Canberra trio Caleb Antill, Luke Letcher and Angus Moore have been selected to row for Australia during the upcoming world cup season.
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The trio have been named alongside Olympians and world championship medallists and will compete in Europe for two months from June.
Antill has been picked in the quadruple scull, while Letcher and Moore are in the sweep squad and they'll all push for selection at the world championships later this year, which doubles as the 2020 Olympic qualifiers.
It marks the second Australian team for Antill who is determined to become an Olympian in Tokyo next year, and said this was the next step in achieving his dream.
"I definitely felt like I had to back up last year and make the team again," Antill said.
"Nobody has their name on a seat and you have to earn your place back in the team and it's been extremely competitive this year.
"It's pretty exciting. I'm heading back to Italy which I'm looking forward to because it means I'll miss another Canberra winter.
"Last year we went over and came back but this year we're staying for almost four months, all the way through to the world champs and it should prepare us really well.
"The top eight at worlds qualify for the Olympics. We won silver last year and I think the boat will be better this year. But that being said in an Olympic qualifying year there is a lot more competition, the racing ramps up a notch and everyone is a bit more desperate.
"It will be really tough but we can do it. We’ve put together a crew of four different personalities that all bring their strengths into the crew under the watchful eye of Mark Prater.
"I think we really can build this crew into something really fast and I'm looking forward to seeing how we go against big international competition."
Rowing Australia performance director Bernard Savage added: "It is important we have the best possible crews competing at the world cups as part our preparation in the lead up to selections for the world championships.
“We’re pleased to welcome back some experienced athletes into the team for the world cups, alongside some athletes making the step up into their first senior team, and are looking forward to seeing what we can deliver at the regattas.”
