Australia claims four medals at junior championships

Saturday 8 August 2009

Australia capped off a sensational World Junior Rowing Championships by winning four medals in Brive la Gaillarde, France.

In warm conditions Australia won a gold medal, two silvers and a bronze in the four finals they contested.

Anna Kaszycki (QLD), Hannah Vermeesch (QLD), Peta White (SA) and Jessica Molsher- Jones (SA) won the gold medal in the women's four after a commanding row in the final.

They were the quickest qualifiers for the final from their heat on the opening day and always looked in control of the final, leading from start to finish.

The girls broke out to over a second lead after the first 500m over Great Britain and extended this during the middle part of the race.

The Australian girls, cheered on by their support crew, powered to the line to win in a time of 6:48.18, three seconds clear of Great Britain with China claiming the bronze medal.

Stroke of the women’s four crew, Jessica Molsher-Jones, was ecstatic with the performance after the race.

“We have been training really hard for this and we were able to pull off a great race on the day,” she said. “We didn’t expect to have such a good lead through the first 500m but were able to build on it and had over a boat length over Great Britain at the line. It is a great feeling.”

The men’s coxed four of Angus Moore (ACT), Joshua Hicks (WA), Samuel Collins (WA) and Thomas Amies (QLD), coxed by Nicholas Allen-Ducat (QLD), won silver to continue the strong Australian results on finals day.

Germany was in control of the race, building to a three quarter boat length lead through 1000m, while Australia and Italy had a tussle all the way down the course, racing bow ball to bow ball over the closing stages.

Australia held a canvas lead over Italy with 300 metres remaining and fought bravely to hold off the notoriously fast finishing Italian crew on the line by just under half a second in a time of 6:22.44.

The Australian women’s quad scull also claimed a silver medal after leading the field through the first 1000m.

Jessica Hall (QLD), Maddie Edmunds (QLD), Amy Fowler (ACT) and Alexandra Hagan (WA) were unable to hold off the fast finishing Chinese crew who led through the last 500m and recorded a 1.5 second victory.

Australia crossed the line in a time of 6:37.52, with New Zealand only 0.15 seconds behind in bronze position.

The Australian junior men’s four won a bronze medal behind Great Britain and Romania.

Daniel Brighthope (VIC), Michael Poulter (VIC), Thomas Chapman (TAS) and Tom Gatti (WA) were in second place through the 1000m mark but were overtaken by the Romanians in the third quarter of the race. Australia crossed the line in a time of 6:08.29.

The junior men's quad scull finished third in the B final to round out their regatta.

Louis Snelson (NSW), Cameron Smith (QLD), Benjamin Morley (QLD) and David Prosser (WA) only missed out on the A Final by nine hundredths of a second last night in one of the strongest fields the junior world championships has ever witnessed.

In the B Final Australia held third place through all 500m splits to complete the race in a time of 6:06.71. This left them four second adrift of the Italian crew, with the Netherlands finishing second.

National High Performance Director Andrew Matheson said the results were great for Australian rowing.

“We sent our junior crews to Europe with an aim to be successful and to win four medals is an outstanding achievement,” Matheson said. “All of the squad have come a long way this year and have bright futures ahead of them.”

For more information please call David Polglase on 0401 453 041

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