The Australian men’s four has claimed bronze on the final day of the 2010 Under 23 World Rowing Championships in Brest, Belarus.

The crew of Joshua Dunkley Smith, Nicholas Purnell, Dominic Grimm and Will Lockwood (all Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holders) finished behind the Italian and British crews to win the bronze medal in a time of 6:08.55.

Australia had entered the final after a disrupted regatta, with Dunkley Smith struggling with a virus that had forced him to miss the heat row.

They qualified in Lane 5 for the final and were in fourth place for the opening half of the race before coming right into contention at the 1500m mark.

Italy, Great Britain and Australia were only separated by 0.63 seconds with 500m remaining, but Italy held on for gold, while the British pipped Australia by 0.07 seconds.

It concluded a strong European tour for all four Australian rowers, after they had all featured in the Senior A World Cup tour in June and July.

Dunkley Smith, Purnell and Lockwood had won the gold medal at the World Cup 2 in the men’s four, before featuring in the Australian men’s eight crew at World Cup 3 that won the silver medal.

Grimm, meanwhile, had won a gold medal at World Cup 3 in the men’s coxed pair.

All four will now return to Australia to complete their training ahead of the 2010 World Rowing Championships selection trials that will be held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre from 23-26 August.

Meanwhile, the Australian women’s fours team has claimed a silver medal at the Under 23 World Rowing Championships in Brest, Belarus.

The crew consisting of Jessica Molsher-Jones, Peta White, Renee Chatterton (all National Talent Identification and Development athletes) and Mary Connelly led for the middle 1000m of the race, before succumbing to the challenge from the USA in the final quarter of the race.

In an excellent performance from the Australian crew, they crossed the line just three seconds behind USA in a time of 6:43.19.