Johannesburg – South African rowers Damien Bonhage-Koen and Christopher Baxter have set a new world record in the U23 men’s heavyweight pair event at the U19 and U23 World Rowing Championships, currently under way in Varese Italy.
The pair, who form part of the The RMB National Squad, took gold in 6:19,99, beating the previous world record by 0,07 seconds.
South Africa fielded a team of 18 athletes at the championships, who qualified for participation in May next year.
“We are delighted to see the current team of managers and coaches building the next generation of Olympic hopefuls,” the team’s manager, Darryn Roff said.
“We are tremendously proud of Damien and Christopher and look forward to more great rowing over the next two days.”
The RMB National Squad will participate in two more events this weekend.
This includes the women’s double sculls with Katherine Williams and Courtney Westley participating on Saturday at 16:02pm (SA time).
Meanwhile, the junior men’s coxed fours, which includes Jayden Thomson, Dilano Sà, Cristiano De Freitas, Braden Howard and Ethan Romburgh, will then participate on Sunday, at 11:55am (SA time).
The full set of results will be released on Monday.