Sanita Puspure has been chosen as the new head coach at University College Cork. The triple Olympian and world champion in the single sculls will continue to row, and is set to compete at the Ireland trial this Saturday.
She will be the first woman to be head coach at an Irish University.
UCC has a strong roster of international athletes, with Emily Hegarty, an Olympic bronze medallist, heading up a list which includes Ronan Byrne, Aoife Casey, Margaret Cremen and Tara Hanlon.
However, the club has not got a boat house – it is boating from Cork Boat Club – though there are plans to overcome this. UCC has also not had full-time paid coaches.
Puspure recently qualified with a BSc in Strength and Conditioning at Setanta College.
As an athlete, Puspure competed in London 2012 (Ireland’s only rower at the event), Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, where she qualified for but pulled out of the B Final. She won the single sculls title at the World Championships in 2018 and 2019 and the European Championships in 2019 and 2020.