Alexandra's Story
Having learnt to row at boarding school, Bunbury’s Alexandra Hagan made her second Olympic Games appearance in Rio with the women’s eight. The crew had only two weeks to prepare for their Olympic campaign, after the Russian boat was banned from competing at the Games. In their first heat, the Aussies flew out of the start in a bid to chase down favourite USA, as well as Netherlands and Romania. The crew of Fiona Albert, Jessica Morrison, Alexandra Hagan, Meaghan Volker, Molly Goodman, Olympia Aldersey, Lucy Stephan, Charlotte Sutherland and coxswain Sarah Banting made a competitive start however with limited race preparation managed a fourth place finish. The boat required a top four finish in the repechage to qualify for the A-final. As they approached the final 500 metres, the top four crews pulled ahead and the Australians were left to finish fifth in what was a valiant effort for a crew that had only been training together for 10 days.
She was the only member of the crew with Olympic experience having made her Olympic debut at the London 2012 Games as a 21-year-old. The West Australian helped qualify the women's eight for the London Games with victory at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne. Hagan and the Australian women’s eight crew made the A Final at London 2012 finishing in sixth place.
She first competed internationally at the 2008 Junior World Championships, finishing fifth in the single sculls. The following year she won a silver medal in the women’s quad sculls at the Junior World Championships in France.
Hagan won U23 World Championships gold in the women’s four in 2013 while also claiming silver in the senior event at the Lucerne World Cup that year. She also was a part of the eight crew that won the 2013 Sydney World Cup event.
