Two races, two golds - Woolnough on 'awesome' debut
Rower Fergus Woolnough has said it was an "awesome feeling" to win two gold medals in his first two senior races for Great Britain. Woolnough was part of the men's eight crew that took gold at the European Championships in Bulgaria and the World Rowing Cup in Italy, two weeks later.The 22-year-old was only selected for the squad for the first time in April. "Even being selected for the boat feels like a massive accomplishment and then going out to races and being able to deliver some really good performances, that is an awesome feeling," Woolnough told BBC Radio Gloucestershire."It makes all the very cold windy mornings through the winter worth it."
Woolnough, from Gloucester, grew up playing rugby union for his local club in Dursley, but it was a PE teacher at his school who recommended he try rowing because of his height. He was pointed in the direction of a talent-spotting session in the sport."For a long time I was very much under the impression I was going to go the way of rugby, but I'm very glad I didn't choose that way," Woolnough said."It's worked out amazingly for me. It's the first year of the cycle but even now it's been amazing, the journey I've had. Everywhere I've been, the things I've done, the places I've been able to row.""I can't wait to hopefully continue for a long time."Woolnough went on to attend Hartpury College and University before completing his studies at Oxford Brookes University, where his rowing experience and exposure increased. "It's a very weird thing thinking I started when I was just 15 at school doing a bit of sport and now it's my job and my life," he said.
Next up for Woolnough is the second regatta of the World Cup series in Switzerland from 27-29 June.Great Britain are the reigning Olympic champions in the men's eight and with two wins to their name in 2025 so far, Woolnough said the challenge now was to keep the standard high."Winning the first couple of races this season has been a really good start but I think the guys in the eight last year won a lot of races," he said. "We've continued having a target on the men's eight's back for the time being, we've got to keep improving and hopefully keep winning to keep that."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Italy cracks down on violence against referees
ROME, June 21 (Reuters) - Referees in Italy will now receive the same legal protection as police officers and other public officials, Sports Minister Andrea Abodi said, to help curb a rise in cases of assault in sports such as soccer. A change to the penal code will mean much tougher penalties, include potentially jail, for acts of violence against match officials, including pushing, hitting, or threatening. The move follows months of discussions between the government and the Italian Soccer Referees Association. The law, part of a decree approved by the Italian government late on Friday, extends protection to all officials responsible for ensuring sporting fixtures are conducted fairly. Abuse towards match officials at all levels of Italian soccer has become a growing concern. In December, Serie A referees highlighted the issue by wearing black smudges on their cheeks during matches as a symbol of protest. In one notorious example last season, 19-year-old referee Diego Alfonzetti was attacked when he took charge of a youth match in Sicily. Alfonzetti was invited on to the pitch alongside the match officials before the Lazio-Rome Serie A derby in April as an act of solidarity. "Sport is loyalty and sharing. Those who do not accept it are warned: from tomorrow violent behaviour and aggression against referees will be punished without delay, even with prison," said Senator Andrea Ostellari, a junior justice minister.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Marc Marquez overcomes poor start to win Italian Grand Prix sprint
June 21 (Reuters) - Ducati's polesitter Marc Marquez overcame a botched start to win the Italian Grand Prix sprint ahead of his brother Alex and team mate Francesco Bagnaia on Saturday to maintain his dominance in the shorter format this season. It was Marc's eighth sprint victory in nine rounds this season as he extended his lead in the riders' championship to 35 points over second-placed Alex while Bagnaia is now 98 points behind. Marc had become the first rider to claim 100 career pole positions when he broke the lap record earlier on Saturday but the Spaniard was seen fiddling with a setting near his handlebar just before the lights went out. He had less than a second to look up and see the lights go out, executing a poor launch off the line as a result and falling outside the top four while Bagnaia moved into the lead on one of his favourite circuits. "I know what happened but because the launch control was in, then I take off, then I put it in again and then I lost a lot of positions," Marc said. "But we gave a good show out there. We won the sprint race. That was not the main target. The main target was to try not to lose a lot of points. "But all these Italian fans enjoyed the show because the comeback was super nice." Marc recovered by the end of lap one to sit behind Bagnaia and Alex as the three Ducatis went side-by-side heading into turn one to the delight of the roaring crowd before Alex squeezed through unscathed on his Gresini bike to take the lead. Marc then locked horns with home favourite Bagnaia to overtake him before using his brother's slipstream to take the lead on lap four when going at more than 350 kph. Once he had clean air in front of him, Marc took complete command of the sprint and set the pace as he slowly extended his lead over Alex to more than a second while Bagnaia desperately held on to third while also receiving track limit warnings. As Marc took the chequered flag ahead of Alex, Bagnaia managed to keep Maverick Vinales at bay and the KTM rider came fourth while Fabio Di Giannantonio of VR46 Racing completed the top five.
BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
Two races, two golds - Woolnough on 'awesome' debut
Rower Fergus Woolnough has said it was an "awesome feeling" to win two gold medals in his first two senior races for Great Britain. Woolnough was part of the men's eight crew that took gold at the European Championships in Bulgaria and the World Rowing Cup in Italy, two weeks 22-year-old was only selected for the squad for the first time in April. "Even being selected for the boat feels like a massive accomplishment and then going out to races and being able to deliver some really good performances, that is an awesome feeling," Woolnough told BBC Radio Gloucestershire."It makes all the very cold windy mornings through the winter worth it." Woolnough, from Gloucester, grew up playing rugby union for his local club in Dursley, but it was a PE teacher at his school who recommended he try rowing because of his height. He was pointed in the direction of a talent-spotting session in the sport."For a long time I was very much under the impression I was going to go the way of rugby, but I'm very glad I didn't choose that way," Woolnough said."It's worked out amazingly for me. It's the first year of the cycle but even now it's been amazing, the journey I've had. Everywhere I've been, the things I've done, the places I've been able to row.""I can't wait to hopefully continue for a long time."Woolnough went on to attend Hartpury College and University before completing his studies at Oxford Brookes University, where his rowing experience and exposure increased. "It's a very weird thing thinking I started when I was just 15 at school doing a bit of sport and now it's my job and my life," he said. Next up for Woolnough is the second regatta of the World Cup series in Switzerland from 27-29 Britain are the reigning Olympic champions in the men's eight and with two wins to their name in 2025 so far, Woolnough said the challenge now was to keep the standard high."Winning the first couple of races this season has been a really good start but I think the guys in the eight last year won a lot of races," he said. "We've continued having a target on the men's eight's back for the time being, we've got to keep improving and hopefully keep winning to keep that."
