Victoria Meyer-Laker

Rower // Women's Squad
Date of Birth: 18th Mar 1988 (36 years old)
Club: Leander Club
Height: 191.00
Hometown: Premnay

Victoria Meyer-Laker profile image

Vicki Meyer-Laker was selected as the women's open-weight spare for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Victoria Meyer-Laker went to Rio on a family holiday in 2009, three years after taking up rowing as a fresher at Nottingham University and at the end of her first season in the GB Rowing Team.

Vicki returned to Brazil with Team GB having raced in the double scull, quadruple scull, pair and eight during the Rio Olympiad.

Vicki raced in the double scull, quadruple scull, pair and eight during the Rio Olympiad

On The Water

2012

European Bronze Medallist Women's Eight

Rio 2016 Olympiad: 2013 – 2016

Vicki partnered Louisa Reeve in a second women’s pair at the 2016 World Cups in Lucerne and Poznan, improving with every outing as they finished ninth and eighth respectively. Vicki was then selected as the open-weight women’s spare for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Injury forced Vicki to sit out the 2015 GB Rowing Team Senior Trials and European Championships but she raced with the eight for the rest of the season.

She helped to secure impressive bronze medals at the Varese and Lucerne World Cups, with GB twice going under six minutes at the first of those, before finishing less than a second shy of the podium at the World Championships in Aiguebelette. The fourth-placed finish qualified the boat for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Vicki had started the Olympiad in the women’s double with Frances Houghton, winning bronze at the Sydney World Cup and gold at Eton Dorney. They then placed fifth at the World Cup in Lucerne before finishing just off the podium at the 2013 World Championships in Chungju.

Vicki switched to the women’s quad for 2014 and raced along Tina Stiller, Lucinda Gooderham and Beth Rodford. They started the season with fifth place at the European Championships in Belgrade, a position they repeated at the Aiguebelette World Cup. The injured Lucinda was replaced by Olivia Carnegie-Brown for the World Cup in Lucerne, where the quad finished seventh, before returning for the World Championships in Amsterdam, where GB were ninth overall.

Frances Houghton and Vicki Meyer-Laker won women's double gold at the Eton Dorney World Cup in 2013
Lucinda Gooderham, Vicki Meyer-Laker, Beth Rodford and Tina Stiller made up the women's quad during 2014

London 2012 Olympiad: 2009 – 2012

Vicki made her GB Rowing Team debut at the 2009 European Championships in Brest, finishing seventh in the women’s eight, and repeated that result in the women’s quad upon her return to Belarus for the following year’s World U23 Championships.

She gained more international experience in the eight at the 2011 and 2012 European Championships, finishing fourth in Plovdiv and winning bronze in Varese. Talking about the latter race still gives Vicki goosebumps. She also made her World Cup debut in 2012, helping the eight claim a bronze medal in Belgrade.

GB Competitive Record

World Rowing Championships
2015 4th W8+
2014 9th W4x
2013 4th W2x
World Rowing Championships:
2015
4th
W8+
World Rowing Championships:
2014
9th
W4x
World Rowing Championships:
2013
4th
W2x
European Rowing Championships
2014 5th W4x
2012 W8+
2011 4th W8+
2009 7th W8+
European Rowing Championships:
2014
5th
W4x
European Rowing Championships:
2012
W8+
European Rowing Championships:
2011
4th
W8+
European Rowing Championships:
2009
7th
W8+
World Rowing Cup Regattas
2016 Poznan 8th W2-
2016 Lucerne 9th W2-
2015 Lucerne W8+
2015 Varese W8+
World Rowing Cup Regattas:
2016 Poznan
8th
W2-
World Rowing Cup Regattas:
2016 Lucerne
9th
W2-
World Rowing Cup Regattas:
2015 Lucerne
W8+
World Rowing Cup Regattas:
2015 Varese
W8+
World Rowing U23 Championships
2010 8th W4x
World Rowing U23 Championships:
2010
8th
W4x
GB Rowing Team Senior Trials
2016 6th W2-
2014 4th W1x
2013 6th W1x
2012 9th W1x
GB Rowing Team Senior Trials:
2016
6th
W2-
GB Rowing Team Senior Trials:
2014
4th
W1x
GB Rowing Team Senior Trials:
2013
6th
W1x
GB Rowing Team Senior Trials:
2012
9th
W1x

More info...

Club: Leander Club
Boat: Women’s Squad
Role: Rower
Coaches: Paul Thompson
Learnt to Row: Nottingham University BC
Original Club(s): Nottingham RC
Original Coach(es): Chris Thomas, Dez Atkins

Beyond the Boat

Vicki was a keen sailor and swimmer while growing up in Scotland but used to watch friends rowing and was then encouraged to sign up during a fresher’s fair when she started her studies at Nottingham University.

When she gets the chance, Vicki loves going back to Scotland, mucking in with farm work, riding horses, catching up with friends and going hill-walking.

Before taking up rowing, she worked in Austria as a ski instructor. Her mother is German and Vicki’s post-rowing ambition is to study physics in Germany, allowing her to embed the language and become fluent.

Green Wing is her perfect TV viewing, “the best show ever made”, but reading is her preferred way of switching off. The Hunger Games and The Book Thief are her favourites, although she has also recently read Paradox by Jim Al-Khalili,”something more intellectual”.

Vicki, who has a host of old classics from her mum’s era on her ergo playlist, enjoys slacklining – going to a park, stringing a band between two trees and having a play on it. “It’s really sociable and good for balance too.”

Vicki is Lottery funded through UK Sport.

Personal information

Place of Birth Current Address Home Town Region
Barnstaple Henley-on-Thames Premnay Aberdeenshire
Place of Birth:
Barnstaple
Current Address:
Henley-on-Thames
Home Town:
Premnay
Region:
Aberdeenshire
Date of Birth Height
18th March 1988 191cm
Date of Birth:
18th March 1988
Height:
191cm
Education
Robert Gordon’s College, Aberdeen; King’s School Canterbury; University of Nottingham
Education:
Robert Gordon’s College, Aberdeen; King’s School Canterbury; University of Nottingham