Angus Widdicombe

Widdicombe attended Geelong College where he was introduced to rowing and he crewed that school's first VIII in 2011 and 2012.[1] His senior club rowing was initially from the Barwon Rowing Club in Geelong and then from Melbourne's Mercantile Rowing Club.[1]

In Mercantile club eights Widdicombe contested the Thames Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta in 2014 and 2015.[1] In Mercantile colours he contested national titles at the Australian Rowing Championships. He raced in an U23 pair in 2015 and that year he won the U23 coxed four national championship.[1]

Victorian state representation first came for Widdicombe in the 2014 youth eight which contested and won the Noel Wilkinson Trophy at the Interstate Regatta within the Australian Rowing Championships.[2]

Widdicombe made the 2015 Victorian senior men's eight competing for the King's Cup at the Interstate Regatta and rowed in that year's King's Cup victory.[3] He contested further King's Cups in the white V in 2017, 2018 and 2019 placing second to New South Wales in each of those years.[4][5][6]

Widdicombe made his Australian representative debut at the 2016 World Rowing U23 Championships in Rotterdam in the Australian U23 eight which raced to a seventh place finish.[7]

The following year Widdicombe was tested in various sweep-oared boats in the international season of the Australian senior squad. He raced in the eight to a fourth place at the World Rowing Cup II in Poznan and in a coxless four at the WRC III in Lucerne. Then at the 2017 World Rowing Championships in Sarasota and teamed with Darcy Wruck, Widdicombe rowed a coxed pair bearing James Rook up front, to a silver medal.[7]

Widdicome was again in the Australian squad for their 2018 international tour. He rowed in the eight to a fifth placing at the World Rowing Cup II in Linz, Austria.[7] In the touring party's second regatta of the 2018 season at the Henley Royal Regatta Widdicombe and Campbell Watts achieved the final of the Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup for the men’s pair and took on the champion Croatian brothers Martin and Valent Sinković, Olympic double-sculls champions then presenting their world class credentials as a pair. It was a convincing win for the Croatians.[8] The following week at the World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne, Widdicombe stroked the Australian eight to silver medal in a thrilling 0.14 second finish behind Germany.[7] The stage was set for the close competition that played out at the 2018 World Championships in Plovdiv. In their heat the Australian eight finished 5/100ths of a second behind the USA and then in the final, Germany dominated and took gold but 2/10ths of a second separated 2nd through to 4th and the Australians with Widdicombe setting the pace took silver, a bowball ahead of Great Britain with the USA just another bowball behind but out of the medals.[7]

In 2019 Widdicombe was again selected to stroke the Australian men's eight for the 2019 international representative season. The eight placed 5th at the World Rowing Cup II in Poznan and 6th at WRC III in Rotterdam.[7] Widdicombe then was selected to stroke the Australian eight at the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Linz, Austria.[9] The eight were looking for a top five finish at the 2019 World Championships to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.[10] The eight placed second in their heat and fourth in the final and qualified for Tokyo 2020.[7]

Widdicombe is currently studying a Bachelor of Environmental Science at Deakin University.[11]

• Angus Widdicombe at FISA WorldRowing.com