Clontarf rower Nik Pender won three gold medals for Australia last year
For most 22-year-olds, university graduations, gap year vacations, and job opportunities are the usual milestones they celebrate at the end of the year. For Nik Pender, many of these are true, but they pale in comparison to his other 2025 milestones – three international gold medals representing Australia in rowing.
“It’s funny, actually, because when we won in Lucerne, I don’t remember much,” Nik explained over the phone from Canberra, after a long day of training. “I pretty much collapsed on a pole. It was elation, but more so relief that it was over. I was obviously over the moon to have won.”
Nik won two world cups in the Men’s Four in June last year – one in Lucerne, Switzerland and another in Varese, Italy. He also won gold for the Men’s Eight at the Grand Challenge Cup, in the UK in July.
Despite being a World Cup gold medalist, Nik’s athletic journey didn’t start in rowing. He started with rugby union, which he played at St Augustine’s in Year 7, and an injury saw him turn to rowing as a form of pre-season physiotherapy. “I got signed up and ended up loving it. I grew up rowing (at St Augustine’s) and haven’t stopped since.”
Nik is open about the work and training he’s done, and attributes a lot of his success to the people who helped him learn the ropes. He shared that while he has ‘never had a problem with the racing mindset,’ training is ‘quite a lot of work.’
“I’m not going to sugar coat it – I’m not as physically gifted as others. (It’s) on the technical side of the sport I’ve been able to find my feet and success, so I have to attribute all of my success to my coaches. Having a good coach initially, the Ungemachs, Judith and Matt, really started my rowing acer and got me to the point of being in the national team.
“Here in Canberra there’s some world-class coaches, some of the best in Australian history. They have pushed my rowing to the next level, which is where you need to be to compete on a world stage.”
Last year Nik was also recognised by Rowing Australia with the Win Well Vocational and Education Award, which he described as ‘largely about what goes on outside of rowing.’
Nik explained that for him, the honour of the award was less about what it meant to him and what it could mean to future athletes. “I’ve been studying, I graduated last year from actuarial studies at UNSW, I believe that was the main reason for the award. The people who have won that award before me are real heroes of mine – I hope I can do the same thing for the next generation, show that you can study, work and train at a high level.”
Many hope to see Nik donning the green and gold for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, tackling the new 1500 metre format on the American coast.
“I’ve got to hang in there for a few more years now, but that’s the pinnacle of our sport, what everyone here is dreaming of,” Nik confided. “The race distance is changing, so that’ll be fun and exciting.
“I wouldn’t say that it’s (going to be) easy, but anything hard and worthwhile generally isn’t. To make it to the Olympic Games would be a huge achievement, meeting other athletes and seeing what it means to everyone to compete for their country, for their sport.”
