OV Alice’s Gold!

Huge congratulations to OV Alice Baker (K 14-22 and Old St Alban’s), who has secured an impressive Gold for Team GB Rowing at the 2024 World Rowing Senior, Under 23 and Under 19 Championships in St Catharines, Canada, which took place at the end of August 2024.

Alice was selected to be part of the Great Britain’s U23 Women’s eight (BW8+) following a gruelling selection process, and together they stormed ahead of the competition in the final race at the World Championships, finishing nearly two seconds clear of the defending champions, the USA.

Following her race, Alice, who is currently studying at Stanford University on a Rowing Scholarship, kindly returned to King’s to meet with the King’s School Worcester Boat Club senior rowers (Fifth Form – Upper Sixth) during one of their Games sessions.

Alice shared her incredible rowing journey to date, including winning gold at her first international event in Munich, how she qualified for the Indoor World Championships during Lockdown and ended up coming second in the world! She explained that a lot of the resilience she has as a rower was founded during her time at King’s, when her international career began.

The top tips Alice imparted to the attentive audience included the importance of having the right mentality to keep persevering, no matter the obstacles and, more importantly, to have fun. Alice explained, “Everyone does better if they’re having fun, so we need to make it enjoyable when competing, despite the nerves!”

During the round of questions, Alice was asked how she stays so humble and grounded, to which she explained that the more experience she gets and the more professional, the more grounded you are you appreciate how much work is needed to maintain the high standards required. Alice also managed to stun a FF rower into impressed silence when asked about her split time!

King’s Head of Rowing, Jim Chalmers, added, “We’re incredibly proud of Alice and her achievements, which are testament to the hard work and training she puts in day after day. Her dedication to the sport, and her studies, was made clear to our senior rowers when Alice spoke with them, and I know she inspired them all to commit to their own rowing ambitions.”

Our many thanks again to Alice for giving her time so generously and hugely inspiring the Fifth Form, Lower Sixth and Upper Sixth rowers!