NEWBURY’S Matt Rossiter took a glorious step on the road to being an Olympic rower by winning gold at the World Junior Rowing Championships.
The 17-year-old Donnington-based student was part of a coxless four team that last weekend earned a stunning victory against the best young rowers in the world at Beijing.
It was an achievement that was even more significant as the race was staged over the course to be used for next year’s Beijing Olympics at Shunyi Park.
And the gold-medal winning performance from the quartet of Rossiter, Kieran Emery, George Nash and Jack Morrissey was all the more remarkable as the crew was only pitched together three weeks before the event.
The former Speenhamland and Cheam School pupil has a superb pedigree in his aim of reaching the top as his father Tom formerly represented the Goldie team - Cambridge University’s reserve rowing team that races annually before the University Boat Race.
In May, Rossiter represented Great Britain in the coxless fours at the Munich International Junior Regatta and came away clutching a silver medal.
But Rossiter, who has been asked to put himself forward for GB under-23 training to try and make the step up to the seniors, surpassed even those achievements in China.
Yet he admits that striking gold went beyond his expectations.
“It was my best achievement in rowing by miles,” he said. “From the first day of training our main acceptable goal was to get a medal, anything else we thought would be a bonus. But as we progressed in the event we realised it was more realistic to win gold. I have got another year at Abingdon School, then I would like to go to a big rowing university and then see where it takes me - maybe to the World Championships or Olympics.”