Double gold for Aussie rowing crews

Australia's men's and women's fours have both won gold at the rowing world championships in the Florida city of Sarasota.

Australia's men's and women's fours doubled up on gold at the rowing world championships on Saturday, storming to contrasting victories in Florida.

The male crew of Alex Hill, Jack Hargreaves, Spencer Turrin and Josh Hicks ended a 26-year drought by winning Australia's first world title in the boat class since 1991.

They led from start to finish, hitting the line in a time of five minutes and 55.24 seconds to score a comfortable win over Italy (5:57.19) and Olympic champions Great Britain (5:57.99) in Sarasota.

"It means heaps to me, I've been trying for a long time to try and win something so this feels really good," said Turrin, who was born in 1991.

"It's been the best year of rowing I have had in terms of the vibe around the place (at the national training centre in Canberra)."

The women's four, meanwhile, were fifth early on but built their rating midway through the 2000m race.

They hadn't lost a race this season and with a final surge to the line, the crew of Molly Goodman, Sarah Hawe, Katrina Werry and Lucy Stephan maintained their winning streak.

Australia's triumph was the first world championship in their boat class since it was added to the Olympic program earlier this year.

They came home in a time of 6:33.58 ahead of Poland (6:34.25) and Russia (6:34.67).

"It's incredible," said 30-year-old Hawe, who returned to racing recently following a big break from rowing.

"You get that sniff of international competition as a junior... but I always had that urge in the back of my head to keep rowing and sort of knew I had the goods to do it, so now it feels good to show everyone that it can be done."

The women's quadruple scull crew finished their final in sixth.


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Source: AAP



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