Christchurch rower Matt Aldridge grabs gold at the European Championships
CHRISTCHURCH rower Matt Aldridge and his British Men’s Four teammates believe they laid down a significant Olympic marker after grabbing a memorable Munich gold at the European Championships.
The Christchurch star, 26, joined forces with Will Stewart, Sam Nunn and Freddie Davidson to topple the Netherlands on Saturday morning and help cap a golden morning for British Rowing.
The youthful quartet crossed the line 2.24s ahead of the Dutch to clinch one of four gold medals won by British stars on the day.
Nunn believes the triumph stands them in perfect stead for an assault on Paris 2024 as they continue to adapt to the globetrotting international circuit.
He said: “None of us have ever been to the Olympic Games. So events like these are massively important for us to learn about the pressure of major championships, performing on multiple days, one day after another in heats, semi-finals and stepping up through the rounds.
“These are massively, massively important for us – I think we really managed to pull together as a crew and collectively work as a stepping stone for what’s to come.
“We know we’re maybe not the fastest starting crew, so we tried to up that in the final. We tried to find a new gear, and I think we did that well.”
Britain breezed past Poland in Thursday’s heats to put themselves in a prime position for a medal when Saturday’s multi-sport action got underway.
And they delivered in style at Munich’s 1972 Olympic Regatta Centre by holding off Holland, Romania, Poland, Switzerland and Ukraine to soar to the summit of the podium.
Rowing is one of nine sports at these multi-sport championships, with athletics, cycling, triathlon, gymnastics, table tennis, canoe sprint, sport climbing and beach volleyball.
Aldridge, 26, loved being a part of it and, after winning one of the 177 gold medals on offer through the event, said: “It’s exciting, very exciting.
“We knew we were in a good place getting ready for today, and we kept our cool, raced our own race and didn’t get flustered.
“It all came up good in the end.”
The multi-sport European Championships Munich 2022, featuring athletics, beach volleyball, canoe sprint, cycling, gymnastics, table tennis, triathlon, rowing, and sport climbing, finishes on the 21st of August, the 50th anniversary of the Olympics Games in the Germany city. Watch daily live coverage across BBC One, Two, Red Button, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website.
