Sydney Uni’s Sally Kehoe and rowing partner Olympia Aldersey have qualified their boat for Rio 2016 in the last day of competition at the 2015 World Rowing Championships, Sunday 6 September.
Coming in first at the 500m and 1000m points, the strong Women’s Double Scull pair came away with 4th in their B-Final. Needing a top five finish to book an Olympic place for the boat, the pair coached by Jason Lane gave what was needed.
Meanwhile, Alexander ‘Sasha’ Belonogoff of Sydney Uni and James McRae came 5th in the A –Final of the Men’s Double Scull. A great result for the crew having already qualified their boat for Rio.
Coached by Rhett Ayliffe, Belonogoff and McRae were up against reigning World Champions the Sinkovic brothers as well as Lithuania, Germany, New Zealand and France. Predictably, the Sinkovic brothers went out hard and led the race from start to finish and the battle ensued for the remaining podium places.
As for the Men’s Eight, consisting of four Sydney Uni rowers, Australia came 3rd. The USA and Poland powered out the starts and it was those two who maintained the lead for the majority of the race. The Australians, coxed by David Webster, were fourth at the 500 metre mark but pushed their way through to take third and sat there till the conclusion of the race.
On conclusion of the Rowing World Champions Australia has qualified two Paralympic boats (ASM1x and TAMix2x) and seven Olympic boats (W1x, M2x, W2x, M4x, W4x, M2- and M4-) for the Rio Paralympic and Olympic Games in 2016.
There are exciting times ahead for Sydney Uni Boat Club. We congratulate all athletes and coaching staff on their efforts to reach this point and wish them the very best in their preparations for future meets.
