Sam Mounter is delighted he didn’t let his first taste of rowing influence his opinion of the sport.
“It went terribly,” he recalled. “I didn't quite know what to do and didn't speak up for myself. They let me off the ropes on my first go and I hit a moored sailing boat, fell in and got stuck under it. Luckily I was a pretty good swimmer.”
Nearly a decade after that inauspicious introduction as he was transferring from Lansdowne Crescent Primary School to Year 7 at Hutchins, Mounter has a handful of national titles, world championship experience and blossoming future prospects.
Encouraged by a grandfather who had rowed with Launceston Grammar, the oldest of four rowing brothers joined Tas Uni Boat Club at the age of 14. A journey taking in Italy, Poland and China has since seen him become a key part of Rowing Australia’s plans seven years out from a home Olympics.
“It's been fantastic,” Mounter said of a season which peaked at the under-23 world championships.
“It is really a different stage when you look in front of you and there's the three best people in Australia in your boat and you're not winning. It's just a cut above and there's a lot of work we need to do to get back to where Rowing Australia used to be.”
Born in Hobart and a childhood fan of St Kilda great Nick Riewoldt whose uncle was his primary school PE teacher, Mounter has won five national championships, achieved as many other podium finishes and made two Australian teams.
In 2021 he was selected as part of an all-Hutchins coxed four crew to represent Australia in a World Cup simulation regatta, competing against crews preparing for the Tokyo Olympics.
“That was pretty special for me. We had all spent eight years rowing together. Two of them I had rowed with in Year 7 and we won a state championship and national championships, so that made it a really special team. Competing against crews going to Tokyo, it was really interesting to see how the elites prepared for an Olympics.”
Mounter’s biggest challenge came in 2023 when two ruptured discs in his lower back resulted in severe pain and a strength deficiency in his left leg.
“I actually thought my rowing journey was over. I spent a year trying to rehab but didn't get any better so had surgery in Brisbane. After three months’ bed rest I could get back into some light rehab and the surgeon suggested I try some light rowing. From there I just got better and better and the rest has been a bit of a miracle, but fantastic.”
Still carefully managing his training, the 22-year-old was selected to represent Australia at the under-23 world championships in Poznan, where a quad sculls crew also including South Australian Adam Holland and NSW pair Hamish Danks and William Rogers finished second in the B-final.
“That was a pretty awesome experience,” Mounter said.
“That crew meant a lot to me because I thought my rowing career was over after my back surgery, so proving to myself and others that I still had what it takes was pretty special to me.
“We showed really strong improvement from race to race which made it pretty epic racing on the world stage. It was a very tight field with two seconds between first and tenth place so us sitting eighth wasn't what we were after, but it was a good result nonetheless.”
A hectic 2025 also saw the Tasmanian Institute of Sport scholarship holder claim his first international medal at a world universities invitation regatta in China followed by an eye-opening Rowing Australia team-building camp in the mountains of Perisher.
Studying a Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science at Griffith University, the self-described “part-time student, full-time athlete” also trains in Queensland where his coaches have included 2008 Olympic champion Duncan Free.
Despite the obvious temperature differential, it is Hobart where Mounter feels most comfortable.
“The Derwent is a little rough and cold, but it's home so has a soft spot in my heart. Sometimes it is dark and cold and wavy and wet, but it's part of rowing. There's always going to be rough conditions. Some years courses are better than others and you've just got to prepare for all conditions because once you get to a regatta and you're racing, you're not going to get a second chance.
“The TIS have provided me with equipment that would have been very expensive to get myself, a high-performance gym and coaching staff to help me manage my training and my life.
Having really strong staff like former head coach Brett Crow and John Driessen in the Huon Valley - they are world-class coaches, there are no better coaches in the world - has made us such a powerhouse.”
Seeking selection to the National Training Centre in Canberra, Mounter is loving his involvement in a sport which began in such calamitous circumstances.
“My favourite thing about rowing are the incremental changes. You have seasons within seasons with micro adjustments within your physiology that can drastically change your results. It is such a pure sport and so technical and physical that you need to be on top of your game at every regatta to be able to come out on top. You need to be amazing to be able to win.
“I’m pushing myself and others to get Australia back to where it should be on the world stage. And there's not many things I can do other than get my head down and work hard.”