March 31, 2021 News British Rowing NewsBritish Rowing EventsRowing CommunityGB Rowing TeamCompetitions and ClubsIndoor RowingPartners#YourStoriesArchive British Rowing selects full-strength team for European Championships GB Rowing Team 64 athletes have been selected to compete for Great Britain at the 2021 European Rowing Championships in Varese, Italy (9-11 April 2021) British Rowing Director of Performance Brendan Purcell commented: “It has been 20 months since we last competed at an international regatta and the whole squad cannot wait to get racing again. When we came home from the World Rowing Championships in September 2019 with ten boats qualified for the Olympic Games and three boats qualified for the Paralympic Games, we had no idea of the challenges that would lie ahead. “I’m incredibly proud of every single member of the GB Rowing Team, from the athletes to the coaching staff. They have worked tirelessly over this period, maintaining fitness levels and working towards a time when we could safely compete again.”ADVERT This postponement of competition has opened up some amazing opportunities for athletes, none more so than for double Olympic champion and mother of three Helen Glover who has returned to training with the GB Rowing Team and will be racing in the women’s pair with Olympic silver medallist, Polly Swann. Looking ahead to her first competitive race since the Olympic Games in Rio 2016, Glover commented: “I’ve been back full time for three months now and being selected for the Europeans is the first step on my mission to become the first woman in British Rowing history to make an Olympic team after having children. I’m finding the journey exciting and extremely challenging, but I hope I can return from Varese with some success stories to share with the children.” Later this Spring, the GB Rowing Team will have the opportunity to qualify four additional boats for this Summers’ Olympic Games – the Lightweight men’s double sculls (LM2x), Men’s single scull (M1x), Men’s pair (M2-) and Women’s double sculls (W2x). All four boats will be racing in Varese as a warm up to the Final Qualifying Olympic Regatta in Lucerne in May. The crews selected for the Europeans comprise Sam Mottram & Jamie Copus in the LM2x, Matthew Haywood in the M1x, Harry Glenister & Morgan Bolding in the M2- and Holly Nixon & Saskia Budgett in the W2x. The European Rowing Championships also marks another milestone for British Rowing, being the first time ever that a Para team will be racing at the event. Chief Coach for the Paralympic Programme, Tom Dyson said: “This is the first time we’ve ever selected a Paralympic set of boats for the Europeans and the team are really excited to be making history at the event. We’ve been working hard to step up from training to racing and have been developing race day routines to ensure the athletes are fully prepared for when they get out on the start line. They can’t wait to get out to Italy and onto the water.” You can watch the GB Rowing Team in Varese live on Sunday, 11 April from 8.55am on the BBC Red Button, iPlayer and BBC website and all the A Finals on BBC2 from 1pm-3pm. The semi-finals will also be shown on the Red Button on Saturday, 10 April from 9.30am. You can also follow the action on worldrowing.com and British Rowing social media channels in the build-up to finals weekend. Crew List Men’s single scull (M1x) Matthew Haywood (Club: Nottingham RC / Hometown: Nottingham) Coach: Nicola Benavente Men’s pair (M2-) Harry Glenister (Leander Club / Princes Risborough) Morgan Bolding (Oxford Brookes University /Withiel) Coach: John Gearing Men’s double sculls (M2x) John Collins (Leander Club / Twickenham) Graeme Thomas (Agecroft RC / Preston) Coach: Dan Moore Men’s four (M4-) Oliver Cook (Univ. of London BC / Windsor) Matthew Rossiter (Leander Club/ Newbury) Rory Gibbs (Oxford Brookes University / Marlow) Sholto Carnegie (Leander Club / Oxford) Coach: Robin Williams Men’s quadruple sculls (M4x) Harry Leask (Leander Club / Edinburgh) Angus Groom (Leander Club / Glasgow) Thomas Barras (Leander Club / Staines) Jack Beaumont (Leander Club / Maidenhead) Coach: Paul Stannard Men’s eight (M8+) Josh Bugajski (Oxford Brookes Univ. BC / Stockport) Jacob Dawson (Leander Club / Plymouth) Thomas George (Leander Club / Cheltenham) Mohamed Sbihi (Molesey BC / Surbiton) Charles Elwes (Leander Club / Andover) Oliver Wynne-Griffith (Leander Club / Guildford) James Rudkin (Newcastle Univ. BC / Litchborough) Thomas Ford (Leander Club / Holmes Chapel) Henry Fieldman (cox) (Leander Club / London) Coach: Steve Trapmore Lightweight men’s double sculls (LM2x) Jamie Copus (Oxford Brookes Univ BC / Oxford) Samuel Mottram (Leander Club / Stoke Mandeville) Coach: Hamish Burrell Men’s spares Matthew Tarrant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC / Shepperton) Jonathan Walton (Leander Club / Leicester) Oliver Wilkes (Oxford Brookes Univ BC / Matlock) Women’s single scull (W1x) Vicky Thornley (Leander Club / Wrexham) Coach: Paul Reedy Women’s pair (W2-) Helen Glover (Marlow RC / Penzance) Polly Swann (Univ. of Edinburgh & Leander Club / Edinburgh) Coach: Hamish Burrell Women’s double sculls (W2x) Holly Nixon (Leander Club / Enniskillen) Saskia Budgett (Tideway Scullers’ School / Acton) Coach: Paul Reedy & Lauren Fisher Women’s four (W4-) Rowan McKellar (Leander Club / Glasgow) Harriet Taylor (Sir William Perkins’s School BC / Sunningdale) Karen Bennett (Leander Club / Edinburgh) Rebecca Shorten (Imperial College BC / Belfast) Coach: James Harris Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x) Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne (Reading Univ. BC / Hereford) Hannah Scott (Leander Club / Coleraine) Charlotte Hodgkins-Byrne (University of London BC / Hereford) Lucy Glover (Edinburgh Univ BC / Warrington) Coach: Lauren Fisher Women’s eight (W8-) Sara Parfett (University of London BC / Rochester) Rebecca Edwards (Leander Club / Aughnacloy) Chloe Brew (Leander Club / Plymouth) Emily Ford (Leander Club / Holmes Chapel) Katherine Douglas (Leander Club / Edinburgh) Caragh McMurtry (Southampton Coalporters ARC / Southampton) Beccy Muzerie (Molesey BC / Fareham) Fiona Gammond (Leander Club / Bicester) Matilda Horn (cox) (Univ. of London BC/Windsor) Coach: Tom Pattichis Lightweight women’s single sculls (LW1x) Madeleine Arlett (Edinburgh Univ. BC / Selkirk) Coach: Darren Whiter Lightweight women’s double sculls (LW2x) Emily Craig (University of London BC / Mark Cross) Imogen Grant (Cambridge Univ. Women’s BC / Cambridge) Coach: Darren Whiter Women’s spares Samantha Courty (Leander Club / Alnwick) Jess Leyden (Leander Club / Todmorden) Annie Withers (Leander Club / Kingston) PR1 men’s single scull (PR1 M1x) Ben Pritchard (City of Swansea RC / Swansea) Coach: Tom Dyson PR2 mixed double sculls (PR2 Mix 2x) Lauren Rowles (Worcester RC / Bromsgrove) Laurence Whiteley (Tees RC / Northallerton) Coach: Tom Dyson PR3 mixed coxed four (PR3 Mix 4+) Ellen Buttrick (Leeds RC / Leeds) Giedre Rakauskaite (Worcester RC / Worcester) James Fox (University of London BC/Tyrian BC / Peterborough) Ollie Stanhope (Molesey BC / London) Erin Kennedy (cox) (Leander Club / Wantage) Coach: Nick Baker ADVERT