Sonia Waddell

Sonia Waddell

Personal information
Birth name	Sonia Scown
Born	(1973-02-19) 19 February 1973[1]
Spouse(s)	Rob Waddell
Relatives	Alistair Scown (father)
Medal record Women's Rowing Representing  New Zealand World Championships 2001 Lucerne Quadruple sculls

Sonia Waddell (née Scown, born 19 February 1973) is a New Zealand athlete. She represented her country at a World Junior Championship in hurdles before becoming a rower, in which sport she was twice an Olympic competitor and where she won silver at a World Rowing Championship. She later competed as a cyclist and won medals at a UCI Para-cycling Track World Championship as a sighted guide.

Private life

Waddell is the daughter of former All Black Alistair Scown and sister of rugby player Hayden Scown. She is married to fellow rower Rob Waddell.^[2][3]

Sports career

Athletics

She represented New Zealand in the 400 m hurdles at the 1990 World Junior Championships in Athletics in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.^[4]

Rowing

She first represented her country in rowing at the 1995 World Rowing Championships in Tampere, Finland, where she came ninth in the women's quadruple sculls.^[5] From 1997 onwards, she competed in the single sculls, and at the World Rowing Championships in 1997, 1998, and 1999, she placed tenth, tenth, and fifth, respectively.^[6][7][8] At the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics, she continued to compete in the single sculls, placing sixth and fifth, respectively.^[1][9][10]

She won a silver medal in the 2001 World Rowing Championships in the quadruple sculls,^[11] alongside Paula Twining and twins Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell.^[12] In the 2003 World Rowing Championships, she competed in the single sculls and came seventh.^[13]

Cycling

In 2011 she won the New Zealand Cycling Time Trial Championship.^[14]

At the 2011 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships she took one gold and one bronze as a pilot, with teammate Jayne Parsons.^[15]

References