Simon Keenan
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 8 October 1992 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Years active | 2008 - current | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Rowing | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Melbourne Uni Boat Club | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||
| National finals | King's Cup 2016-2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Simon Keenan (born 8 October 1992) is an Australian rower. He is a national champion, a national representative and silver medal winner at world championships.
Club and state rowing
Keenan was educated at Xavier College where he took up rowing.[1] His senior club rowing is from the Mercantile Rowing Club in Melbourne.
He debuted at state representative level for Victoria in the 2011 youth eight which contested and won the Noel Wilkinson Trophy at the Interstate Regatta within the 2011 Australian Rowing Championships.[2] He first rowed in the Victorian men's senior eight contesting the 2017 King's Cup at the Interstate Regatta. [3] That 2017 crew and the 2018 eight in which he rowed in the four seat, both placed second.[4]
International representative rowing
Keenan made his Australian representative debut in 2013 in an U23 coxed four at the U23 World Rowing Championships in Linz and rowed to a fourth placing. [5] In 2014 he rowed in the four seat of an Australian eight at the U23 World Rowing Championships in Varese who finished second behind New Zealand and took a silver medal.[5]
Keenan made his first national senior squad appearance in the Australian eight in 2017. He raced in in that boat at two World Rowing Cups in Europe before contesting the 2017 World Rowing Championships in Sarasota where the eight missed the A final and placed eighth overall. [5] He held his seat in the eight in 2018 rowing at the World Rowing Cup II in Linz and at the WRC III in Lucerne where the Australians took a silver medal in a thrilling finish 0.14 seconds behind Germany. [5] 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 took silver, a bowball ahead of Great Britain with the US out of the medals.[5] Keenan rowed in the four seat and came home with a silver world championship medal.