Gold for Pembroke Duo in 2016 Rowing World Championships

NEWS |

Pembroke student Brianna Stubbs and alumna Ellie Piggott (2012) have won the gold medal in the lightweight women's quad sculls at the 2016 Rowing World Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Along with their teammates Emily Craig and Imogen Walsh, Brianna and Ellie secured first place in the 2000m race in a time of 07:10.600, with Germany and China taking silver and bronze positions ahead of Canada and the USA. Full race results are available here.

Brianna, who is currently completing a DPhil in Physiology at Pembroke, commented: ‘It feels fantastic to win. We have worked really hard as a group to achieve this result… we had a great atmosphere and that has made the hard days of training easier to get through and also made the success all the sweeter to share it with people you respect’.

Ellie and Brianna previously won gold in the 2013 Under 23 World Championships (in the LW2x), and were part of the silver medal-winning senior LW4x team at the 2015 event. Securing the gold medal in 2016 is therefore the step up they were hoping for.

Brianna commented: ‘This year we were able to build on the lessons from the last 2 years of rowing in the quad. We learned that everyone approaches training and racing a bit differently, and we learned how to use that knowledge to get the most out of the strengths of every crew member.’

Reflecting on the challenge of balancing academic studies and her sport, Brianna added: ‘For me personally, winning the gold medal has been the culmination of 4 years of tough times combing my PhD studies with my rowing training and it is great to be in a position where I am writing a thesis that I am proud of and am a World Champion. 4 years ago I would only have dreamt that this would be possible.’

 

Photos: Peter Spurrier