Rower - Para-Rowing Squad
Date of Birth: 9th Jun 1989 (35 years old)
Club: Leander Club
Height: 195.00
Hometown: Henley-on-Thames
In his first five seasons with the GB Rowing Team senior squad, Will Satch won Olympic gold and bronze medals either side of three successive World Championships titles.
Satch stroked the men’s eight to a memorable victory at Rio 2016 having won bronze with George Nash in the men’s pair four years earlier in London.
Going into the Tokyo 2020 Olympiad, Satch became a key part of the men’s four in 2017 as the crew won two golds and a silver in the World Cup series of regattas. Alongside Moe Sbihi, Matthew Tarrant and Matt Rossiter, Satch had to settle for bronze at the World Rowing Championships in Sarasota-Bradenton, finishing behind Australia and Italy.
Rio 2016 Olympiad: 2013 – 2016
Will was once again selected in the men’s eight for the 2016 season and won a bronze medal at the European Championships in Brandenburg, GB taking third place on the line. Alan Sinclair subbed in for the ill Pete Reed for the Lucerne World Cup, where GB finished fourth. Pete returned for the World Cup in Poznan, where the GB eight enjoyed a good tussle with the Olympic champions from Germany on their way to a silver medal.
The eight saved their best until last, winning their Olympic heat in fine fashion before – with Will in the stroke seat – producing a devastating performance in the final to lead from the front and record an emphatic victory to be crowned as Rio 2016 gold-medallists.
It completed a golden Rio 2016 Olympiad for Will, who had also won three successive World Championship titles with the men’s eight.
The latest came at the end of an enthralling 2015 for Will and his crew-mates. They enjoyed a season-long battle with Germany, who had the upper hand at the European Championships in Poznan, Poland as the GB crew finished runners-up.
The tables were turned at the World Cup in Varese, although only just as GB produced a thrilling late surge to win gold by three-tenths of a second. It was even closer in Lucerne as Pete and the crew held on the narrowest of victories.
The World Championships promised even more drama and did not disappoint as the rivals went head to head once again. This time the GB eight won by two-tenths of a second to claim gold for a third successive year.
Will has been an ever-present in the boat since 2013, when he helped to secure a historic first-ever World Championship gold for a British eight. He also won two World Cup regattas that year.
The 2014 season saw Will and the eight win bronze at the European Championships. Second and third places followed at the World Cup in Aiguebelette and Lucerne respectively before the GB crew returned to the top of the podium in style at the World Championships, recording a convincing victory in Amsterdam.
London 2012 Olympiad: 2009-2012
Will’s first full season in the GB Rowing Team senior ranks ended with a breakthrough bronze medal in the men’s pair at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
He had made his GB debut three years earlier at the World U23 Championships, finishing 11th overall in the men’s four. He also competed at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in 2009, winning gold in the men’s eight and silver in the men’s quad.
Will won bronze medals with the men’s eight at both the 2010 and 2011 World U23 Championships, in Brest and Amsterdam respectively, and also made his senior debut in 2011 at the Munich World Cup, winning silver in the same boat class.
Will formed a new-look pair with George Nash in 2012 and showed promising signs during the World Cup series as they won silver in Belgrade and finished fifth in Lucerne. That promise was underlined at the Olympic Games as the pair won a brilliant bronze medal, almost catching France for silver as they were roared on by the home crowd.
Year | Event | Position | Boat |
---|---|---|---|
2019 | World Rowing Cup III Rotterdam, NED |
3 (FB Final) | M4- |
2019 | World Rowing Cup II Poznan, POL |
6 (FB Final) | M4- |
2018 | World Rowing Championships Plovdiv, BUL |
M8+ | |
2018 | European Rowing Championships Glasgow, GBR |
5 | M8+ |
2018 | World Rowing Cup II Linz Ottensheim, AUT |
M8+ | |
2018 | World Rowing Cup I Belgrade, SRB |
M8+ | |
2017 | World Rowing Championships Sarasota-Bradenton, USA |
M4- | |
2017 | World Rowing Cup III Lucerne, SUI |
M4- | |
2017 | World Rowing Cup II Poznan, POL |
M4- | |
2017 | European Rowing Championships Racice, CZE |
5 | M4- |
2017 | World Rowing Cup I Belgrade, SRB |
M4- | |
2016 | Olympic Games Regatta Rio de Janeiro, BRA |
M8+ | |
2016 | World Rowing Cup III Poznan, POL |
M8+ | |
2016 | World Rowing Cup II Lucerne, SUI |
4 | M8+ |
2016 | European Rowing Championships Brandenburg, GER |
M8+ | |
2015 | World Rowing Championships Aiguebelette, FRA |
M8+ | |
2015 | World Rowing Cup III Lucerne, SUI |
M8+ | |
2015 | World Rowing Cup II Varese, ITA |
M8+ | |
2015 | European Rowing Championships Poznan, POL |
M8+ | |
2014 | World Rowing Championships Amsterdam, NED |
M8+ | |
2014 | World Rowing Cup III Lucerne, SUI |
M8+ | |
2014 | World Rowing Cup II Aiguebelette, FRA |
M8+ | |
2014 | European Rowing Championships Belgrade, SRB |
M8+ | |
2013 | World Rowing Championships Chungju, KOR |
M8+ | |
2013 | World Rowing Cup III Lucerne, SUI |
4 | M8+ |
2013 | World Rowing Cup II Eton, GBR |
M8+ | |
2012 | Olympic Games London, GBR |
M2- | |
2012 | World Rowing Cup II Lucerne, SUI |
5 | M2- |
2012 | World Rowing Cup I Belgrade, SRB |
M2- | |
2011 | Under 23 World Rowing Championships Amsterdam, NED |
BM8+ | |
2011 | World Rowing Cup I Munich, GER |
M8+ | |
2010 | Under 23 World Rowing Championships Brest, BLR |
BM8+ | |
2009 | Under 23 World Rowing Championships Racice, CZE |
5 (FB Final) | BM4- |
Club | Squad | Coach |
---|---|---|
Leander Club | Men’s Squad | Jürgen Grobler |
Learnt to Row | Original Club | Original Coach(es) |
---|---|---|
Shiplake College | Shiplake College BC, Leander Club | Athol Hundermark |
Will, who learnt to row at Shiplake College under the guidance of coach Athol Hundermark, was a keen rugby player and says that would be his career choice if he wasn’t a rower. However, if he could swap sports for the day, it would be to become “a young, gifted and not ginger 100m sprinter – being the fastest man in the world must be extraordinary.”
He used to sing in the school choir, mostly in Latin, and lists Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata in C# Minor among his favourite music. A grand piano would be one of the three things he would take to a desert island, along with sun screen and his dentist – “I can’t abide having toothache, plus she is beautiful!”
Will likes to paint and says that Chamonix in the French Alps, which he visited as a youngster, is his dream travel destination. “However, the Olympic orientation camp would have to be right up there.”
His ideal dinner guests would be Stephen Fry, David Attenborough and model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.
Will is Lottery funded through UK Sport.
Current Address | Home Town | Region |
---|---|---|
Henley-on-Thames | Henley-on-Thames | Oxfordshire |
Date of Birth | Height | Weight |
---|---|---|
9 June 1989 | 195cm | 92kg |
Education |
---|
Shiplake College |