Olympic rower James Chapman has today formally announced his retirement from rowing. Chapman represented Australia at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic Games, as well as at multiple World Rowing Championships and World Rowing Cups.
 
The 38-year-old Chapman, who with Josh Dunkley-Smith, Will Lockwood and Drew Ginn won silver at the London 2012 OIympic Games in the Men’s Coxless Four, competed most recently in the Australian Men’s Eight at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne in 2016 but has made the decision to retire from the sport.
 
“I have been part of the senior Australian Rowing Team for over 15 years. The time was right to retire. The sport, and its community, has been a monumental part of my life and who I am today…more than just an athlete, but part of the wider sporting community which can add, support, enable and provide so much to family, mates and teammates.
 
“The decision was an easy one to make with what I achieved in the sport. I now want to focus on being able to contribute to the wider community. As some incredible, influential and generous coaches and bosses did with me, I will share some of the lessons, frameworks and experiences I have had from striving to be the best athlete I can be so that others may be able to discover new limits in their own capabilities.”
 
Chapman represented Australia at 15 World Rowing Cups and seven World Rowing Championships and of course two Olympic Games. Born in New South Wales, Chapman rowed out of Sydney Rowing Club, UTS Rowing Club and Mosman Rowing Club with the support of the New South Wales Institute of Sport and the Australian Institute of Sport. He continues to be involved with the sport mentoring younger athletes both at a domestic, university and international level.
 
“I have to thank everyone who has been so supportive of my rowing career, the coaches, the older athletes before me who set a high standard, my mates around me who challenged and encouraged me, as well as NSWIS and the AIS for their support. I should also thank those that weren’t so supportive, as they set the challenge for me to prove to myself what I could achieve.
 
“I would also like to thank Rowing Australia and all those involved in the Australian Rowing Team over the last 15 years for their support. I also would like to thank my incredibly supportive and understanding family. Without their unwavering support when I needed a lift or a couch to crash on, both literally and metaphorically, I would not have been able to row for Australia for as long as I did.”
 
Rowing Australia President, Rob Scott, said: “James was an integral member of Australia’s men’s sweep group for many years, whilst also being a wonderful leader and role model within the Australian Rowing Team. His performances on the world stage speak for themselves, but I am certain he has no prouder moment than winning silver at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
 
“The athletes of the Australian Rowing Team have been lucky enough to have James represent their interests on the RA Athletes’ Commission and he has been a wonderful role model over the years to many Australian rowers and continues to be a great leader in our sport. We are eager for him to still be involved with rowing and hope he can contribute to our current and future athletes in a mentoring role.”

Australian Erik Horrie was today crowned World Champion in the PR1 Men’s Single Scull (M1x) at the 2017 World Rowing Championships. The para-rower not only claimed the first PR1 M1x World Championship title raced over 2000 metres, but also set a new World’s Best Time after crossing the line in a time of 9 minutes 39 seconds.
 
The Women’s Double Scull of Madeleine Edmunds and Olympia Aldersey won a bronze medal after a powerful race for the line in their final. It is Edmunds first senior World Championships medal and Aldersey’s second.
 
Australia concludes the 2017 World Rowing Championships having won six medals in 10 boat classes. Winning three gold medals (M4-, W4- and PR1 M1x), two silver medals (M2+ and LW4x) and one bronze medal (W2x), the Australian Rowing Team finished third on the World Championships medal table, with Italy topping the table, followed by New Zealand.
 
Performance Director, Bernard Savage said: “This a positive start to the new Olympic and Paralympic cycle. For the team to have achieved six medals, including three golds is a good boost for our young team as we continue to develop our National Training Centres and CampaignNumberOne.
 
“There are a lot of positives for us to build on and we’re delighted for all our medallists, including our three new World Champions.”
 
A late lane re-draw due to the forecast of cross wind saw Horrie moved into Lane 5 for his final taking on Paralympic Champion, Roman Polianskyi and an in form Russian Alexey Chuvashev. All three athletes came out of the start firing and the battle for the gold was inevitably to be between these three athletes.
 
