University of Bath alumni Becky Wilde and Cedol Daffyd won debut World Rowing Championship silver medals within an hour of each other on an excellent morning for Great Britain in Shanghai.
Olympic medallist Wilde teamed up with Sarah McKay, Hannah Scott and Lola Anderson to finish runners-up to the Netherlands in a fast-paced women’s quadruple sculls final.
The men’s quad of Dafydd, Callum Dixon, Matt Haywood and Rory Harris then battled with Italy throughout an entertaining final before being edged into second place.
“Credit to Italy, they were better than us today,” said Dafydd, a Sports Management and Coaching graduate who, like Wilde, only took up rowing while studying at the University.
“We came in wanting to win and we knew we could if everything went well and we raced our best. Unfortunately, our best today just wasn’t quite good enough.”
The silver medals capped memorable World Championships debuts for Dafydd and Wilde, who both began their rowing careers with the University-based South West Performance Development Academy (PDA), formerly known as the GB Rowing Team Start programme, and represented Crew Bath in student rowing competition.
Jamie Gare, another graduate of both the University and the South West PDA, was a reserve for the men’s squad and stepped into the men’s double scull as a replacement for Aidan Thompson on medical grounds, helping Tobias Schröder finish runner-up in the C final to finish 14th overall.
The current crop of University of Bath rowers has also been enjoying success on the international stage as Bill Whiteley Sporting Scholar Ella Fullman, Beatrice Hughes, Rebekah Court and Freya Ridge won women’s quad gold at last weekend’s European Universities Rowing Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
There was another podium place in the men’s quad as Bath’s Henley Royal Regatta Prince of Wales crew of Jack Norton, William Stradling, Ben Furley and Luka Halozan Hayley pushed across the line to snatch bronze from Germany’s Tech Uni of Dresden. This meant Bath finished seventh overall in the EUSA medal table.
The South West GB Performance Development Academy is always on the lookout for athletes with no prior rowing experience, aged between 14 and 22, to recruit and develop into Olympians. The guideline minimum height for those applying for testing is above 5ft 8in (176cm) for females and 6ft (185cm) for males.
The next set of trials are taking place at the Team Bath Sports Training Village on Saturday 27th September at 11am. Visit teambath.com/rowing to find out how to apply for trials.
With thanks to Team Bath
