Lake Karāpiro is about to get a lot busier. Rowing New Zealand has confirmed its Summer Squad for the season ahead, and it's a list that mixes Olympic gold around the neck with athletes fresh off American college campuses.
Top of the sheet are Lucy Spoors and Brooke Francis, who won Olympic gold together in Paris in 2024 and are now back on the water after two seasons away from the programme. Their families and kids will be back around the lake too, and after a long winter training largely alone, Francis says she's simply looking forward to training alongside other people again.
"I'm very excited to be back for Summer Squad," Francis said. "Honestly what I am most looking forward to is training with other people. It's been a long Winter doing it mostly on my own."
She's also settling back into a bigger life outside the boat. "Welcoming Flynn into our family has been very special and I've loved having a bit of extra time with the kids. I'm excited for them to experience a bit of rowing life this summer too!"
The men's programme has plenty of firepower returning as well. Tom Murray and Matt Macdonald, Olympic silver medallists in the Men's Four at Paris 2024 and gold medallists in the Men's Eight at Tokyo 2020, are back. So are Ollie Maclean and Logan Ullrich, who shared that Paris silver with them in the four.
Maclean and Macdonald returned to the programme this year with the 2026 World Championships in Amsterdam in mind, having sat out the previous two Summer Squads. Ullrich comes back after a winter of cross-training while recovering from injury.
Phillip Wilson, Tokyo 2020 champion in the Men's Eight and a Paris 2024 Olympian, rejoins the squad too, following a stint overseas studying and working.
"After Paris, I knew I needed some time to let my body recover, my mind focus on something a little different, and know that my heart still had a love for rowing," Wilson said. "Now that I have achieved this, I am so excited for the next couple of years leading into the LA Olympics."
Four athletes step up to the Summer Squad for the first time this year: Alice Fahey, Katie Lush, Eva Hofmans and Arie Rasmussen Magasiva. All four have already worn the black singlet at World Cup or World Championship level, and their promotion follows strong performances through last summer's Hub and club programmes.
Two newcomers arrive from a different direction entirely. Meg Flanagan and Ben Shortt have both just wrapped up rowing careers at American universities and return home ready for the next step.
Flanagan's path began at Marlborough Girls' College before she raced U19 and U21 fours for New Zealand, then headed to the University of Tennessee. There she won bronze in the Women's Four at the 2025 U23 World Championships in Poznan, and this year helped Tennessee's Varsity Eight to bronze at the NCAA Championships, crossing in 5:51.450. Back home, she impressed again racing a Women's Pair at the Rowing NZ Performance Pathway Regatta.
"I was so excited when I found out I had been selected for the Summer Squad!" Flanagan said. She's looking forward to racing on home water after four years overseas. "I'm so excited to get the chance to get back on the water at Lake Karāpiro and Lake Ruataniwha."
Shortt's rowing started at Auckland Grammar School, where he won a national title in the Boys' U18 Four at Maadi. At the University of Washington he rowed in the four seat of the Varsity Eight that won gold at this year's IRA National Championship Regatta, adding to an international record that includes a fifth-placed Coxed Four at the 2023 U23 Worlds, bronze in the Men's Coxless Four in 2024, and silver in the Men's Eight in 2025.
"It's a huge privilege to be selected into the Summer Squad, but also a huge challenge that I look forward to," Shortt said.
Both athletes only returned to New Zealand this July, racing at the Rowing NZ Performance Pathway Regatta shortly after landing. It was enough to secure their places.
With Olympic champions back in the mix and a new generation pressing hard behind them, this Summer Squad carries real depth into the Olympic cycle ahead, exactly the kind of competition Rowing New Zealand will want on Lake Karāpiro's start line.
