Michael Brake

Michael Brake hails from North Shore Rowing Club where he began rowing for Westlake Boys’ High School as a 13-year-old in 2008. He first represented New Zealand at the 2012 World Rowing Junior Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. His first strokes on international waters were winning ones, with the young crew bringing home a gold medal in the men’s coxed four. After taking a year off from international rowing, Michael returned to the fold in 2014 in the U23 men’s coxed four at the World Rowing U23 Championships. The crew placed second with a blistering final sprint over the last 500m.

The following year Michael broke into the young elite men’s eight, which was tasked with qualifying the boat for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. They did so by placing a commendable 4th at the World Rowing Championships in Aiguebelette, France, and went on to finish 6th at the Olympics the following year. After Rio Michael underwent surgery on his wrist for an injury from the 2016–17 domestic season. He came back with a vengeance, pushing his way into the men’s eight just prior to the World Rowing Championships at which the crew placed 6th. After a solid domestic season, he was named alongside Tom Murray in the men’s pair. Another injury struck Michael, however, this time at the start of the international season. He broke his other wrist, meaning another round of surgery and a long road to recovery. Michael and Tom both returned to win World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne in 2018 and went on to place 6th at the World Rowing Championships.

Michael and Tom returned to the pair in 2019 and took home a silver and bronze at World Rowing Cups II and III respectively before securing the silver medal 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 Michael at 6 seat) went on to reclaim the title after a near 50-year wait in an exhilarating final by winning gold.

Michael is working towards a civil engineering degree with the University of Auckland. He also has a keen eye for property investment, and enjoys wakeboarding and waterskiing.