What a season it has been for Marlborough oarsman Fred Vavasour.
The 23-year-old, who took his first steps at the elite level of New Zealand rowing, finished the 2025-26 season as a genuine world-class performer.
Fred capped 12 months of remarkable progress by raced in both the NZ men’s four and eight at the Amsterdam world championships in late August, finishing sixth in the A final of the fours and eighth overall in the eight.
Fred described this past season and his ascension to elite level as “a pretty steep learning curve”.
“I only did one under-23 year due to my varsity commitments so it all seems that it has gone from zero to 100 quite quickly, which is really exciting, but I had to learn a lot in a hurry.
“It has been great to have the chance to come in quite green and you are given the grace to learn your own processes … I guess, learning what it means to be a professional athlete.
“So, I have loved my first year [in the elite squad] … learned lots, and I think I am in a good spot to take that a bit further.”
Rowing at the top level in this country is renowned for taking a tough approach to selection, a fact Fred is only too aware of.
“You are only as good as your last race, or in many cases your last training session. So, I guess it is about being able to tap the wheel consistently to stay in the position I am and push my own performances a bit closer to the front.”
A feature of NZ elite selection leading into the next Olympics is the selection of “hybrid” rowers who can slot into more than one crew, as Fred did in Amsterdam.
He feels this situation may suit him “in a couple of years’ time”, but described racing in both the four and eight in his first year at the elite world champs as “a big, big schedule”.
“The fours final was three hours before the eight’s heat and the fours final didn’t go our way,” he said, “so there is something to learn about being able to bounce out of a result you might not have been after and get up for the next one. You start looking under the little rocks rather than moving the big boulders. I think as a group we did a good job of managing the situation, but I maybe hadn’t anticipated the realities of doubling up.”
Fred began rowing in 2018 at Marlborough Boys’ College. Success quickly followed, from claiming a silver medal in the boys’ novice double at his first Maadi regatta to winding up with another silver in the highly competitive boys’ U18 pair in his final Maadi outing in 2021.
After finishing school, Fred moved to Dunedin to study at the University of Otago and, alongside his studies, continued to pursue rowing, representing both the Otago University and Wairau clubs with notable success at both university and national regattas.
Consistent results earned him selection for his first New Zealand representative team, the U21 Trans-Tasman team, who raced against Australia in the annual regatta.
In 2024, Fred competing for the Avon Rowing Club, winning four medals at the NZ champs, including a premier silver. Fred also represented Avon at the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta and travelled to China to race with the Otago men’s eight at the International University Regatta.
Last year Fred stepped up to premier level and quickly proved he could foot it with the country’s elite. He was chosen to represent NZ at the U23 World Championships in Poland, stroking the men’s eight which claimed silver.
After being named in the 2025–2026 NZ Elite Summer Squad and following a strong effort at the nationals, Fred was named in the Kiwi four for the elite World Cup campaign, reaching the A final at World Cup I in Spain and winning bronze at World Cup II in Bulgaria.
Selection for the World Champs followed, Fred featuring in the four and eight during the Amsterdam showpiece, both crews underlining their potential while providing invaluable international racing experience for Fred.
Fred cited the on-going influence of Kiwi team mate Ben Taylor, double world champion in the pair, who “has experienced quite of few of the same things I experienced”.
“He has also helped make it a really cool environment for me to be a part of.
“I am really lucky to have been welcomed in the way I have been by the group as a whole.”
Fred is one of a small band of top rowers who have taken a slightly different route to the top level, prioritising study over rowing after leaving school and gaining a university degree, in Fred’s case, a three-year BSC in neuroscience.
“I wouldn’t have had it any other way.” he said, suggesting he would not have been “well-rounded enough” to have made it a go of it at a younger age.
“The rowing is now my foremost goal, but it is always good to have a safety net to fall back into … because life does throw stuff your way that aren’t always favourable,” he said.
The next big test for the young Marlburian is the national champs at Lake Ruataniwha in February 2027, and Fred has his sights on a precious and so-far-elusive red coat, presented to premier title winners.
“That’s a big goal, but I am under no illusion how difficult that will be, coming up against guys like the world champion pair,” he added.
