GB November Trials 2022/23 – U23 Men’s Sculling Preview

As the winter nights draw longer, we are deep into another season of rowing and next on the horizon is the first round of GB Trials. This will bring together almost 100 of the top U23 men (excluding the 37 in the U.S. for university). These athletes will be split between pairs and singles but the exact breakdown is not known at the time of writing and is subject to athletes making a 2km test time of 6:14 though there exists some leeway for those who are under 21.

Matt Fielding (Leander Club)

Of those who are still under 23, Matt Fielding was the best placed at this point last year but did not attend the next open round of trials after a particularly bad bout of COVID-19. The Scotsman does have national team experience having been selected in the quad for the U23 European Championships in 2021. Fielding has moved clubs this season from Edinburgh University to the talent hotbed of Leander Club and it will remain to see how this change will improve his rowing.

Miles Devereux (Leander Club)

Miles Devereux has had a phenomenal 2022. He started the year off at February Trials where he finished second U23 sculler only to Callum Dixon who has now aged out of the category. In July he won the Temple Challenge Cup with Oxford Brookes before setting off on international duty representing Britain in the Men’s Quad and Men’s Double at World and European U23s respectively. He has not been slow to start the new season either competing in Scullers’ Head (first U23), the Head of the Charles and Wingfield Sculls, all in the Leander pink he wore as a junior. This experience and form performing well on the long Championship course should serve him well over the 5km time trial in Boston.

Angus Pollock (Bath University)

Out of Dan Harris’s Bath University World Class Start programme, comes Angus Pollock. Rowing as a junior for Bryanston School in Dorset, Pollock established himself last year in his second year at university. Top U21 in the February trials, he was selected in the quad for the U23 European Rowing Championships before unfortunately having to pull out with only 9 days to go due to injury. He will be looking to put himself back in contention for selection to be able to represent his country next summer.

Josh Lyon (Reading University)

Reading University are a mainstay within British university sculling and the best of their group this year seems to be Josh Lyon. Fourth at BUCS in the single last year but in the later parts of the summer excelled gaining selection for England at Home International Regatta, winning in both the Men’s Single and the Men’s Quad on the London Docklands course. He followed this up by representing GB at the U23 European Championships in Belgium in the Men’s Quad. This new season has also started off well, as he finished as the second fastest U23 at the Scullers’ Head.

Josh Matthews (Edinburgh University/Strathclyde Park)

While many graduating juniors have gone across the Atlantic for the next stage in their rowing career, notably including Marcus Chute of Windsor Boys’, now at Princeton, likely the fastest of those who remained in the UK is Josh Matthews. A product of Stirling Rowing Club and the Strathclyde Park World Class Start Programme, Matthews was selected in the Men’s Quad for the Junior World Championships this summer, making it to the A Final. Now a senior, Matthews is rowing with Edinburgh University Boat Club, who also train at Strathclyde Country Park. Often slow to show their hand early in the season, it will be interesting to see how he – and the many other juniors moving up – fair in the big leagues.

Predictions

The first round of trials is notoriously hard to make a concrete pick as athletes differ in how long their previous season was and what levels they are focusing their training with. With all that said I would be rather surprised if anyone got the better of Miles Devereux. The big question mark in my eyes is how well Matt Fielding has recovered from his COVID setbacks. He could finish as low as eighth but I’m going to guess that the new environment down in Henley will have served him well and predict that he finishes second. The third spot for the Men’s U23 Sculling is similarly open but I am going to suggest that Angus Pollock of Bath will take it.

About The Author

Fraser Innes

Fraser joined the JRN team in September 2022 and regularly writes about domestic and international rowing with particular specialisation on US Collegiate Rowing having launched JRN’s coverage and being a staple on the End of the Island’s series on the topic. He has been involved with the sport since 2016 at George Heriot’s School and the Universities of Glasgow and Wisconsin.

See author's posts