edinburgh, Durham, Newcastle, Oxford Brookes and London, as well as Leander Club and Molesey BC.
British Rowing Director of Performance, Brendan Purcell, said: “It’s great to be able to name such a strong and experienced group of athletes to compete at the World Rowing U23 Championships, with medallists returning from 2017 and a good number progressing from the Junior ranks.
“We have a strong high performance development pathway at British Rowing and I’m confident we’ll see a number of the athletes selected here going on to form part of our Olympic squads for Paris 2024 and beyond.”
The World Rowing U23 Championships take place in Poznan between 25-29 July. You can follow the action from all five days on britishrowing.org.
Great Britain team for World Rowing U23 Championships – Poznan (25-29 July)
Men’s
Men’s pair
James Vogel (Durham University BC)
Max Townley (University of London BC)
Coach: Pete Sheppard (GB Rowing Team)
Men’s four
David Ambler (Tideway Scullers School)
Sam Nunn (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Charlie Elwes (Leander Club)
Felix Drinkall (Isis BC)
Coach: Brian Young (University of London BC)
Men’s coxed four
Henry Blois-Brooke (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Matt Rowe (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Tobias Schröder (Isis BC)
Oscar Lindsay (Durham University BC)
(Cox) Gavin McWilliams (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Coach: Phil Gray (University of London BC)
Men’s eight
Ben Freeman (University of London BC)
Tom Digby (Griffen BC)
David Bewicke-Copley (Sport Imperial BC)
Matt Aldridge (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Lenny Jenkins (Leander Club)
Freddie Davidson (Goldie BC)
Will Stewart (Newcastle University BC)
Harvey Kay (Leander Club)
(Cox) Hugo Ramambason (Cambridge University BC)
Coach: Richard Chambers (Cambridge University BC)
Men’s quadruple sculls
Sam Meijer (Elizabethan BC)
Rowan Law (Leander Club)
Josh Armstrong (Edinburgh University BC)
Matt Haywood (Nottingham RC)
Coach: Kieran Clark (Tideway Scullers School)
Lightweight men’s double sculls
James Temple (Edinburgh University BC)
Gavin Horsburgh (Edinburgh University BC)
Coach: Colin Williamson (Edinburgh University BC)
Lightweight men’s quadruple sculls
Dale Flockhart (Edinburgh University BC)
Seb Matthews (Leander Club)
James Stevenson (Newcastle University BC)
Dominic Jackson (Newcastle University BC)
Coach: Ciro Prisco (Newcastle University BC)
Men’s spare
George Bourne (Durham University BC)
Women’s
Women’s pair
Heidi Long (Marlow RC)
Hannah Scott (Leander Club)
Coach: Pete Sheppard (GB Rowing Team)
Women’s four
India Somerside (Edinburgh University BC)
Alice Bowyer (Reading RC)
Flo Donald (Leander Club)
Megan Slabbert (Molesey BC)
Coach: John Higson (Edinburgh University BC)
Women’s eight
Nuala Gannon (University of London BC)
Alex Rankin (Edinburgh University BC)
Meg Saunders (Tideway Scullers School)
Alice Davies (University of Bristol BC)
Eleanor Stewart (University of London BC)
Holly Dunford (Molesey BC)
Lauren Irwin (Durham University BC)
Sophia Heath (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Autumn Mackay (University of Birmingham BC)
Coach: Allan French (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Women’s single sculls
Ruth Siddorn (Leander Club)
Coach: Ross Hunter (Leander Club)
Women’s double sculls
Charlotte Hodgkins-Byrne (University of London BC)
Anna Thornton (Nottingham RC)
Coach: Lauren Fisher (GB Rowing Team)
Women’s quadruple sculls
Zoë Adamson (Leander Club)
Kyra Edwards (Nottingham RC)
Saskia Budgett (Tideway Scullers School)
Lucy Glover (Edinburgh University BC)
Coach: Lauren Fisher (GB Rowing Team)
Lightweight women’s single sculls
Imogen Grant (Cambridge University Women’s BC)
Coach: Rob Baker (Cambridge University Women’s BC)
Lightweight women’s double sculls
Susannah Duncan (Exeter University BC)
Danielle Semple (Exeter University BC)
Coach: Richard Tinkler (Exeter University BC)
