TAMAR Rowing Club rising star Henry Youl’s bronze medal at the non-Olympic and under-23 world championships in Holland is the best result of his fledgling career, coach Ron Woods says.
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Youl, 20, stroked Australia’s under-23 men’s coxed four team to a third-place finish in Rotterdam last week with Jack Cleary, Texas Lawton and Sam Hardy.
The team were highly fancied heading into the final following their strong heat performance but were mowed down by winners New Zealand and Italy (second) in the final 100 metres.
The Australians clocked 6:09.93, just .6 of a second behind the Italians.
“The team went over there thinking they were going really well… and after they won their heat in the fastest time I thought they would be in with a show,” Woods said on Tuesday.
“The result is fantastic for him because he is just so passionate about his rowing.
“Now he has got a sniff for it (at international level) and there will be no stopping him.”
Youl’s journey is a remarkable one in that he at first failed to qualify for the boat in April.
However, he was called back to trial with the Australian-US college athletes in June where he earned a trip to The Netherlands.
Fellow Tamar rower Stephanie Williams, 21, crossed the line in the under-23 women’s eight A Final in fifth (6:52.55) after the Ohio State University scholarship holder’s squad finished second in the repechage.
Hobart’s Georgia Nesbitt also claimed third in the women’s lightweight single sculls B Final.
Youl is now taking a short break to explore the United Kingdom before returning to train with Woods and other Tasmanian Institute of Sport athletes in Northern Tasmania.
“We will probably just take it easy and give him some steady rows for a while and then gradually build things up, but knowing Henry he will want to get straight back into it at the pointy end,” Woods said.
A storeman at Statewide Independent Wholesalers, Woods said Youl’s next big task would come in March next year.
He said Youl had his sights set on the under-23s single scull title at the national championships in Penrith, New South Wales.
Youl finished fifth in the same event earlier this year and is on the record earmarking the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo as his long-term goal.
In other rowing news, Southern athlete Max McQueeney and Wilson Mure will compete at the world university rowing championships in Poland this weekend.