As the crews crossed the halfway mark, Chuvashev’s stamina began to falter and Polianskyi and Horrie took the reins. As the two crossed the 1500m mark, Horrie made his move on the Ukrainian and began to sprint for the line. With Polianskyi running out steam, Horrie powered through to gold and his fourth World Championship title.
 
The 37-year-old was delighted to have raced internationally over 2000m, saying: “It’s something I’ve been wanting for a while now it’s just a great opportunity. I think the racing is just going to get faster and faster and I think the times will come down a lot more in the lead up to Tokyo.”
 
Horrie’s family had flown over to Florida to watch the four-time World Champion race internationally for the first time and the Australian admitted that their presence had helped him power over the line.
 
“It meant everything to have my partner Michelle, and our three children, here at the World Championships for the first time ever to support me. I think maybe in that last 250 metres, when there was nothing left in the tank and it was really hurting, the support of the crowd, the whole Australian Rowing Team and my family got me over that line,” admitted the two-time Paralympic silver medallist.
 
Madeleine Edmunds and Olympia Aldersey were drawn in Lane 4 in their final and were the fastest crew out of the start and were the first to cross the 500 metre line with New Zealand and the USA in hot pursuit; just a second separated the entire field.
 
New Zealand’s Brooke Donoghue and Olivia Loe then did a push through the 750m mark and by the half way point the order had changed, with New Zealand in the lead with Australia right on their tails and the USA holding suit. With the wind switching to tail, the crews pulled into the final 250 metres and the sprint for the line began with New Zealand crossing in first, USA second and Australia taking third.
 
Edmunds admitted that winning her first senior World Championships medal was a fantastic feeling. “It still feels a little bit surreal, it’s one of those races where I don’t really know what I did but we really executed it well and we trusted each other to do what we needed to do and you can’t not be happy with that.
 
“Post-Olympic year, the quality of the racing here at the World Championships has been great. All the racing has been so close here, so it’s exciting to see what will happen over the next four years,” said Edmunds.
 
Aldersey, whose last senior World Championships medal was in the Women’s Double in 2014 added: “I think getting the medal for this year was a good outcome and looking at our progression through the regattas this year it’s great to see that what we’ve been working on has paid off.
 
“I think today was one of our best races. It has showed us that the work we’ve done on improving the backend of our race helped us to win a medal.”
 
The Men’s Eight raced their B-Final earlier in the day, finishing second to Great Britain. The young crew, with eight senior team debutantes, gained invaluable experience and conclude their regatta ranked eighth in the world.

 
 

Australia’s Men’s and Women’s Fours were crowned World Champions today at the 2017 World Rowing Championships in Sarasota, Florida. The Men’s Four ended a 26-year drought by winning Australia’s first World Championships in the boat class since 1991, while the Women’s Four have claimed the first World Championship title of their boat class since it was added to the Olympic program earlier this year.
 
The Men’s Four started Australia’s golden morning in Sarasota, taking on reigning World and Olympic Champions Great Britain, as well as an in-form Italy in what was to be one of the top races of the day. Australia flew out of the start; rating at 43 strokes per minute with 500 metres gone and put themselves well at the front of the pack as the race progressed.
 
Taking a clear water advantage over Italy and Great Britain, their closest rivals, the crew stroked by Alexander Hill were the fastest boat on the water. As Hill, with Jack Hargreaves, Spencer Turrin and Joshua Hicks upped the rating to go for the line, the Italians followed suit but they had run out of water, Australia had crossed the line in first to claim gold.
 
“It means a hell of a lot to be crowned a World Champion. I came pretty close to winning an U23 World Championship and I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet that we have won, it’s amazing,” admitted Jack Hargreaves.
 
An emotional Spencer Turrin said post-race: “It means heaps to me, I’ve been trying for a long time to try and win something so this feels really good. To get something back after last year’s disappointing result in the Men’s Pair in Rio, this feels really good.
 
