Annabelle McIntyre

Annabelle McIntyre first began rowing in her native Western Australia at the Fremantle Rowing Club. From East Fremantle, Annabelle won silver at the 2017 U23 World Rowing Championships, and went on to win two silver medals in the women's pair and women's eight in 2019, at senior level.

An impressive performance overseas earned Annabelle an invitation to Rowing Australia’s National Training Centre, prompting her relocation to Penrith in search of an elevated competitive environment and an attractive coaching infrastructure. Once under the tutelage of John Keogh, Tom Westgarth and Ellen Randell, Annabelle became a fixture on the Australian women’s eight crew, with three World Championships and two World Rowing Cups all resulting in podium finishes.

Annabelle made her Olympic debut at the Tokyo Olympics as the stroke of the Australian women’s four and won a gold medal with crewmates Jessica Morrison, Rosemary Popa and Lucy Stephan. The result is one for the history books as the Australians claimed the Olympic title after the boat class was re-introduced to the Games for the first time since the Barcelona 1992 Olympics.

The result came during the ‘the hour of power,’ a moment in time when Australia’s men’s and women’s fours stormed home for gold and the men’s and women’s quadruple sculls claimed bronze. The four medals won over the course of an hour by Australian rowing crews, along with swimmer Ariarne Titmus' gold medal in the 200 metres freestyle, contributed to the most successful period in the history of the Australian Olympic Team.

In the final, racing from lane three, the crew narrowly beat the Dutch team to win the gold medal with an Olympic best time of six minutes 15.37 seconds, finishing just 0.34 seconds ahead of the Netherlands.

Despite the rarity of rowing in multiple boat classes due to the sport's intense physical demands, Annabelle and Jessica followed their gold in the women's four with a start in the women's pair.

Needing a top-three finish in the semi-final to reach the A-Final, they raced just two hours after their victory. They finished fourth, moving to the B-Final, which they won, concluding their Olympics in seventh place.

In the 2022 season, Annabelle was selected for the women's coxless four for World Cup II in Poznan, joining Olympic Champion Lucy Stephan and fellow Olympians Bronwyn Cox and Kat Werry. The crew won gold, finishing ahead of the Dutch team.

At the 2022 World Rowing Championships in Racice, Czech Republic, the same crew advanced to the A-Final and secured a bronze medal.

In March 2023, Annabelle was selected for the Australian senior women's sweep-oar squad for the international season. At the World Cup II in Varese, Italy, she and Jessica won gold. They repeated this success three weeks later at the World Cup III in Lucerne, winning their heat, semi-final, and the A-Final. At the 2023 World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, they won their heat and semi-final, qualifying the boat for the 2024 Paris Olympics. In the A-Final, they finished second behind the Dutch pair, earning a silver medal.