Rowena Meredith

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Rowena Meredith
Personal information
Born27 April 1995 (1995-04-27) (age 26)
Years active2008–current
Sport
SportRowing
ClubMosman Rowing Club
Sydney University Boat Club
Achievements and titles
National finalsQueen's Cup 2016–19
Medal record
Women's rowing
Representing  Australia
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2020 Tokyo Quad scull
U23 World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2017 Plovdiv BW4X
Silver medal – second place 2015 Plovdiv BW4X

Rowena Meredith (born 27 April 1995) is an Australian representative rower. She is an Olympian, an Australian national champion at both U23 and senior levels, was twice a medallist at underage world championships and has won four medals at World Rowing Cups. She competed in the Australian women's quad scull at Tokyo 2021 winning a bronze medal.[1][2]

Club and state rowing[]

Born in Basingstoke England,[3] Meredith was raised in Sydney, Australia and her senior club rowing was from the Mosman Rowing Club till 2016 and then Sydney University Boat Club from 2017.[4]

Meredith's first state selection for New South Wales was in 2014 in women's youth eight contesting the Bicentennial Cup at the Interstate Regatta within the Australian Rowing Championships.[5] She rowed again in the New South Wales youth eight in 2015. For five straight years from 2016 to 2021 [6] she was selected in the New South Wales senior women's eight competing for the Queen's Cup at the Interstate Regatta.[7] Only the 2019 New South Wales eight was victorious.[8]

Meredith raced in Mosman colours in a NSW composite eight contesting the open women's coxed eight event at the 2015 Australian Rowing Championships.[9] That year she also contested the U23 women's quad scull title and placed second.[9] At the 2016 Australian Rowing Championships she raced in Mosman colours for the U23 single, double and quad sculls titles.[10] By 2017 Meredith was racing for SUBC and she won all three national U23 sculling titles – the single, double and quad.[11]

At the 2018 Australian Championships Meredith contested the open single and double sculls, and competed in a Sydney University eight for the open women's eight title.[12] In 2019 she placed second to Genevieve Horton in the Australian open women's single scull championship and won the open's women's coxed eight title in a composite selection crew.[13]

International representative rowing[]

Meredith made her Australian representative debut at the 2015 World Rowing U23 Championships in Plovdiv where she rowed in the Australian quad scull to a silver medal.[14] In 2016 she was again in the Australian U23 women's quad scull and she stroked that crew to a sixth-place finish at the 2016 World Rowing U23 Championships in Rotterdam.

In 2017 she was selected in the Australian senior quad scull with Leah Saunders, Genevieve Horton and Caitlin Cronin which won medals at two World Rowing Cups in Europe.[14] With Harriet Hudson changed out for Saunders they were eligible to compete underage and raced to a silver medal at the World Rowing U23 Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.[14] Saunders came back into the crew for the 2017 World Rowing Championships in Sarasota, Florida. The young crew took on a tightly packed field in the final at Sarasota and were fourth at the halfway mark with Poland in the lead followed by The Netherlands. As the crews sprinted for the line, the Australian quad featuring three senior team debutantes other than Horton, dropped back and finished in sixth place.[14]

Meredith and the quad stayed together into 2018 with Olympia Aldersey changed out for Saunders. At the 2018 World Rowing Cup II in Linz, they rowed to a bronze medal and then a sixth placing at the WRC III in Lucerne[14] At the 2018 World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv they finished in seventh place [14]

In 2019 Katrina Bateman returned to the Australian senior squad after a four-year absence and into the quad scull with Meredith, Fiona Ewing and Cara Grzeskowiak. They rowed to a fourth place at the World Rowing Cup II in Poznan and then to a bronze medal win at WRC III in Rotterdam.[14] In that same crew Meredith was selected to race Australia's quad scull at the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Linz, Austria.[15] The quad were looking for a top eight finish at the 2019 World Championships to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.[16] They placed fourth in the B-final for an overall tenth place finish and failed to qualify the boat for Tokyo 2020.[14] Before those delayed Tokyo Olympics at the final Olympic qualification regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland in May 2021 in a crew with Caitlin Cronin, Harriet Hudson and Ria Thompson, she raced an Australian representative heavyweight quad, again attempting to qualify that boat. Victory in their heat and final saw them secure an Olympic berth.[17] In Tokyo Meredith rowed the two seat of the Australian quad. They placed fourth in their heat and then won the repechage to make the A final.[14] They were behind the lead for much of the race but winds had blown up before the event and some crews struggled with their bladework in the chop. The Australian quad kept their composure and excellent technique and managed a bronze medal finish on the line.[14]

References[]

  1. ^ 2021 Aust Olympic Crews
  2. ^ Firmed Aust 2021 crews
  3. ^ Meredith at AOC
  4. ^ Meredith at Rowing Australia
  5. ^ 2014 Austn Cships
  6. ^ 2018 Interstate Regatta
  7. ^ https://ra.rowingmanager.com/?regatta;file=15367 2021 Queen's Cup
  8. ^ 2019 Queen's Cup
  9. ^ a b 2015 Austn Championships
  10. ^ 2016 Australian C'ships
  11. ^ 2017 Austn C'ships
  12. ^ 2018 Austn C'ships
  13. ^ 2019 Austn Championships
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Meredith at World Rowing
  15. ^ 2019 WRC entry list
  16. ^ 2019 World C'ship selections
  17. ^ Final Olympic qualification event 2021
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