“There are some very big calls to come in the next few weeks and I try not to think about it,” said Paul Bennett, World Champion in the men’s eight, of this week’s GB Rowing Team Olympic-season trials.

“Everyone here does the same training, we have all worked hard to support each other but some people will not make it.  That’s horrible to think about so I try not to think about it.”

With 115 rowers in action and only 48 Rio seats available later this year and European Championships places at stake in early May, these Trials will be demanding.

17 Olympic medallists and 10 World Champions will be amongst those racing tomorrow and Wednesday.

Sir David Tanner, 91ÌÒɫ’s Performance Director, said: “This is the event when we test the rowers under pressure in pairs and singles to see who has got what it takes to win.  The tension is never greater than in Olympic year.”

Bennett will be racing with Matt Gotrel in a “stacked” men’s pair field.  GB has won the men’s eight at the World Championships three times since 2013 and 12 of the rowers involved in those wins will be on Tuesday’s start line in the men’s pair.

Olympic Champion Alex Gregory and Mohamed Sbihi are tipped to take a hat-trick of titles since 2014 and victory for Sbihi would be his fourth consecutive win at this event.

Gregory said:  “I would definitely like to keep hold of the title but the racing has got closer and closer over the years and the standard has increased. It’s going to be tough to protect that record.

“We know there or thereabouts where we are in the squad but, from our point of view as athletes, this week can be make or break and the pressure is on.”

Other top pairings include double Olympic Champion Pete Reed and 2012 bronze medallist Constantine Louloudis as well as George Nash and Will Satch who were bronze medallists in the pair at the 2012 Games.

Louloudis said:  “I feel pretty good. We’ve just been on a good training camp and I think the whole team is well prepared but Pete and I have been going pretty well in our pair and I think we’ll do well at the Trials.

“We are conscious, coming into the Trials, that it is more individual now. We are all assessing our own chances looking ahead to selection.”

Double Olympic Champion Andrew T Hodge and Matt Langridge could also be a pair to watch. World silver medallist Langridge is more used to racing with James Foad, who is out recovering from back surgery, whilst Hodge is on the way back after illness.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning are stand-out favourites to win the women’s pair event. The duo hold the Olympic, World and European titles although Jess Eddie and Polly Swann – the latter a World Champion with Glover in 2013 – could run them close as they did in 2014.

Singular “single” and women’s sweep battles in store

Perhaps more intriguing could be the battle for top honours in the open men’s single scull.

Angus Groom won the December assessment. The young Scot is making his mark after joining the senior squad from the ranks of the U23 World medallists. John Collins, from the 2015 double scull, has also been in good form in recent training.

With Charles Cousins absent through injury, 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Alan Campbell should feel he has a chance to extend his remarkable trials record to nine overall wins.  He won eight titles consecutively from 2005-2012 before Cousins took over the mantle.

Campbell said:  “For myself, this would be my fourth Olympics and I would say every one has been tougher than before. This is definitely the toughest group I have been in and I’m having to race and push myself very hard to come up to the standard required to get into this Olympic team.”

2013 and 2014 World quadruple scull medallists Pete Lambert, Sam Townsend, Graeme Thomas as well as Groom’s erstwhile World U23 medal team-mate Jack Beaumont, who is back on track after last summer’s serious injury, and 2015 double-sculler Jonny Walton are also in the mix and the whole group has everything to play for.

Collins said:  “The trials feel very early. In a way, it’s another box to be ticked but it is the biggest box of all. It’s so important. When the time comes to perform, you have to do the business. You have to step up when it really matters, that’s something you can’t assess on a day-to-day basis.”

At these trials only 2012 Olympic gold medallist Andrew T Hodge can equal the 10 titles won to date by Katherine Grainger, who sits out this week as she is recovering from a minor niggle, leaving Vicky Thornley the favourite to win the open women’s single.

Thornley said:  “It will be good to get racing again. Trials are always a bit nerve-wracking but I am looking forward to getting out there.”

Frances Houghton, a 2008 Olympic silver medallist and multiple winner of these trials in the single, has swapped into a competitive “sweep” group seeking seats in the Rio-qualified women’s eight.

