Thomas Russel

Thomas Russel (fondly known as 'Russ' by crewmates) began rowing in 2013 for St Andrew’s College out of Avon Rowing Club in Christchurch. Thomas competed for the U18 South Island Team in 2015 where he competed in the Four and Eight. He was first selected into the New Zealand Junior team in the Men’s Pair in 2016 as an U17 athlete, where the crew placed 7th. After a successful final year in school rowing in 2017, during which he won the Boy's Coxed Four (Springbok Shield) and the Boy's Eight Maadi Cup, Thomas was selected into the New Zealand Junior Men’s Coxless Four. The crew picked up a Silver medal at the World Rowing Junior Championships in Lithuania. Thomas spent the 2017/18 summer competing with Southern RPC.

Less than a year later Thomas found himself competing at the 2018 World Rowing U23 Championships in Poznan, Poland, again in the Men’s Coxless Four. In a highly competitive field featuring crews that had medalled at Elite-level World Rowing Cup regattas, Thomas and his crew came home with a Bronze medal. Their performance impressed the Rowing NZ selectors so much that Thomas and some of the crew were chosen to compete at the Elite World Rowing Championships in the same year.

Thomas was then selected into the 2018/19 Elite Summer Squad at just 19 years old. He went on to stroke the Men's Coxless Four for the second year in a row, coming away with a Silver medal at the U23 World Rowing Championship in Flordia, USA. Thomas and some of the crew were chosen to compete at the Elite World Rowing Championships in the same year again.

After a full-on couple of years for the young Thomas in the Elites and U23's, he decided to take a break for a year and focus on earning his Real Estate License.

At the start of 2021, Thomas made his comeback making appearances at South Island regattas with Southern RPC - doing some sculling as well as sweeping. Thomas trained all winter in Christchurch while selling homes and training alongside the NZ World University Team. All the hard work paid off after his break in Christchurch, as he was named in the 2021/22 Elite Development Rowing Squad.

However, the summer of 2022/23 with the Elite Development Squad saw Thomas winning his first Red Coat in the Men's Premier Coxless Four with Avon Rowing Club, at the 2023 NZ Rowing National Championships. On top of this, he also claimed Silver in the Men's Premier Pair with a long-time crewmate from St Andrews College - Ben Taylor. After impressing the selectors, Thomas has been named in the 2023 Elite Men's Sweep Squad, coached by Mike Rodger. Thomas teamed up with Ben Taylor again - but at the 2023 World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne, Switzerland. The duo went on to claim 12th overall in a very competitive field.

Off the water, Thomas has his Real Estate license. He is not currently selling any homes - but in his spare time, he likes to play golf and go boating. He also likes taking his dog Albie to the beach and on adventures when he sees him.