FISU World University Championships Report
It was a successful weekend for BROOKES|Rowing athletes, where 10 athletes raced at the World University Championships (FISU) which took place in Shanghai, China.
The Men’s Eight, consisting of Harry Brightmore, Henry Swarbrick, Michael Glover and Matt Hnatiw faced competition from the USA, Poland, Italy, China and the Netherlands. They won the race for lanes and replicated that race in the final, leading from start to finish in a time of 5:38 to win the gold medal.
The Men’s Four included Rory Gibbs and Morgan Bolding. They were joined by Matt Benstead and Oli Wilkes, the latter of whom raced in the Ladies Plate as part of a Brookes/Edinburgh composite at Henley Royal Regatta this year. A technical fault meant they had to go through Saturday’s repechage to progress to the A-final. However, this didn’t phase them and they led crews from Italy and Switzerland to win the final by 2 seconds.
The Women’s Pair, featuring Susie Dear, faced China, Italy and Australia in their heat, with one crew progressing to the final. Finishing in 2nd position, this crew also progressed to the final through the repechage. A superb second 1000m from the pair brought them ahead of Italy to clinch the silver medal by less than a second.
In the lightweight events, Alex Styles raced in the Women’s Double and Ben Reeves in the Men’s Double. Both crews progressed to the final through the repechage, finishing in 6th place overall.
Quentin Antognelli, representing Monaco, featured in the Men’s Single Scull event. A strong first 500 left him in 2nd position, but late charges from the crews from Finland, Italy and Germany meant he had to settle for 6th position.
With just four weeks until the returning squad begins training for the 2018-19 season, we are very excited to welcome new athletes to the club. If you have an offer for Oxford Brookes or are still considering options for the future, please fill in this form, and a member of the coaching team will be in touch.
Full results can be found at here.