Matt Shirvington announced as David Koch’s Sunrise replacement

He has been favoured to take over from David Koch since the veteran broadcaster announced last week he was stepping down. Channel 7 just made the appointment official.

Former professional athlete Matt Shirvington is the new co-host of top breakfast TV show, Sunrise.

The 44-year-old will take on the coveted job alongside Nat Barr officially from next Monday with co-host of 21 years David Koch to finish up on Friday.

“It is a surreal but really excited feeling to have the honour and privilege of co-hosting a show like Sunrise is just a dream,” Shirvington told Confidential moments before making the announcement live on air.

“I’ve been in television now for almost 15 years and it has been kind of a second career for me and the idea of taking on a job like this is just a phenomenal thing. It is such a well respected show. It is of value for so many Australians and it is daunting in the sense that you want to continue its amazing success and I am really excited to do that.”

Shirvington is a father of three that represented Australia at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and Melbourne in 2006.

The second-fastest Australian sprinter of all time has been a regular fill-in for Koch for about a year, having signed with the Seven Network in 2021.

Matt Shirvington will join Nat Barr on Sunrise as the successor to veteran host David Koch.

He has worked as a host and presenter across multiple shows since starting with the network, among them The Morning Show and Sunrise. Shirvington is also the sport presenter on 7 NEWS and was part of the commentary team for Seven’s coverage of both the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

“When you compete for Australia in the Olympic Games, you are representing them in a sport that you have trained tirelessly for and you hope that wearing the coat of arms on your chest is represented in the best possible way, it is exactly the same with Sunrise,” he said.

“You are the mouthpiece for Australians so the more work you do and the more research you do, the better the delivery, the more you are respecting the job and representing the viewers because really you are the conduit for the stories that they are telling and you can’t take that away from them.”

Matt Shirvington on Sunrise. Picture: Supplied.

Since around this time last year, Seven has been working with ‘Shirvo’ to prepare him to eventually replace Koch, who indicated to executives he was ready to step away from the show after more than two decades at the helm.

From then, Shirvington filled in for Koch on Friday’s alongside co-host Natalie Barr.

“I guess at that point it was like maybe at some point Kochie will walk away on his own terms and for me it was kind of training, it was tuition to potentially take over,” he explained. “I didn’t know when Kochie would wrap up or when his announcement would come but thankful for the opportunity to fill in for him and learn the ropes.”

Koch, 67, has given Shirvington his blessing.

“It has been one of the moments that made me the most emotional, his endorsement, his willingness to get behind me,” Shirvington said. “He basically said, ‘you are going to have the time of your life, you are going to enjoy every moment of it and Shirvo you are the perfect fit’.”

On air Monday, Koch said Shirvington was an “absolutely perfect” choice.

“You’ve been fantastic filling in and every Friday it has been absolutely sensational,” Koch told viewers, speaking to Shirvington on the Sunrise couch. “You are going to be the perfect fit. For me, you’ve got to be a people person – Nat is a people person, great empathy with people. It is not our show, it is the viewers show, isn’t it? We care about them.”

Matt Shirvington competing in 100m heat race at 1998 Commonwealth Games.

Matt Shirvington out of the blocks in the men's 100m heat in Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

The new hours, waking up at 3am for the work day ahead, will take some juggling for Shirvington and his family.

He and wife of 22 years Jessica are parents to Lincoln, 5, Winter, 15, and Sienna, 16. Jessica Shirvington co-owns and runs top Sydney eatery, the Bathers’ Pavilion in Balmoral.

“It is a job of passion, you see it in the whole team. There have been a number of reasons why this opportunity rested really well for me and one of those is the support of my family obviously and it is going to take some juggling with my wife and kids.

“I just have so much respect and admiration for everyone that works on this show. I feel their passion and I just want to deliver for them and I guess that is the ex sportsman in me coming out where you represent a team and you want to do the best for the team. I really take that on board and it has given me a real vitalisation, a real sense of pride.”

Australian television presenter David Koch and wife Libby in Adelaide after announcing his retirement from Seven Network's breakfast program, Sunrise. Picture: Emma Brasier.

Of his wife and kids, Shirvington said: “It is just a constant support between the two of us and our own passions with what we do. She is arguably more successful than me – international best selling author, now an amazing restaurateur and keeps blowing me away with what she does in her own work life. They are great kids, they are hugely talented in themselves and I am just a boring old dad to them I think. We are a very close family.”

Making his departure announcement on air last Monday, Koch said his replacement had already been appointed but did not mention their name.

David Koch has announced his departure from Sunrise.

After coming off air, Koch offered some words of advice.

“Be yourself, be real because three and three quarter hours of live television every day, you cannot pretend to be somebody you are not because the viewers will see through you,” Koch told The Daily Telegraph.

“Breakfast TV strips you bare, you cannot bullsh*t. You have just got to be who you are because they will sniff it out in a flash.

“Whether people love you or hate you, a lot of people might know you and think you are a d***head, that is fine, you’ve just got to expect that but a lot of our research here, even the people that dislike me always acknowledge that I’ve got a few brains and I know what I am talking about.”