“It’s been the best year of rowing I have had in terms of the vibe around the place [the National Training Centre]. It has been a really enjoyable year and to have been able to do something that nobody has been able to do since 1991 is really good,” said Turrin who was born the same year that Australia last won a Men’s Four World Championship.
 
2016 Rio Olympic silver medallist in the Men’s Four, Alexander Hill, admitted the crew’s win would not have happened without the support of Men’s Head Coach, Ian Wright.
 
“I’ve had a fair few second places so it feels great to have won gold. This group of guys have made it easy for me this year as you know they’ll turn up to training and give it their all, you know what you’re going to expect from them. With that comes consistency and with a new coach in Ian, it has been absolutely unbelievable for us.
 
“We back him to the hilt and we believe in everything he says, as a crew and team we have full buy in which makes it easy to do what you have to do for the team,” admitted Hill.

The Women’s Four have not lost a race this season and today was to be no different for the crew of Molly Goodman, Sarah Hawe, Katrina Werry and Lucy Stephan. The Netherlands had other plans in mind and were the fastest out of the start in the final, leading over the USA, while Australia sat back in fifth place as the crews crossed the 500-metre marker.
 
Australia are known for making their move in the second half of their races and began to push on the Dutch and were joined by Poland and Russia who were all challenging for the podium. In the final sprint, Stephan called to Goodman to up the rating and the crew responded, upping to 43, with Australia surging into the lead to claim gold, followed by Poland and Russia.
 
Sarah Hawe last represented Australia in 2005 in the Junior Australian Rowing Team and the Tasmanian was delighted to walk away with her first Senior World Championship title. “It’s incredible to have won today. You get that sniff of international competition as a junior and then I had a big break away but I always had that urge in the back of my head to keep rowing and sort of knew I had the goods to do it, so now it feels good to show everyone that it can be done,” said the 30-year-old.
 
The youngest athlete in the crew, Katrina Werry, admitted the crew remained focused on their race alone and not on what was going on around them.
 
“It was such an amazing race, we stuck to our roles and just stayed internal to the boat, we weren’t panicked at all. We knew we had to do what we do best and while our legs were tired we knew we had enough and we trusted the training, and everything we have done in the last six months, to come through for each other and we did just that,” said Werry.
 
Lucy Stephan added that today’s win was a great base for Australia’s women sweep rowers to grow on.  “It’s pretty amazing, I’m still in shock. I knew we could do it but it really is an amazing feeling. It now up to us to keep building on the base we’ve created. This win has provided a great opportunity for women’s sweep moving forward and it’s really exciting,” said the Victorian-born athlete.
 
The Women’s Quadruple Scull, all four of whom have won U23 silver medals in the boat class, took on USA, Great Britain, Netherlands, Poland and Germany. The young crew took on a tightly packed field and were fourth at the halfway mark with Poland in the lead followed by The Netherlands. As the crews sprinted for the line, Australia had dropped back in the field with the crew, featuring three senior team debutantes, finishing in sixth.
 
Australia currently sits second on the World Rowing Championships medal table, behind Italy, with two more A-Finals to come tomorrow. Defending World Champion in the PR1 Men’s Single Scull, Erik Horrie, will race tomorrow morning followed by Madeleine Edmunds and Olympia Aldersey in the Women’s Double Scull.
 
Australian Rowing Team Finals at 2017 World Rowing Championships – 1 October 1, 2017
B-Final – Men’s Eight – 09:25 local time (00:25 AEST - 2 October)
A-Final – PR1 Men’s Single Scull – 09:53 local time (00:53 AEST - 2 October)
A-Final – Women’s Double Scull – 10:27 local time (01:27 AEST - 2 October)

 

All races can be live-streamed via www.worldrowing.com
 


 

The Australian Lightweight Women’s Quadruple Scull and the Men’s Coxed Pair have won silver medals at the 2017 World Rowing Championships in Sarasota, Florida.  
 
