Matthew Langridge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Matthew Langridge (born 20 May 1983, in Crewe, Cheshire, England) is a current Great Britain oarsman.
Contents |
[edit] Junior Rowing Career
Matthew was born in Crewe, Cheshire, and grew up in the town of Northwich, attending school in the town. He started rowing at Northwich Rowing Club being coached by Paul Rafferty. At his first Junior World Championships he narrowly missed out on a medal coming fourth in a double scull with Pete Wells of Queen Elizabeth High School. He won the first ever Henley Royal Regatta medal for Northwich Rowing Club in a composite crew in the Fawley Challenge Cup. In 2001 he was the first ever junior British oarsman to win the Gold Medal in the single sculls event in the Junior World Rowing Championships in Duisburg, Germany in 2001. Later that year, he broke the British Indoor Rowing record for 2,000m in the J18 category, posting a time of 5 minutes and 59 seconds.
[edit] Senior Rowing Career
Matthew raced at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens in the Men's Heavyweight Double Sculls with Matthew Wells, and missed out by 0.06 seconds on a place in Final A. They won Final B, ranking them 7th overall. In the 2007 season, won two World Cup Gold Medals, in a pair with Colin Smith at Linz, and in an eight at Amsterdam, before winning the Bronze Medal in the pair at the World Championships in Munich. Following his performance in the pair, and the poor performance of the top GB heavyweight boat (the coxless four), there is speculation that he may be swapped into the four for the Beijing Olympics[1]. He currently rows for Leander Club, and is coached by Jurgen Grobler. Matthew won the bronze medal at the 2007 British Indoor Rowing Championships in the men's heaveyweight category ahead of all members of the coxless four increasing speculation that he will be put into the top boat for the Beijing Olympics.