Windsor duo help power GB Men's Eight to World silver in Shanghai

Windsor’s Sam Nunn, third from the right.

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Windsor based athletes Will Denegri and Sam Nunn helped power and steer Great Britain’s men’s eight crew to a silver medal at the World Rowing Championships in Shanghai last week.

On a day when Team GB won three more medals at the championships, two of them came from the biggest boats in the fleet with the men’s eight taking a thrilling silver to add to a brilliant bronze for the women’s eight.

The PR3 coxed mixed four team also maintained their long-standing unbeaten record as they retained the gold medal for a 14th consecutive time.

The men’s eight features several athletes making their debut at a World Championships, with Windsor’s Denegri guiding the team home as cox and Nunn providing some of the brawn as they battled for a place on the podium.

The A final was a tense affair, with the race needing to be restarted due to technical issues.

The crew of Will Stewart, Archie Drummond, David Bewicke-Copley, Fergus Woolnough, Miles Beeson, Sam Nunn, Matt Aldridge, Matt Rowe and cox Will Denegri held their nerve in the closing stages to take second place behind the Dutch and just ahead of the USA.

Matt Rowe said of the restart: “I was impressed with how we were completely not fazed by it and kept focus. We go through situations in training all the time while we try to shake ourselves and throw ourselves off and I think we did that today too.”

Archie added: “I think I think the guys did a really, really good job at committing to the race plan. I think we'd be lying if we said that we were dreaming of getting a silver medal. But it's important to remember these feelings, use it as motivation for training and next season”

Matt Aldridge said: “We put up a good fight. We were moving well in the middle which was our race plan and kept coming back. The Americans wouldn't let us have it our own way, but we put up a really good fight to come through. We could have rolled over. It's a young crew with not much international experience so I’m really happy for these guys and looking forward to what happens next.”

Louise Kingsley, GB Rowing Team’s Director of Performance said: “What a successful start to the LA cycle.

“We’ve seen medals won by our Men’s, Women’s and Paralympic squad and impressive performances across the team.

“Of the 37 athletes who made the podium, we have twenty-one athletes who are bringing home medals from their first ever World Championships, showing that the pathway is strong and I’m excited to see how they all build on this as we work through the cycle.

“This event has come with some challenges. The heat out here being one of them. But the ‘team behind the team’, the coaches and support staff, have all pulled together to ensure the athletes made it to the start line brilliantly well prepared. The performances we have seen out here in Shanghai would not have been possible without their efforts - a big thank you to them!”