Australia claimed three gold medals in a fantastic final day of racing at the World Cup II regatta in Italy on Sunday.
The Women’s Coxless Pair, Para Mixed Double sculls and Women’s Eight all won their finals, while strong racing also delivered silvers in the Women’s Single Scull, Men’s Eight and Men’s Coxless Four, plus two bronze medals in the Men’s Coxless Pair and Women’s Coxless Four.
Annabelle McIntyre and Jess Morrison claimed Australia’s first gold with a cool-headed win over the USA and Spain in the Coxless Pair. In a reunion for the duo, who won gold together at the Tokyo Olympics in Australia’s Women’s Coxless Four lineup, McIntyre said it was exciting to be back together.
“We had something special going in the last cycle and it’s really exciting to be able to work on that again,” she said.
Morrison said her focus was on staying “relaxed and calm” in her calling. “Trying to keep breathing, and let Annabelle do her best in her rhythm and just try to follow that.”
Jed Altschwager and Nikki Ayers were next, beating a fast-starting Brazil and Ukraine to win gold in the PPR3 Mixed Double. Altschwager said keeping a cool head helped the pair chase down Brazil.
“We knew they were going to be there in the first 500m or first kilometre, but we also knew where our strength was, later in the race,” he said. “I said it when we got over the finish line, we just kept cool heads, Nikki’s calls were really good, it was just on process.”
Ayers added: “We just stuck to our race plan, backed each other up, and had fun out there. That was the key.”
Australia’s Women’s Eight were also triumphant, beating Great Britain and Canada to claim gold. Speaking on behalf of Lily Alton-Triggs, Paige Barr, Georgie Gleeson, Olympia Aldersey, Jacqueline Swick, Molly Goodman, Bronwyn Cox and cox Hayley Verbunt, Georgina Rowe said the crew executed on the day.
“We had three really clear focuses for our season, not just today, and we went out there and just executed that and stuck to our race plan,” Rowe said.
“We’ve still got a lot to learn and a lot to improve on but we had a cracking start.
“It’s easy to win a race from the front and it’s also pretty easy to lose one as well. The girls did a really good job to hold onto that lead and try to push away. If you watch the race you can see the British crew and the Canadian crew come back at us and we all just did a really good job to stay internal, push away and focus on what we were doing.”
Tara Rigney claimed silver in the Women’s Single Scull, as did Alex Purnell, Spencer Turrin, Jack Hargreaves and Alexander Hill in the Men’s Coxless Four, and the Men’s Eight, crewed by Joshua Hicks, Patrick Holt, Timothy Masters, James Robertson, Simon Keenan, Benjamin Canham, Angus Widdicombe, Jackson Kench, and cox Kendall Brodie.
Angus Dawson and Jack O’Brien won bronze in the men’s Coxless Pair and Giorgia Patten, Katrina Werry, Sarah Hawe and Lucy Stephan claimed bronze in the Women’s Coxless Four.
Some of the crews will now look to the Henley Royal Regatta in England and World Cup III in Lucerne, Switzerland, to continue their journey leading into Olympic qualification at this year’s World Championships in Serbia, in September.