She will race with Olivia Carnegie Brown, who came into the national squad through GB Rowing Team Start – a talent identification and fast-track development programme which identified up to 33% of all London 2012 medallists and provided 49% of the team at those Games.

Houghton said:  “I’m just trying to get through the Trials, if I’m at the Europeans and Olympics afterwards that would be great. I’m not thinking about anything else at the moment. Getting selected is the most important thing and I’ll think about Rio if and when it comes.

“I’ve changed from sculling to sweep, so it’s a really big challenge but it’s exciting. It’s going to be very close at the Trials.”

The women’s sweep field includes, amongst other contenders, Olympian Eddie and former World Champion Polly Swann, Louisa Reeve and Ro Bradbury, Melanie Wilson and Karen Bennett as well as Donna Etiebet and Vicki Meyer-Laker. Zoe Lee has today been withdrawn on medical grounds, which means that her pairs partner Katie Greves now transfers to the single.

Etiebet said: “It’s exciting. There are lots of pairs, much more than last year, which makes the competition that much fiercer but ultimately that is really good for the sweep crew, it’s getting more out of everybody.”

Eddie also summed up the mood in the squad when she said recently:  “The focus right now is purely on selection, that is the big thing weighing on people’s minds.  It’s pretty intense but it’s in our own hands.  If we’re good enough we’ll be in the boat, if we’re not we’ll, miss out.”

Seriously heavy competition for the lightweight titles

Last season’s finals session was marked by a sizzling finale to the lightweight women’s single scull when Olympic Champion Kat Copeland was eased out in a three-boat photo-finish by Imogen Walsh and, then rookie, Charlotte Taylor.

Taylor and Copeland went on to race in the lightweight double for GB in the ensuing season and won World silver in Aiguebelette, France, and Walsh won World silver in the single.

Outside of this triumvirate a new wave of talented lightweights continues to emerge including previous World U23 medallists Brianna Stubbs and Ellie Piggott.

Stubbs talked of the strength in depth of the lightweight women’s squad when she said:  “Everyone knows roughly how well everyone else is doing in training but you just have to leave that behind you when you sit on the start line.

“I have so much respect for everyone I train with, I see how hard they have all been working and the standard of the group is probably the best and deepest of any lightweight women’s squad in the world. Seven of us won silver medals at the last World Championships and it is a privilege to be part of that. All I can do is my best on the day and see where that puts me”.

This week’s trials will feature both a single and a pairs event for the lightweight men as selection is honed down to the two Olympic boats – the light four and double.

Richard Chambers and Will Fletcher won World silver in the double last September. Fletcher remains a strong contender for this week’s light single title alongside twice previous winner Jamie Kirkwood and Zak Lee-Green but Chambers has a hand injury which will keep him on the sidelines.

Fletcher said:  “This is it, the final test to show our winter’s work and to prove ourselves. There are only a handful of seats in the Olympic boats and you want to make sure you are in one.

“It is pretty stressful. We are all mates and we are about to race against each other for a place at the Olympics.”

Kirkwood said:  “I’m looking forward to it, there should be some good, fierce racing. I’m hoping to defend my title in the single. No doubt it will be very tough but I will give it my best shot.”

In the pairs event Joel Cassells – from the same town, Coleraine, as 2012 Olympic medallists Alan Campbell, Peter and Richard Chambers – will seek to impress in his continuing rise from recent student rowing days.

He races with Peter Chambers in what looks likely to be a small but tight event with World lightweight men’s pair Champions Sam Scrimgeour and Jonno Clegg as well as previous World medallists Mark Aldred and Chris Bartley racing against relative newcomers like Jamie Copus, Sam Mottram and Charles Waite Roberts.

Four coxes are also amongst those attending the invitation-only event. They are Phelan Hill, Henry Fieldman, Zoe de Toledo and Matilda Horn.

· The GB Rowing Team is supported by the Lottery through UK Sport and has Science in Sport as a supplier.  SAS Analytics is the Official Analytics Partner of 91ÌÒÉ« and the GB Rowing Team. Follow Britain’s rowers on the Road to Rio via Twitter – @GBRowingTeam – and at www.facebook.com/GBRowingTeam.

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RACING TIMETABLE

Racing will take place as follows:

Time-trials (heats) – 09.45 – 11.00 on Tuesday 22 March

Semi-finals – 15.00 – 16.25 on Tuesday 22 March (first A/B semi at 15.22)

Finals – 10.00 – 12.00 Wednesday 23 March

All times of racing are subject to the weather and members of the media should check with the press officer on 07831 755351 before travelling to the event, particularly if there are high winds.

Any updates to schedules will be posted on twitter:  @GBRowingTeam and on Facebook:  www.facebook.com/gbrowingteam

===========================================

ENTRY LIST

(As at Monday 21 March) Pairs listed from bow to stroke,

* denotes U23

OPEN

MEN

Single

Tom Barras (Leander Club/Staines/07.01.94)* MED – withdrawn

Jack Beaumont (Leander Club/Maidenhead/21.11.93)

Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers School/Coleraine/09.05.83)

Frazier Christie (Leander Club/Bath/11.01.93)

John Collins (Leander Club/Whitton/24.01.89)

Angus Groom (Leander Club/Glasgow/16.06.92)

Peter Lambert (Leander Club/Maidenhead/03.12.86)

Rowan Law (Leander Club/Nottingham/01.12.96)*

Harry Leask (Leander Club/Edinburgh/16.10.95)*

Nick Middleton (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/12.08.88)

George Stewart (Molesey BC/Esher/14.04.95)*

Jon Stimpson (Nottingham RC/Gex, France/18.07.90)

Graeme Thomas (Agecroft RC/Preston/08.11.88)

Sam Townsend (Reading Univ BC/Reading/26.11.85)

Sam Twine (Reading Univ BC/Tavistock/06.01.94)*

Jonny Walton (Leander Club/Leicester/06.10.90)

Pair

Chris Boddy (Leander Club/Thornaby-on-Tees/16.11.87)/Thomas Ford (Leander Club/Holmes Chapel/03.10.92)

Timothy Clarke (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/07.04.91)/Phil Congdon (Leander Club/Bury St Edmunds/06.06.89)

Oliver Cook (Univ of London BC/Windsor/05.06.90)/Callum McBrierty (Leander Club/Edinburgh/13.08.92)

Rory Gibbs (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Lane End/03.04.94)*/Matthew Aldridge (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Christchurch/11.03.96)*

Alex Gregory (Leander Club/Wormington/11.03.84)/Mohamed Sbihi (Molesey BC/Surbiton/27.03.88)

Michael Glover (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Burnham/03.06.95)* /Morgan Bolding (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Withiel/13.05.95)*

Matt Gotrel (Leander Club/Chipping Campden/01.03.89)/Paul Bennett (Univ of London BC/Leeds/16.12.88)

Matt Langridge (Leander Club/Northwich/20.05.83)/Andrew T Hodge (Molesey BC/Hebden/03.03.79)

Luke Moon (Molesey BC/Deal/25.03.93)/Chris Heywood (Molesey BC/Ascot/29.05.94)*

George Nash (Molesey BC/Guildford/02.10.89)/Will Satch (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/09.06.89)

Adam Neill (Leander Club/Peterborough/29.05.90)/Cameron Buchan (Leander Club/Dunipace/03.12.92)

Tom Ransley (Leander Club/Ashford/06.09.85)/Scott Durant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Lancaster/12.02.88)

Pete Reed (Leander Club/Nailsworth/27.07.81)/Constantine Louloudis (Oxford Univ BC/London/15.09.91)

Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell (Univ of London BC/Durham/13.04.88)/Matthew Tarrant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Shepperton/11.07.90)

George Rossiter (Leander Club/Newbury/09.03.92)/Barnaby Stentiford (Leander Club/Ippleden/06.02.91)

James Rudkin (Newcastle Univ BC/Northampton/07.07.94)*/Lewis McCue (Robert Gordon Uni/Aberdeen/26.12.94)*

Alan Sinclair (Leander Club/Inverness/16.10.85)/Stewart Innes (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/20.05.91)

William Warr (Leander Club/Tunbridge Wells/12.03.92)/Matt Rossiter (Leander Club/Newbury/25.09.89)

WOMEN

Single

Emily Carmichael (Leander Club/Cheltenham/29.05.92)

Sam Courty (Reading RC/Alnwick/07.01.93)

Debbie Flood (Leander Club/Guiseley/27.02.80) MED – withdrawn

Georgia Francis (Imperial College BC/Newbury/18.08.94)*

Katherine Grainger (St Andrew BC/Glasgow/12.11.75) (injured) MED  – withdrawn

Lucinda Gooderham (Leander Club/Garboldisham/09.06.84)

Katie Greves (Leander Club/Oxford/02.09.82)

Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne (Reading Univ BC/Hereford/01.10.94)*

Jessica Leyden (Leander Club/Todmorden/22.02.95)

Holly Nixon (Leander Club/Enniskillen/07.12.93

Tina Stiller (Tees RC/Yarm/23.06.87)

Victoria Thornley (Leander Club/Wrexham/30.11.87)

Melissa Wilson (Cambridge Univ BC/Edinburgh/10.06.93) MED – withdrawn.

Pair

Karen Bennett (Leander Club/Edinburgh/05.02.89)/ Melanie Wilson (Imperial College BC/London/25.06.84)

Rosamund Bradbury (Leander Club/Banstead/17.12.88)/Louisa Reeve (Leander Club/London/16.05.84)

Beth Bryan (Tees RC/Stockton-on-Tees/23.04.93)/Jo Wratten (Tees RC/Middlesbrough/23.03.92)

Rebecca Chin (Agecroft RC/Deganwy/11.12.91)/Caragh McMurtry (Southampton Coalporters/Southampton/22.08.91)

Jess Eddie (London RC/Durham/07.10.84)/Polly Swann (Leander Club/Edinburgh/05.06.88)

Fiona Gammond (Leander Club/Bicester/19.10.92)/Holly Norton (Leander Club/Johannesburg, SA/01.01.93)

Helen Glover (Minerva Bath RC/Penzance/17.06.86)/ Heather Stanning (Army RC/Lossiemouth/26.01.85)

Zoe Lee (Imperial College BC/Richmond/15.12.85) MED – Withdrawn

Frances Houghton (Univ of London Tyrian Club/Oxford/19.09.80)/Olivia Carnegie-Brown (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Henley-on-Thames/28.03.91)

Vicki Meyer-Laker (Leander Club/Premnay/18.03.88)/Donna Etiebet (Imperial College BC/London/29.04.86)

LIGHTWEIGHT

MEN

Single

Richard Chambers (Leander Club/Coleraine/10.06.85) (injured) MED – Withdrawn

Will Fletcher (Leander Club/Chester-le-Street/24.12.89)

John Hale (Imperial College BC/Cambridge/28.02.88)

Jonathan Jackson (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/02.06.95)*

Jamie Kirkwood (Leander Club/Newcastle/30.08.89)

Zak Lee-Green (Agecroft RC/Cardiff/06.02.91)

Samuel Mottram (Leander Club/Stoke Mandeville/14.11.94)*

Sam Tuck (Molesey BC/Peterborough/26.07.93)

Pair

Chris Bartley (Leander Club/Wrexham/02.02.84)/Mark Aldred (London RC/Birmingham/18/04.87)

Joel Cassells (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Coleraine/15.06.94)*/Peter Chambers (Oxford Brookes Univ/Coleraine/14.03.90)

Sam Scrimgeour (Imperial College BC/Kirriemuir/28.01.88)/Jonathan Clegg (Leander Club/Maidenhead/14.07.89)

Charles Waite-Roberts (Leander Club/Basingstoke/06.11.92)/Jamie Copus (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Oxford/30.01.93)

WOMEN

Single

Maddie Arlett (Edinburgh Univ BC/Selkirk/07.06.94)*

Kat Copeland (Tees RC/Stockton-on-Tees/01.12.90)

Emily Craig (Univ of London BC/Mark Cross/30.11.92)

Gemma Hall (Wallingford RC/Wargrave/10.04.92) MED – withdrawn

Robyn Hart-Winks (Edinburgh Univ BC/Kirriemuir/07.10.93)

Ellie Lewis (Agecroft RC/Marlow/14.04.94)

Eleanor Piggott (Wallingford RC/Bedford/16.05.91)

Fran Rawlins (Leander Club/Uckfield/08.07.86)

Brianna Stubbs (Wallingford RC/Poole/13.07.91)

Charlotte Taylor (Putney Town RC/Bedford/14.08.85)

Imogen Walsh (London RC/Inverness/17.01.84)

COXES

MEN

Henry Fieldman (Molesey BC/Barnes/25.11.88)

Phelan Hill (Leander Club/Bedford/21.07.79)

WOMEN

Zoe De Toledo (Leander Club/London/17.07.87)

Matilda Horn (Univ of London BC/Windsor/16.

