Men’s Four Claim Historic Gold Medal Win
The Australian men’s four crew have won world championship gold at the titles recently completed in Sarasota, USA.
The win – which included a gold medal for WA athlete Joshua Hicks – was Australia’s first in the men’s four in 26 years and was the culmination of a dominant final performance in which the quartet set up victory with an explosive opening 500m.
Rating at 43 strokes a minute, the Aussies established clear water over nearest rivals Italy and Great Britain and were never realistically threatened for gold from that point on, as they crossed home world champions in 5:55.240mins.
“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.
Western Australian rowers Cameron Fowler and James Kerr raced in the B Final of the men’s lightweight quad scull with Australia finishing sixth. This result saw Australia ranked 12th overall, with the world championship title won by France ahead of Great Britain and Greece.
- Photo: (c) Rowing Australia