Jack Hargreaves (rower)

Jack Hargreaves

Personal information
Born	24 July 1993 (1993-07-24) (age 28) Wellington, New South Wales, Australia
Education	St Joseph's, Hunters Hill
Years active	2007-current
Sport
Sport	Rowing
Club	Sydney University Boat Club
Achievements and titles
National finals	King's Cup 2014-2021
Medal record Men's rowing Representing  Australia Olympic Games 2020 Tokyo Coxless four World Championships 2017 Sarasota Coxless four 2018 Plovdiv Coxless four

Jack Hargreaves (born 24 July 1993) is an Australian representative rower - a world and an Olympic champion. He won consecutive world championships in the coxless four at the 2017 World Rowing Championships, then successfully defended that title at 2018 Plovdiv. He rowed in the three seat of the Australian men's coxless four to a gold medal victory at the Tokyo Olympics.^[1][2]

Club and state rowing[]

Raised in Nyngan in country New South Wales, Hargreaves was educated at St Joseph's College Hunters Hill where he took up rowing. His senior club rowing has been from the Sydney University Boat Club.

Hargreaves' first state representation for New South Wales came in 2013 when he was selected in the New South Wales youth eight to contest the Noel F Wilkinson Trophy at the Interstate Regatta within the Australian Rowing Championships.^[3] From 2014 to 2021 Hargreaves was selected in the New South Wales men's senior eight to contest the King's Cup at the Interstate Regatta. He crewed those King's Cup victories in 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2019.^[4][5]

He has contested national championship titles at the Australian Rowing Championships on a number of occasions. In SUBC colours he placed second in the open men's single scull title in 2018.^[6] At the New South Wales State Championships in February 2020 he won the men's elite single sculls title and together with Jack O'Brien, won the men's elite pair. In 2021 with his national training centre crewmates he won the Australian championship title in the coxless four.^[7]

International representative rowing[]

Hargreaves made his Australian representative debut in the men's eight which raced at the World Rowing Cup I in Sydney in 2013. Later than year he competed in the eight at the 2013 World Rowing U23 Championships in Linz, Austria. The U23 eight finished in overall tenth place.^[8] In 2014 he rowed in a coxless pair at the WRC III in Lucerne before contesting the World Rowing U23 Championships in Varese in the pair with Nicholas Wheatley and taking a silver medal.^[8] He continued to partner with Wheatley into 2015 and they raced at two World Rowing Cups in Europe before competing at the 2015 World Rowing U23 Championships in Aiguebelette and finishing in overall sixth place.^[8]

In 2017 Hargreaves was selected into the Australian men's coxless four with Spencer Turrin and Alexander Hill who'd been medallists in the four at World Championships in 2014 & 2015 respectively and with newcomer Joshua Hicks. They took gold at the World Rowing Cup II in Poznan and then raced in the Australian men's senior eight at the WRC III in Lucerne to a silver medal.^[8] At the 2017 World Rowing Championships in Sarasota Florida rowing as a four, they won their heat and semi-final. They flew out of the start in the final, rating at 43 strokes per minute to be clear leaders at the 500m mark. They led at every mark and held off the fast-finishing Italians. Australia had not won a men's coxless four world championship title since the Oarsome Foursome's 1991 win.^[9]

The world champion four stayed together into 2018 and started their 2018 international campaign with a gold medal win at the World Rowing Cup II in Linz, Austria. They repeated their 2017 tactic with a blistering rating of 43 from the start and kept up above 40 for the rest of the race.^[8] In an Australian selection eight and racing as the Georgina Hope Rinehart National Training Centre, in honour of Rowing Australia patron, Gina Rinehart, Hargreaves won the 2018 Grand Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta.^[10] The fourth Australian men's eight to ever do so. The following week back in the coxless four, Hargreaves won another gold at the World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne.^[8] At the 2018 World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, in the same combination as 2017, the Australian coxless four won their heat, their semi-final and just held off the fast-finishing Italians in the final to retain their world title. Hargreaves, rowing at three won his second world championship gold.^[8]

In 2019 Hargreaves was again selected in the Australian men's sweep squad for the international representative season. In an effort to qualify the men's pair for the 2020 Olympics, selectors broke up the world champion four into other boats but left Hargreaves in the four. Rowing with Tim Masters, Nicholas Purnell and Jack O'Brien, Hargreaves took the gold medal in the Australian coxless four at both the World Rowing Cup II in Poznan and at WRC III in Rotterdam.^[8] Hargreaves, Hill, Purnell and O'Brien were selected to race Australia's coxless four at the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Linz, Austria.^[11] The four were looking for a top eight finish at the 2019 World Championships to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.^[12] They won their heat and semi-final, thereby qualifying the boat for Tokyo 2020.^[8] Unexpectedly as race favourites, they finished last in the final for an overall world sixth place.^[8]

In Tokyo the coxless four won their heat and progressed straight to the A final where they held a lead from the first 500m, and were being challenged by the British four who lost their steering and control in the final 500m. With Hargreaves' technique and style from the three seat the Australians kept their composure and held off the Romanians in a tight finish, taking the gold in an Olympic best time.^[8]

References[]

• Jack Hargreaves at World Rowing (archived)