The Australian men’s four has won silver at the 2009 FISA World Rowing Championships in Poznań, Poland.

Francis Hegerty (New South Wales), Cameron McKenzie-McHarg (Victoria), James Marburg (Victoria) and Matt Ryan (New South Wales) added world championship silver to the Olympic silver medal they won last year.

The United Kingdom and Australia took the race out quickly, as expected, and the two crews had opened up a sizeable margin on the rest of the field at the halfway point.

The United Kingdom moved out to boat length lead by the 1250-metre mark and. despite the best efforts of the Australian crew. they were unable to reel in the UK team, who crossed the line in 5:47.28. Australia was three quarters of a length back, in 5:49.20.

The Australian men’s four are one of the great success stories of Australian rowing. They missed out on selection in the Australian men’s eight in 2008, the priority sweep boat, and were placed into the four and given the opportunity to qualify for the Olympic Games.

Under the watchful eye of coach Tim Conrad they won World Cup 2, and then the final of the Olympic qualification regatta, which was also held in Poznań.

At the Olympic Games they almost caused one of the biggest upsets of the regatta when they led the favoured British crew for 1800 metres before finishing in the silver medal position.

The stroke of the crew, Francis Hegerty, says the silver medal is still a great result.

‘It’s great to get the silver, and although gold would have been nice, it shows we are a contender,’ Hegerty said.

‘Most of the guys in all the crews know each other pretty well and are forming a good rivalry. It’s really good in such a quality field that we are in a position to win medals.

‘It was a bit bumpy out there today but you come to Poland expecting tricky conditions like that.’