Matthew Langridge

Matthew Langridge

Personal information
Born	(1983-05-20) 20 May 1983 Crewe, England
Medal record Men's Rowing Competitor for  Great Britain Olympic Games 2012 London Eight 2008 Beijing Eight World Championships 2011 Bled Coxless Four 2009 Poznań Coxless Four 2014 Amsterdam Coxless Pair 2015 Aiguebelette Coxless Pair 2007 Munich Coxless Pair European Championships 2015 Poznan Coxless Pair Junior World Championships 2001 Duisburg Single

Matthew Langridge (born 20 May 1983) is a British rower. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London he was part of the British crew that won the bronze medal in the men's eight.^[1] He is the current European Champion in the men's pair, along with James Foad.

Biography

Junior

Matthew was born in Crewe, Cheshire, and grew up in the town of Northwich, attending Hartford High School and gaining his A Levels at St Nicholas Catholic High School. He started rowing at Northwich Rowing Club being coached by Paul Rafferty.

At his first Junior World Rowing Championships in Zagreb, Croatia in 2000 he narrowly missed out on a medal coming fourth in the double scull with Pete Wells of Queen Elizabeth High School, Hexham. A few weeks earlier they had lost out in the final of the Double Sculls Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, to the Danish double of Kalizan and Samuelsen.

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.

Senior

Matthew raced at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens in the Men's 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 he 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. He won the bronze medal at the 2007 British Indoor Rowing Championships in the Men's Heavyweight category.

In the 2008 Summer Olympics he was selected to compete in the Men's Eight in Beijing. In the run-up to the games, he won silver at the Munich World Cup event, bronze in Lucerne, and gold in Poznań. At the Beijing Olympics he rowed in the 7 seat of the Men's Eight, qualifying for the final in the fastest time of either heat, 1.8 seconds ahead of the pre-games favourites, Canada. In the final, despite a late charge from Great Britain, the eight was edged out by Canada, and Matthew could only take home a Silver Medal.

Achievements

Olympics

• 2012 London - BRONZE, Eight, (2)
• 2008 Beijing – SILVER, Eight (7)
• 2004 Athens – 7th, Double (stroke)

World Championships

• 2011 Bled - Gold, Men's Four
• 2010 Lake Karapiro - 4th, Men's Four
• 2009 Poznań - Gold, Men's Four
• 2007 Munich – Bronze, Coxless Pair (stroke)

World Cups

• 2008 Poznań – Gold, Eight (7)
• 2008 Lucerne – Bronze, Eight (3)
• 2008 Munich – Silver, Eight (3)
• 2007 Amsterdam – Gold, Eight (7)
• 2007 Linz – Gold, Coxless Pair (stroke)

Junior World Championships

• 2001 Duisburg – Gold, Single Scull

GB Rowing Team Senior Trials

• 2011 6th, Coxless Pair

References

External links

• Matthew Langridge at WorldRowing.com from FISA
• – Concept 2 British Indoor Rowing Records