Angus Widdicombe, Darcy Wruck and coxswain James Rook won their first senior World Championship medals after finishing in second place in their A-Final, while Georgia Nesbitt, Georgia Miansarow, Alice Arch and Amy James claimed silver in their A-Final at Nathan Bederson Park.
 
Earlier in the day, Erik Horrie progressed to the A-Final of the PR1 Men’s Single Scull after winning his semi-final, while Madeleine Edmunds and Olympia Aldersey finished second in their semi-final to book a spot in Sunday’s A-Final.
 
The Men’s Coxed Pair were the first Australians to take to the water in an A-Final at the 2017 World Rowing Championships. The race favourites were no doubt Great Britain who have won this event for the last two years; however, Wruck, Widdicombe and Rook had other plans in mind.
 
The young crew, competing in their first senior World Rowing Championships, shot out of the start to take an early lead that by the halfway mark was a clear water advantage over their closest rivals. As the crews came into the final 500 metres, the race flipped around with Hungary sprinting up on the outside to overtake both Great Britain and Germany and nipping on the heels of the Australians.
 
As the crews surged for the line, Hungary pulled ahead of the Australian crew to take gold, with the Australians taking home the team’s first medal of the event, a silver.
 
Post-race, coxswain James Rook said: “Coming through the race we didn’t know where we were going to sit and coming out of the 500m we found ourselves ahead and we went for it right to the line but credit to Hungary, they did a great job.
 
“I think this was a big effort for the guys. They’ve done a lot of hard training and it’s paid off, silver at a World Championships isn’t too bad for a group of guys who have never been to a senior World Championships before!”
 
Australia’s Lightweight Women’s Quadruple Scull had won World Rowing Cup 3 in a blistering pace and in today’s A-Final Amy James, Alice Arch, Georgia Miansarow and Georgia Nesbitt went all out again in a bid to claim the World Championship title. The Italians, who are also the U23 World Champions in this boat class, were the crew Australia needed to keep an eye out for, alongside an in form China.
 
As the crews approached the halfway mark, China and Italy were battling it out for first and second, while Australia, stroked by Nesbitt, began to make their move on the tightly packed group, with only two seconds separating the top five boats. As Italy pulled ahead in the final quarter, Australia began to charge, overtaking China and going after Italy but it was the Italians who claimed gold, with Australia taking silver and China bronze.
 
Alice Arch, making her senior team debut said: “I’m stoked. We are obviously disappointed that we didn’t get gold as that was our goal, but we’re really happy as a crew to have won silver today.”
 
Georgia Miansarow said she had enjoyed racing with the crew this year: “We’ve had a great time training in the quad this season. While we’re pretty disappointed to come away with a silver and not gold, we will keep on fighting for the next year, it’s been a great campaign.”
 
Miansarow’s words were echoed by senior team debutant Amy James, who added: “We’ve come a long way, had some great sessions, and racing, as well as having had a lot of fun along the way. It has shown us how hard we can work and what we can do together as a crew, we’ve loved racing together this season.”

To continue reading about the semi-finals and other Australian Rowing Team races from today at the 2017 World Rowing Championships, please click here.

Race times for Australian Rowing Team crews for Saturday 30 September
A-Final – Men’s Four – 11:23 local time (01:23 AEST – 1 October)
A-Final – Women’s Four – 11:38 local time (01:38 AEST – 1 October)
A-Final – Women’s Quadruple Scull – 11:53 local time (01:53 AEST – 1 October)
 

All races can be live-streamed via www.worldrowing.com
 

 

 
Australia’s Men’s Four are within touching distance of a World Rowing Championship title after winning their semi-final today (28 September) at the 2017 World Rowing Championships here in Florida. The crew of Joshua Hicks, Spencer Turrin, Jack Hargreaves and Alex Hill qualified fastest for Saturday’s final after a convincing win at Nathan Bederson Park.
 
The Lightweight Men’s Quadruple Scull finished sixth in their semi-final and will now contest the B-Final tomorrow, while the young Men’s Eight finished fourth in their repechage after a valiant race to make the A-Final. The Men’s Eight will now race a B-Final on Sunday.
 
