Kerri Williams
Kerri Gowler began rowing in 2009 for Nga Tawa Diocesan school and Aramoho Wanganui Rowing Club.
She was first selected into the New Zealand team in the 2013 elite women’s eight. Then in 2014 Kerri burst onto the international scene along with Grace Prendergast in the U23 women’s pair. The duo formed a fast combination and went on to win gold at the World Rowing U23 Championships in a new world-best time (later beaten in 2019). Just weeks after this campaign they were selected to be part of the women’s four at the elite World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam. The four produced a phenomenal race, winning by over six seconds and destroying the previous world-best time, setting a new marker at 6:14.36 that still stands today.
Kerri and Grace have been inseparable since their 2014 selection. They qualified two boats for the 2016 Olympic Games, rowing in both the eight and the pair at the 2015 World Rowing Championships and picking up a pair of silver medals in the process. At Rio 2016, 4th place in the women’s eight left Kerri hungry for medals, and in 2017 she and Grace went undefeated through the season, set a new world-best time and became world champions in Sarasota.
Changes came in 2019 for Kerri when she was selected into both the women’s pair and the women’s eight for the international season. However, she stuck to the pair at World Rowing Cup III where she and Grace Prendergast won a gold medal. They raced in the eight as well as the pair at Henley Royal Regatta and World Rowing Cup III to prepare for the double up at the World Rowing Championships. Kerri was in scintillating form at the World Rowing Championships in 2019 in both her crews, winning gold in the women’s pair and the eight. The win in the women's eight was the first time that New Zealand had won the event in the history of the World Rowing Championships regatta.
Kerri then went on to become a two-time Olympic medalist winning gold in the women's pair and silver in the eight at Tokyo 2020. Kerri and boatmate Grace Prendergast set the tone early in Tokyo, recording a world record to win their semi-final in 6m 47.41s. The following day the pair looked a cut above, winning New Zealand's first gold medal of the Tokyo Olympic Games in a time of 6:50.19s. And Kerri wasn't done there, the next day jumping in the eight where the New Zealanders finished second, to claim silver behind Canada.
Off the water Kerri is working towards a Bachelor of Science majoring in psychology. She has a gorgeous miniature sausage dog named Cooper.