Bronze Medal Effort for Cochran and Watts

WAIS rowing scholarship holders Matthew Cochran and David Watts have earned bronze in the final of the men’s pair at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.

The Australian pair of Matthew Cochran and David Watts had the race of their life, finishing in 3:07.52 taking home bronze.

“We’ve been working so hard to get good results,” an elated and exhausted Cochran said.

The medal was the perfect end to great Youth Olympic campaign for the West Australian rowers.

“I couldn’t be happier,” David Watts said. “That was one of the best races we’ve put together. We stuck to the race plan and produced a medal. We’re really happy.”

Having dominated racing all week, and the recent Junior World Championships, the Greek pair of Michalis Nastopoulos and Apostolos Lampridis was tipped by all as the ones to beat.

“The Greeks came out strong from the start and we chased but we just couldn’t catch them,” Cochran said.

The Slovenian crew chased, and eventually caught the Greeks, crossing the line in first place with a scorching time of 3:05.65, edging them out by 1.2 seconds to grab gold.

– AOC