Five Queenslanders Named in European World Cup Tour
Tue, 04/05/2010 - 15:31
The Rowing Australia Board has approved a squad of 39 athletes to contest World Cup 2 and 3 as the 2010 National Selection Trials concluded at the Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith.
Australia will send crews to World Cup 2 (Munich, Germany) and World Cup 3 (Lucerne, Switzerland) on a four week tour of Europe, before the squad returns to Australia to continue preparations ahead of the 2010 World Rowing Championships in New Zealand (October 31–November 7).
The two men’s sculling boats threw up a number of potential combinations, with the selectors able to choose two strong crews. Daniel Noonan (NSW), David Crawshay (VIC), Karsten Forsterling (VIC) and Chris Morgan (SA) will form the men’s quad scull crew, while Jared Bidwell (QLD - UQBC/AIS) and Danjels Reedman (NSW) will combine in the men’s double scull, with Bidwell looking to back up from his 2009 World Championship silver medal as part of the Men's Quad.
2004 Junior Women’s Single Scull world champion, Sally Kehoe (QLD - Sydney Uni/AIS), will get her chance to row the boat at senior level for the first time, while Hannah Every-Hall (QLD - Dutton Park/QAS) will continue her incredible comeback to competitive rowing by teaming up with Alice McNamara (VIC) to form the women’s lightweight double scull. Michael McBryde (UQBC/QAS) also makes a comeback to the Australian squad in one of two lightweight coxless fours travelling to Europe. Ray Ebert will once again be the Australian team manager.
Rowing Australia High Performance Director Andrew Matheson says that there were a number of difficult decisions to make.
“Across the week of trials we had a number of athletes put their hands up and push for selection across all boat categories,” Matheson said. “We have developed a good talent pool of rowers for the current Olympic cycle and we believe that this squad will serve us well for the two World Cups in Europe.”
Meanwhile Matheson said there was still the chance for a number of other athletes to come back into the selection race for the World Championships.
“A number of athletes were unable to make the World Cup tour due to injuries or personal commitments and these athletes will have the chance to trial in August,” Matheson said. Queensland Beijing Olympians Duncan Free and Sam Conrad fall into that category and will trial for places in August to qualify for the World Championships team.
As part of the same announcement, eight crews were named in the Australian Under 23 World Championships team, which will compete at the 2010 Under 23 World Championships in Brest, Belarus in July. Five Queenslanders will travel as members of that team, including Scott Laidler (UQBC) and Mark Alexander (UQBC) in the Men's Eight; Gabby Kukla (Bris GPS) looking to repeat her medal-winning performance in 2009 as a member of the Women's Lightweight Quad and Adam Kachyckyj (Commercial) in the Men's Lightweight Double, which will be based in Brisbane and coached by John Bowes (Commercial).
The 2010 Australian Rowing Team will depart for Europe on Sunday 13 June to compete in World Cup 2 and 3.
Download the team lists:
