Australia picks World Champs team

Australian rowing has just finished a week that Australia’s high performance manager, Andrew Matheson, called a bit of a tweaking. Matheson commented that the majority of team decision making was made after results from racing at the Rowing World Cup series earlier this season.

A total of 50 athletes will compete in 15 crews when racing begins at Lake Karapiro on 31 October.

The large team includes the return of Duncan Free to the single. Free won Olympic gold in the pair with Drew Ginn at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but with Ginn recovering from surgery and Free’s most recent partner in the pair, Sam Conrad, also dealing with injury, Free found the single the most viable option. The 2010 World Rowing Championships will be Free’s first international race since the Beijing Olympics and sees the beginning of his build up towards the 2012 London Olympics.

Meanwhile, Ginn, who has had a stint at cycle racing following post-Beijing Olympic back surgery, has recently started rowing again and Matheson says Ginn is very much in the loop for future assessment.

Hannah Every-Hall and Alice McNamara remain in the lightweight women’s double scull and were pre-selected for this boat after winning the third stage of the 2010 Rowing World Cup in July. Every-Hall and McNamara are seen as the top medal prospects for the Australian team.

The men’s eight has been named as the priority men’s sweep boat with the Beijing silver medal four of Francis Hegerty, Cameron McKenzie-McHarg, James Marburg and Matthew Ryan being incorporated into the eight with the aim of keeping them ‘fresh’ for London 2012.

The women’s double scull is to be Kim Crow and Kerry Hore and they will double up to also race in the women’s quadruple scull where they will join Sally Kehoe and Brooke Pratley.

The crews will train with their coaches in different locations until 14 October when they will come together for a pre-World Championships camp at the Sydney International Regatta Centre. The team will fly to New Zealand on 26 October.

For a full team list of the Australian 2010 World Rowing Championships Team go to: http://www.rowingaustralia.com.au/news_latest-news.shtm#two

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