2016 Under 23 World Championships– Rotterdam, The Netherlands
In 2016 for the first time, the Under 23 World Championships were combined with the World Junior Championships and the non-Olympic senior World Championships. It was a great success.
The Championships were held between 21-26th August 2016.
Selection
Australian selection took place a few weeks after the Nationals in Penrith where most of the team was selected. Further trials were held in June to allow those athletes at American universities could attend.
The US-based Australians selected to the U23 Australian Women’s Eight include Stephanie Williams (Ohio State), Rachel Engel (Ohio State) and Jacinta Edmunds (UC Berkeley) and they will be joined in the crew by Australian-based athletes Katherine Michelmore (MUBC), Fiona Ewing (SUBC), Hedda Cooper (MUBC), Olivia Sibillin (Mercantile), Georgia Wheeler (Swan River) and coxswain Daniella Serra (Toowong).
The Men’s Coxed Four features Henry Youl from Tasmania, who will be joined by four US-based Australians in the form of Sam Hardy (Harvard), Texas Lawton (Northeastern), Jack Cleary (UC Berkeley) and coxswain Louis Copolov (Northeastern).
Harley Moore (QLD) had to withdraw from the men's eight during training through injury and was replaced by Alex Purnell (NSW).
Medal rankings
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Netherlands | 3 | 2 | 5 | |
| 2 | Germany | 2 | 4 | 3 | 9 |
| 3 | Italy | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
| 4 | Great Britain | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| 5 | USA | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| 6 | New Zealand | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| =7 | Poland | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| =7 | Switzerland | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 9 | Australia | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Full medal standings can be found on this link.
Daily Results
Results - Men
Comments on racing come from the Rowing Australia website.
The Australian crew of Tom Schramko, Luke Letcher, Caleb Antill and Rob Black had earned a small lead off the start, and first to the 500m mark was Australia with Poland and Germany right there. Through the middle of the race Australia held the lead with New Zealand now moving up. The crowd was on their feet as crews closed on Australia. Australia still had the lead, but New Zealand was absolutely flying. Poland had no answer and were now under threat from Italy. In a photo finish Australia had scored gold by just 0.41 of a second in one of the best races of the day.
Rob Black from the Under 23 Men’s Quad commented to World Rowing after the race: “We knew that Poland was going to go out fast in the start, but we focused on a fast rhythm at 38. We really worked on getting out front in the first thousand and stay focused on us. It was just a beautiful rhythm. All the other crews really came for us!”. The Antonio Maurogiovanni coached crew became Australia’s first Under 23 World Champions since the Women’s Four in 2013, a fantastic result!
After comfortably winning their heat on the first day of competition the crew of Jack Cleary, Texas Lawton, Sam Hardy, Henry Youl and Louis Copolov, coached by Zoltan Shepherd, went into the race as one of the favourites. They showed this was a worthy tag as they lay down the gauntlet to all other crews with a slender lead for the first three quarters of the race. Both the Italian and New Zealand crews were not to be denied at the end however, and with a finish that had the crowd in the grandstand on their feet all three crews swept to the line with the Aussies desperately trying to hold their lead. In the end New Zealand emerged as the victors, less than a second ahead of Italy with Australia just 0.6 seconds behind. A well deserved bronze medal was won as most of the crew looking ahead now to their US College season.
In the B final, the Men’s Eight came out fighting, and in a much improved race from the semi-final defeated their rivals from Russia and the USA to finish second, and eight in the overall rankings.
Men's Lightweight Double Scull
The Australian lightweight quad fought out a very close final B with only three seconds separating second place to fifth place. As the dust settled after the drive to the line the Australian’s were judged in fourth, and tenth place in the overall rankings.
Australian team
Men's Quad Scull - Gold
Bow: Robert Black (NSW)
2: Caleb Antill (ACT)
3: Luke Letcher (ACT)
Str: Thomas Schramko (NSW)
Cch: Antonio Maurogiovanni (WA)
Men's Coxed Four - Bronze
Bow: Jack Cleary (WA)
2: Texas Lawton (QLD)
3: Sam Hardy (NSW)
Str: Henry Youl (TAS)
Cox: Louis Copolov (VIC)
Cch: Zoltan Shepherd (QLD)
Men's Eight - Eighth
Bow: Oliver Smith (QLD)
2: Nicholas Pettigrew (QLD)
3: Callum Nott (VIC)
4: Tom Hunt (VIC)
5: Alexander Purnell (NSW)
6: Darcy Wruck (QLD)
7: Angus Widdicombe (VIC)
Str: Liam Donald (VIC)
Cox: Franc Gourlas (NSW)
Cch: Simon Gadsden (VIC)
Men's Lightweight Quad Scull - Tenth
Bow: Mitchell Boros (WA)
2: Hugo Berry (VIC)
3: James Kerr (WA)
Str: James Chuter (NSW)
Cch: Jamie Hewlett (WA)
Women's Scull - Fifth
Cara Grzeskowiak (ACT)
Cch: Vicky Spencer (ACT)
Women's Quad Scull - Sixth
Bow: Bridget Badenoch (SA)
2: Caitlin Cronin (QLD)
3: Tessa Carty(QLD)
Str: Rowena Meredith (NSW)
Cch: Ben Southwell (QLD)
Women's Eight - Fifth
Bow: Hedda Cooper (VIC)
2: Olivia Sibillin (VIC)
3: Fiona Ewing (NSW)
4: Jacinta Edmunds (QLD)
5: Georgia Wheeler (WA)
6: Katherine Michelmore (VIC)
7: Rachel Engel (VIC)
Str: Stephanie Williams (TAS)
Cox: Daniella Serra (QLD)
Cch: Annabelle Eaton (VIC)
Women's Lightweight Double Scull - Fifth
Bow: Alice Arch (VIC)
Str: India McKenzie (VIC)
Cch: Bert Cocu (VIC)
Results - Women
A similar race to the women's eight was raced by Cara Grzeskowiak in the Under 23 Women’s Single Scull; her coach Vicky Spencer would have had high hopes as Cara was improving her position and moving through the field through the middle of the race, but the push from the leading three scullers from Lithuania, Sweden and Germany was too great and Cara crossed the line in fifth place, a great learning experience in her first Australian Under 23 team.
The crew of Tessa Carty, Rowena Meredith, Caitlin Cronin, Bridget Badenoch and Ben Southwell were looking to replicate the silver won in this boat class in 2015. A medal looked in reach after going through the 500m in fourth just over a second behind Germany in third, however a tough campaign looked to have caught up with them and they faded towards the end of the 2000m to finish ranked sixth in the world.
The Australian eight of Hedda Cooper, Olivia Sibillin, Fiona Ewing, Jacinta Edmunds, Georgia Wheeler, Katherine Mitchelmore Rachel Engel, Stephanie Williams and cox Daniella Serra were always going to be under pressure from an electric USA crew, and so it proved with the USA dominating from start to finish. The final margin to second was a huge 8 seconds, and the Annabelle Eaton-coached Australians fought hard to move from sixth after the first 500m to fifth into the last 500m. The gap to make up into a medal position was sadly too great and they remained in fifth, a great effort after only coming together in July.
Women's Lightweight Double Scull
The Dutch and New Zealand crews had placed a dead heat for the win in the semi-final and would prove to again be the pace setters. The Australians were left behind off the start but staged a great fight back in the second half of the race to overtake the German’s and push hard at the Chinese. In the end the Chinese just pipped out for fourth by just 0.03 seconds, with Australia in a very commendable fifth.