Imogen Grant is Great Britain's golden girl at World Rowing Under-23 Championships

Cambridge University Boat Club rower earns victory in Poznan

Imogen Grant produced a brilliant display to strike gold at the World Rowing Under-23 Championships in Poland.

The 22-year-old Cambridge University Women’s Boat Club member was representing Great Britain in the lightweight single sculls in Poznan.

Bar Hill-based Grant headed into the competition looking to challenge for the medals after narrowly missing out on a top three spot in the senior world cup regatta in Belgrade earlier in the season.

She won both her heat and semi-final in Poland to be one of the favourites for gold, and with a classy performance delivered the goods, winning in 7min 29.28sesc. Germany’s Vera Spanke was five seconds back in second, with Italy’s Clara Guerra in third.

“I knew I had a good shot at a medal because I won the heat and semi this week, but I also knew the conditions would be very different,” said the former Stephen Perse Foundation student.

“I tried to stick to my race plan and I did what I wanted to, so I’m really happy.”

Cambridge University Boat Club duo Freddie Davidson and cox Hugo Ramambason also got on the podium, with the GB men’s eight.

They won the silver medal in 5.24.93, pipping Romania on the line as the US won gold.

It helped Britain record their best performance at the event, with eight medals in total.

Brendan Purcell, the British Rowing performance director, said: “It’s fantastic to come away from Poznan with excellent performances across the board.

“Our under-23 chief coach Pete Sheppard and his team have put together a formidable squad of athletes who have made themselves very hard to beat out on the water.

“Eight medals is an incredible performance – the best ever by a GB squad – and having all 15 crews finish in the top nine in the world bodes well for the future of British rowing.

“I look forward to seeing our athletes continue to develop and hopefully we’ll see many of these rowers form the base of the GB team for the Paris 2024 Olympics and beyond.”