BOSTON – Northeastern men's rowing rising junior Luke Hickling will represent New Zealand at the 2026 U23 World Rowing Championships, which will be held July 22-26 in Duisburg, Germany.
 
Hickling earned a spot on the team after his performance at trials last week at Lake Karāpiro in New Zealand, and will be competing in the men's eight.
 
A native of Christchurch, New Zealand, Hickling is coming off a sophomore season in which he rowed in the bow seat of the first varsity for the duration of the year. The Northeastern 1V earned cup victories over No. 11 Penn, No. 6 Brown and No. 12 Boston University during the regular season before collecting the Huskies' first medal in the first varsity since 2015 with a bronze at the Eastern Sprints. Northeastern would go on to finish ninth in the nation at the IRA Championships.

This marks for the fourth straight year that Northeastern has a representative on New Zealand's U23 team. Co-captain Ed Lopas was a three-year team member in 2023, 2024 and 2025 while Kobe Miller also made the squad in 2023.