The Men’s Four needed a top three finish in their semi-final to progress to Saturday’s A-Final. The Australians were drawn in Lane 4, alongside Denmark, with both crews marked as favourites to progress to the A-Final. While Germany had the fastest start, it was Australia that took the early lead as the boats crossed the 500-metre marker.
 
Hill, Hargreaves, Turrin and Hicks then pulled clean away from the rest of the field and by the 1000 metre point had a clear water advantage. The Australians continued to surge ahead of the pack and crossed the line in first, in a time of 5 minutes 55 seconds, with Denmark second and Germany third.
 
The crew will now contest Saturday’s final, in a bid to win Australia’s first Men’s Four World Championship title in 26 years. Australia were last crowned World Champions in the Men’s Four at the 1991 World Rowing Championships in Vienna, when Nick Green, Andrew Cooper, Mike McKay and James Tomkins won gold.
 
Joshua Hicks, who was born in April of 1991, said post-race that the crew were full focused on the final: “We’re very process orientated and focused on doing what our coach [Ian Wright] tells us and executing his vision and plan.
 
“It’s been different for me this year as in 2015 and 2016 I fulfilled the role of a reserve, where you learn a lot about the importance of adapting your individual aspirations to fit in the team’s needs. To now be on the other side, in a crew, has been unusual for me, but the people in four are experienced and good to work with, I’m enjoying it.”
 
Hicks, a graduate of Harvard University in 2013, is enjoying being back in Sarasota, where he competed when in college. “The facilities are outstanding here, the way they’ve responded to the adverse weather events earlier in the month is remarkable and the hospitality has been second to none. This was my first time rowing on this course, when I was here it was still under construction, and it’s been great,” said the West Australian.
 
As temperatures reached 32 degrees, the Lightweight Men’s Quadruple Scull took to the placid waters of Nathan Bederson Park. Drawn in Lane 1, Cameron Fowler, Redmond Matthews, James Kerr and Hamish Parry need a top three finish to qualify for the A-Final.
 
The young crew flew out of the start and tussled with the field, however it was France who took an early lead and Australia were left to fight it out with Germany and Austria further down the pack. The young crew, who are aged between 23 and 25, ultimately finished in sixth place to now context the B-Final tomorrow morning.  
 
The Men’s Eight repechage saw Australia’s crew in Lane 2, in a race that required them to finish top two to ensure they made it into A-Final. It was the USA and New Zealand who showed their hand first, with Australia’s young coxswain, James Rook, calling on his crew to dig deep and chase them down as the big boats surged for the halfway point.
 
Australia’s Eight began to push on the Polish crew that sat in third as they cross the 1500-metre marker, but the Poles pushed ahead nipping at the New Zealand and USA boats. As the crews crossed the line, it was USA and New Zealand that finished first and second, qualifying for the A-Final, with the Australians finishing in fourth in a time of 5 minutes 40 seconds.
 
Having finished in fifth place in the Men’s Double Scull repechage yesterday, David Watts and Luke Letcher contested the C/D semi-final today in Florida. The young duo finished second in the race and progress to Friday’s C final.

Australian Rowing Team race times for Friday 29 September
B-Final – Lightweight Men’s Quadruple Scull – 09:15 local time (23:15 AEST)
A/B Semi-Final – PR1 Men’s Single Scull – 09:55 local time (23:55 AEST)
A/B Semi-Final – Women’s Double Scull – 10:35 local time (00:35 AEST – 30 September)
A-Final – Men’s Coxed Pair – 11:45 local time (01:45 AEST – 30 September)
A-Final – Lightweight Women’s Quadruple Scull – 13:00 local time (03:00 AEST – 30 September)
C-Final – Men’s Double Scull – 14:15 local time (04:15 AEST – 30 September)

All races can be live-streamed via www.worldrowing.com
 

A full list of Australian crews competing at the World Championships can be found here on the RA website, along with a media guide.