HEREFORD Rowing Club member Jake Birch brought home silver for Great Britain from the World Rowing Championships.

After a rigorous selection process, which started in November 2021, Birch was selected to compete in the GB as part of the under-19 eight.

The monster week of racing had seen 1,500 athletes from 61 nations competing across the under-19 and under-23 age category on Italy’s beautiful Lake Varese. 

There was a festival feel as spectators were keen to make the most of the last day of competition and cheer on their crews.

Hereford rower Birch was part of the GB men’s eight coxed by James Trotman, he was joined in the team by Joseph Olagundoye, Matthew Johnston, Thomas Griffin, Hylton Harvey, Max Peel, Zac Day and Ben Lundie.

GB finished second to Germany in their heat with defending champions, USA, in third. The final was a repeat of the heat with Germany taking the lead through the 500-metre marker.

Despite the young GB crew digging deep in search of gold Germany held on for gold.

The medal table saw GB finish fifth overall in the U19 and U23 medal standings with an overall tally of 10 medals shared equally between the men’s and women’s squads.

Seven out of eight junior crews qualified for the A finals with the men’s pair in the B final – an exceptional achievement considering that crews had only been selected a few weeks beforehand with all of the team representing GB for the first time.