South African rowers impress on world stage in 2022

Coming off the back of gold medals at the U23 Rowing World Championships, Christopher Baxter and Damien Bonhage-Koen competed at the 2022 World Rowing Championships held in the Czech Republic in September.

Baxter and Bonhage-Koen impressed as a pair during the U23 Championships, finishing first in their heat, placing first in the subsequent semi-final and claiming gold in the men’s pair (BM2) Final A with a time of 6:19.99.

Following their heroics in Italy, the pair teamed up with fellow South African rowers Luc Daffarn and Jake Green to compete in the Men’s Four at the World Rowing Championships. The team finished their heat in second spot with a time of 05:57.15, and went on to finish fourth in their semi-final, placing them in the Final B where they ended fifth with a time of 06:04.80.

South African rowing pair, Henry Torr and James Mitchell, started well in the Men’s Pair as they finished their heat in third, but a fourth-place finish in their semi-final assigned them to Final B where they finished fifth with a time of 06:38.07.

Mmbudzeni Masutha competed in the Men’s Single Sculls where he started well and finished third in his heat with a time of 07:03.69. Slower times in his quarter-final and subsequent semi-final consigned Masutha to Final D where he pulled out an improved performance to claim third with a time of 07:13.31.

In the Lightweight Women’s Single Sculls, Kirsten McCann finished third in her heat, third in her semi-final and claimed fourth in the Final A with a time of 07:48.59.

Moving to the Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls, Lebone Mokheseng and Murray Bales-Smith placed third in their heat and sixth in their semi-final, subsequently competing in Final D where they finished fourth with a time of 06:44.95.

Photo: Twitter/@RowingRSA>