Halifax rowing star Elam wins second successive world title
Halifax’s Elam Hughes has been crowned an U19s world rowing champion for the second successive year after a glittering gold medal performance in Lithuania.
Elam and the rest of the Great Britain team travelled to Trakai, where the Halifax star sat in the stroke seat of the men’s coxless four.
The quartet overcame a battle with their Italian rivals in the early stages of the final and pulled away to claim gold medals and the world title.
It was the second consecutive U19s world crown for Elam, who struck gold with the British men’s eight at the 2024 championships, in St Catherine’s, Canada, and caps a successful summer both in and out of the water.
Elam has completed his sixth form studies in Oxford, where he combined academic work with training, and will now collect his A Level results before flying out to the United States to study and row at Harvard University.
It has been a meteoric rise in the sport for Elam, who started rowing during lockdown before earning a place in the GB start programme at Agecroft Rowing Club in Salford Quays.
There, he swiftly progressed thanks to his hard work and guidance from GB coaches and his performances caught the attention of rowing teams based in schools.
He took up the offer of a place to row and study at St Edward’s School, in Oxford, in 2023 and continued with the GB rowing pathway, competing in his first international regatta in May 2024, when he won gold in the men's eight and four at the Munich Regatta.
Now, buoyed by rare back-to-back world titles, Elam intends to continue to work with the GB rowing team to achieve further success on the international stage.
There is a lot of work to be done if this is to be achieved but Elam has shown, in the short time in his rowing career, that he has the mindset and performance to set him on the right track.