Kyle Schoonbee and Nicole van Wyk made the podium at the world under-23 rowing championships in Bulgaria on Sunday‚ with two other crews making A-finals.
Schoonbee took silver in the men’s single sculls while Van Wyk‚ a silver medallist last year‚ had to settle for bronze in the lightweight women’s single sculls.
Vaughn Botes and Nicholas Oberholzer‚ fourth in the lightweight men’s double sculls a year ago‚ slipped to fifth yesterday.
But the men’s pair of Luc Daffarn and Sandro Torrente‚ who both competed at the world under-18 championships last year‚ finished fifth in the men’s pair‚ a result that pleased national coach Roger Barrow.
He’s planning on taking some of the under-23s to the senior world championships in the US in September as he looks to fast-track the youngsters to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Barrow will conduct tests on the rowers this week before selecting his final squad for the regatta in Sarasota-Bradenton‚ Florida.