SA under-23 rowing team pack their paddles for Poland

JOHANNESBURG: A five-member team spearheaded by rising star Thapelo Masutha will take to the water at the World Under-23 Rowing Championships in Poznan, Poland starting today.

Masutha will be looking for seamless transition to the under-23 level after he won bronze at the men’s single sculls at last year’s World Junior Championships.

He will be racing in the men’s doubles sculls with Luc Daffarn, who finished fifth in the A-final in the pair boat with Sandro Torrente at last year’s regatta.

Rowing in the men’s pair, Charles Brittain will be looking to continue the proud family legacy left by his elder brothers.

He will partner with James Mitchell where they have a firm eye on reaching the A-final to challenge for a medal.

Brittain is the youngest brother of Olympic medallists Matthew and Lawrence, who won gold and silver at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Games respectively.

The youngest Brittain was in the men’s four at last year’s championships where they finished last in the B-final.

Brittain and Mitchell have made a promising start as a combination, reaching the A-final of the World Rowing Cup in Belgrade earlier this year.

“Last year was quite a big training year in which the focus was to get physically and mentally stronger. It seemed to have worked,” Brittain said in a TuksSport release.

“James and I are quite fast at the moment, but that is no guarantee that we are fast enough to get a podium finish.

“There will definitely be some equally fast crews at the championships. Our focus will be just to go out and race our own race and see what we can do.”

Racing at his third world under-23 championships, Nicholas Oberholzer will be in the lightweight single sculls.

Oberholzer and Vaughn Botes have featured in the lightweight double sculls A-final for two consecutive years, finishing fourth and fifth in 2016 and 2017 respectively.