WA Rowers Earn Medals at World Cup II

WA rowers have shared in a successful World Cup II campaign for the Australian Rowing Team in Austria.

There were medals for Joshua Hicks in the men’s four and Hannah Vermeersch in the women’s eight crew whilst David Watts and the men’s quad finished fourth.

The Australian team returned two gold medals and two bronze medals across the A-Finals action, which completed a strong first international outing for the representative team in 2018.

Hicks and the reigning World Champion Australian men’s four crew produced a dominant display to lead from start to finish in their gold medal win in Linz.

The four were being challenged at the half-way mark but upped their stroke rate in the closing kilometre to win clear of Romania by over a boat length.

Vermeersch and the Australian women’s eight earned a bronze medal in their A-Final race which was won by the Netherlands.

The Australians held an early advantage but saw the Dutch overtake followed by New Zealand. With a number of crews challenging for third place, the Australians held firm to clinch the final spot on the podium.

Watts and the Australian quad scull crew put in a strong effort in their final, but missed out on a medal, by a mere 0.78 of a second.

They’ll look to make up that margin at World Cup III which is hosted in Lucerne from July 13.

Photo: Copyright of Rowing Australia