Laura Gourley impresses at the 2022 World Rowing Under-23 Championships and earns senior national squad call up

Narrabri’s Laura Gourley is making a name for herself on the international rowing stage following an impressive showing in Italy at the Under-23 World Championships last month, as well as her selection onto the senior Aussie national squad that will line up at the 2022 World Championships in Czech Republic next month.

Laura, the daughter of Georgina and Ian Gourley, has been rowing since 2016 when she took up the sport as a Year 9 student at her boarding school, Sydney’s Loreto Normanhurst.

The now 20-year-old has gone from strength to strength since then.

She was approached by several clubs to join them back in 2019 and then just two years later became the under-21 single sculls national champion in 2021. She backed that up with a second national title this year when she won the under-23 single sculls event.

A single scull (or a scull) is a rowing boat designed for a single person who propels the boat with two oars, one in each hand.

Like many athletes, Gourley’s path has been hampered by COVID-19.

She was set to trial for the junior Australian team in 2020, but that was cancelled, and the pandemic also claimed another chance to compete abroad for her country last year after she was named in Australia’s under-23 squad quad team as a 19-year-old.

She was even forced to train on her neighbour’s irrigation damn while in Narrabri during two lockdowns.

Her patience and dedication during those tough periods paid off when she finally got the chance to take on the world last month.

It was an opportunity that she took with both hands as she rowed her way to the semi-finals in the under-23 women’s singles scull division and eventually finished ranked eighth in the world.

Making the achievement even more impressive was the fact that she was competing against rowers from other countries that were mostly two years older than her.

Each race that Gourley competed in at the event was two kilometres in distance.

After winning her heat and placing fourth in her semi-final to narrowly miss out on the A final by one second, she placed second in the B final.

The Narrabri girl told The Courier she was proud of her achievement.

“When you reflect on it, a girl from Narrabri, it’s pretty exciting,” she said of placing eighth in the world in the women’s under-23 single sculls event.

“I never knew what rowing was when I was growing up, so it’s pretty special.”

The 2022 World Rowing Under-23 Championships event is the largest in which Gourley has ever competed.

“I was pretty nervous,” she said.

“Especially on the start line when you hear all of the countries being announced. That and the half-an-hour beforehand are pretty daunting. But once the race starts, you relax into it.

“It felt amazing (to get the win in the heat). I was relieved. To have a good first race felt incredible.

“The semi-final was a pretty tough race. I had probably the harder one.

“The goal was to get into the A final and I missed out by just one second, which was pretty crushing, but I still think I had a good race and I PB’d too, so I was happy.

“In the B final, I wanted to win, but I was competing against a pretty good girl who’d done a seven-twenty-seven before. She ended up getting me, but I was happy to come second.”

The 2022 World Rowing Under-23 Championships were held from July 25-30 in Varese, a city in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 55km north-west of Milan.

Gourley will return to Europe in the green and gold next month when she travels to Czech Republic as a member of the Australian rowing squad.

She is a sculling reserve in that squad, which will compete at the 2022 World Rowing Championships in Racice.

“It’s so exciting,” she said.

“It’s a big step up, and being young, it will be a really good experience.

“Just being there and learning what it’s all about will be pretty good, and if I get to step in, that would be great.”

So, once again, Narrabri is featured on the international sporting map.

Gourley is a proud Narrabri girl and was once a dominant swimmer for the Stingrays Swimming Club.

She was born and bred in Narrabri and attended Narrabri Public School and then Narrabri High School for two years before making the move to Sydney.