Watts Fourth at World Rowing Cup 2 in Poland

Olympian David Watts has narrowly missed a medal in the men’s double scull at the World Rowing Cup 2 in Poznan, Poland.

Watts and his partner Luke Letcher had set the second fastest qualifying time in earning progression into the A-Final – where they eventually finished in fourth place behind race winners New Zealand. Norway and home-nation Poland rounded out the medal dais.

The Australians chased hard in the opening kilometre and held third place heading into the final 500m stretch. With New Zealand clear in front, Australia lost touch with Norway, leaving Poland to storm home for bronze – cheered on by a buoyant crowd.

Western Australia had two members of the men’s quad scull crew that finished fourth in the B-Final. James Kerr and Cam Fowler, teamed with Hamish Parry and Sean Murphy but were always up against it, racing in a heavyweight field, as opposed to their preferred lightweight class.

The Australian quad hovered between third and fourth throughout the race, but China held sway at the line, with first and second place taken by New Zealand and Great Britain crews respectively. 

The World Rowing Cup was a successful campaign for the Australian team, winning two gold medals, produced by the women’s and men’s four crews. It was part of an overall five medal effort for the Aussies, which Performance Director Bernard Savage declared a good indicator as the squad builds for this year’s world championships.

“We’ve had some good performances from a young group of athletes here at their first World Rowing Cup of the season,” he said.

“We will go back to Italy now to work on improving further on these results ahead of World Rowing Cup 3 in Lucerne and ultimately we’re looking to build towards even better results at the 2017 World Championships in the USA.”

-Photo copyright RowingAustralia