Lilli Freischem becomes Reuben’s first Boat Race winner
Reubenite rows in the first Oxford Women’s Blue Boat crew to secure the win since 2016
Image credit: John Walton/PA Wire
On 4 April 2026, Oxford Women's Blue Boat secured victory in the CHANEL J12 Boat Race against Cambridge, breaking Cambridge’s decade-long hold on the win. In the third seat was Lilli Freischem (DPhil Atmospheric Physics, 2022), who now becomes the first Reubenite to secure a Blue Boat win in the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race.
2026 marked Freischem's return to the Blue Boat, having raced in 2025 when Cambridge took the win and in the 2023 and 2024 reserve crews. This year brought another special moment for Lilli, as she rowed against her sister, Mia Freischem (Darwin College, Cambridge), making the pair the first siblings to compete against each other in the historic race in 22 years.
Freischem's rowing achievements have helped establish Reuben College's growing presence in Oxford’s rowing programme, with annual representation in the Boat Race since 2023. In 2025, she and Felix Rawlinson (MSc Genomic Medicine, 2024) became the first woman and man to represent the College in their respective Blue Boats; this year, Reuben was also represented by Evan Albers (DPhil Computer Science, 2025) in the Men's Reserve Crew and Lara Robinson (Cancer Science CDT, 2025) in the Women’s Spare 4+.
