Tom Mackintosh

Tom Mackintosh began rowing at Lindisfarne College and Hawke’s Bay Rowing Club in 2012 at the age of 15.

Within two years he found himself selected in the 2014 NZ Junior Men’s Coxed Four. The crew raced to a Bronze medal at the World Rowing Junior Championships in Hamburg, Germany. Tom took time after the World Rowing Junior Championships to focus on his study at the University of Canterbury. During that time he stayed involved with the sport at the Rowing High-Performance Centre level and was also in the New Zealand Universities Trans-Tasman team in 2015. In 2016 he was selected in the New Zealand U21 team that competed in a two-regatta series against Australia. The following year Tom was selected in the U23 Men’s Eight that went on to place 7th at the World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

In 2018 he moved into the U23 Coxless Four and took home a Bronze medal from the U23 worlds in Poznan, Poland. When the New Zealand selectors decided to take on this young crew to compete at the Elite World Rowing Championships in Bulgaria for experience, the crew achieved a final ranking of 15th at the regatta. Tom was also named the 2018 University of Canterbury Sportsperson of the Year based on his successful year. In 2019 Tom was reselected into the Men’s U23 Coxless Four, and he and his crew managed to take home a Silver medal. Following the World Rowing U23 Championships Tom successfully trialled for the Men’s Elite Coxless Four, which finished 14th at the World Rowing Championships.

Then after only securing a boat for Tokyo via the last-chance qualification regatta in Lucerne in May, the Men's Eight (with Tom at bow) went on to reclaim the title after a near 50-year wait in an exhilarating final by winning Gold. Tom also claimed the 2021 Hawke's Bay Senior Sportsperson of the Year award after this exceptional performance (awarded while he was still in MIQ post-Olympics).

Tom joined forces with fellow Olympic Gold Medallist from the Men's Eight - Matt MacDonald in the Men's Pair. The pair had a strong start, claiming Gold at the 2022 World Rowing Cup II in Poznan, Poland. Not long after this, the pair went on to be victorious at the 2022 Henley Royal Regatta - claiming the title of the Silver Goblets and Nickalls’ Challenge Cup (Men’s Pair) against the strong Great British Men's Pair. However, the speed of the pairs became very fierce at the 2022 World Rowing Cup III and World Rowing Championship. Tom and Matt managed to perform and come away with impressive A-Final results in the last two events of the 2022 International Rowing campaign (4th - World Rowing Cup III, 6th World Rowing Championship).

In the summer of 2022/23, Tom decided to prioritise his work and put full-time rowing on pause for a little while. He joined forces with an old teammate from the Tokyo Olympic Eight - Shaun Kirkham, to compete at the 2023 Japanese Rowing National Championships with the Toyota Boshuku Rowing Team. They claimed Gold in the Men's Eight - winning two from two titles on the Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo, Japan.

Tom has always had a passion for sculling in the single, as he spent some time training beside Mahé Drysdale when they were in the Rowing NZ Elite Summer-Squad together in 2020/21. Tom has been named as the 2023 Single Sculler for World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne, Switzerland. He had an exceptional debut in this event, claiming Bronze in a very stacked and fast field. This is a very promising result for Tom, as he has only been back in the single for a couple of months since returning from his rowing break - proving he has the potential to qualify and take this to the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Tom successfully graduated with his BComm from Canterbury in 2019, furthermore graduating with a Master's of Management through Massey University.