Tamar Rowing Club captain Henry Youl lands another silver medal at World Cup 3 in Lucerne

The Tamar Rowing Club captain was in the bow seat of the men's eight which claimed its third consecutive major international silver medal at the weekend.

At World Cup 3 in Lucerne, Switzerland, the crew matched its result at both World Cup 2 in Poland and the Royal Henley Regatta.

"A really good race today by the men's eight," Youl said after finishing behind the same British crew which had triumphed on the River Thames a week earlier.

"We had a plan and went out there and executed it.

"We didn't have the greatest race last weekend against the Brits, and we really wanted to try and close that gap and be a bit of a challenge to them. They're a very strong crew and we've got a bit more speed to find, but we're moving in the right direction."

The crew, which also features Benjamin Canham, Jackson Kench, Will O'Shannessy, Patrick Holt, Rohan Lavery, Olympians Angus Widdicombe and Sam Hardy plus coxswain Kendall Brodie, will be looking to take a step up the podium at the world championships in Racice, Czech Republic, from September 18-25.

A former Launceston Church Grammar rower, Youl contested under-23 world champs in Rotterdam and Plovdiv (finishing third and fifth in coxed fours) but had not donned national colours since 2017.

Speaking to The Examiner when selected in March, a delighted Youl said: "I always wanted to make a senior team and I've always had the attitude that I would rather have a crack and miss out than think in 10 years' time that I wish I'd gone for it."

Australia took six medals from 12 crews in Lucerne, with a gold for the women's eight and four other silvers in the men's pair, four and double and women's single.

However, it was a frustrating regatta for the two other Tasmanians in the Australian rowing team.

Anneka Reardon, formerly of Lindisfarne and Sandy Bay but now rowing for Canberra's Australian National University Boat Club, had to pull out after testing positive to COVID so was unable to repeat her silver medal triumph, with Lucy Coleman, of NSW, in the lightweight double at World Cup 2.

Meanwhile, Huon's Georgia Nesbitt was entered in the lightweight single but did not start due to illness.

World Cup 3 concludes a five-week tour for the Aussies which took in three major regattas while based at the Australian Institute of Sport training centre in Italy.

High performance director Paul Thompson was delighted with the team's performance in Switzerland.

"With over 600 athletes represented, it is the most attended World Cup regatta across nations," he said. "It gives our athletes the chance to test their boat speed and gain race experience at the top level.

"This is the last major international racing opportunity before the world championships in September and marks less than 14 months before Olympic qualification for Paris 2024."