·      The GB Rowing Team is supported by the Lottery through UK Sport and has Science in Sport as a supplier.  SAS Analytics is the Official Analytics Partner of 91ÌÒÉ« and the GB Rowing Team. Follow Britain’s rowers on the Road to Rio via Twitter – @GBRowingTeam – and at www.facebook.com/GBRowingTeam.

The post Some “big calls” to come at Trials appeared first on 91ÌÒÉ«.

“We knew we were capable of this in our heads and in our hearts but we still had to deliver it”, said Watkins.

Asked what it was like to finally be an Olympic Champion, Grainger said: “It’s very hard to put into words but it’s every bit as wonderful as you might think.”

Before that final the young GB men’s pair of Will Satch and George Nash had wowed the crowd with a bronze on their Olympic debuts.

“It shows if you do the training and you stick to the programme you can do it,” said Satch.

Whilst Grainger and Watkins were still letting it sink in, Alan Campbell won bronze in the men’s single scull – a medal at his third Games of trying in a race won by his friend Mahe Drysdale from New Zealand.

Much earlier the GB men’s quadruple scull of four-times Olympian Matt Wells, Stephen Rowbotham, Charles Cousins and Tom Solesbury produced a strong performance to hold onto fifth place in their final.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE ROWERS?

Tomorrow sees the final day of rowing at the 2012 Games. Britain has three boats in action: the men’s four and the two lightweight men’s doubles.

Andrew Triggs Hodge, Peter Reed, Tom James and Alex Gregory are the men’s four and they race at 11.30.

Reed, Hodge and James are defending champions whilst Gregory and James are reigning world champions. They face a potentially tough race with Australia as the main opposition.

Kat Copeland and Sophie Hosking are the lightweight women’s double whose final is at 11.50. They rowed through the Greek World Champions in the semis to qualify for tomorrow’s final.

The final crew to race at the Olympic regatta for Great Britain will be the defending Beijing champions Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase in the lightweight men’s double scull. Their race starts at 12.10.

The post London 2012 Day 7: Gold for Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins appeared first on 91ÌÒÉ«.

“I think I was slightly aware but it was not until we crossed the line that I realise just how big the expectations were,” said Glover.

“Hopefully it’ s a sign of things to come across Team GB. Let’s go for it, let’s make it our Games. I’d also like to think this will inspire more people to be active and enjoy sport.”

Stanning added: “I couldn’t hear what Helen was saying, I couldn’t see the bubble line and all I could hear was the crowd cheering. It was such fantastic support. We’re delighted, it’s brilliant.”

The British men’s eight also took a medal today – a bronze – after a gutsy row in which they took the race to the unbeaten Germans in the first half but did not have enough to hold on to the line, leaving Canada to take silver from a fast finish.

“We may have sacrificed a silver but we gave it our all,” said Matt Langridge from the eight.

The British women’s quadruple scull were desperately unlikely to catch a crab within the first 30 strokes and were always out of contention from there.

Earlier the equivalent men’s boat qualified for the final on Friday in third place, again making history as the first GB boat in this category to qualify for an Olympic final.

Alan Campbell is safely through to the final of the men’s single scull with a second-placed semi-final finish today and the new, young GB men’s pair of Will Satch and George Nash led from the front to win their semi-final. The red-heads were in red hot form today and have laid down a marker for the final.

The post London 2012 Day 5: Historic first gold for Glover and Stanning appeared first on 91ÌÒÉ«.

Theirs was one of four heat victories from eight starts for the Team GB rowers today – enough to prompt Team GB rowing leader David Tanner to describe it as ” an exciting start” but cautioning that it would get “tougher from here”.

Glover was also keeping her feet on the ground whilst praising the crowd of 30,000. “The atmosphere is fantastic, the noise was amazing. For us, though, it was a standard row without the fireworks you might expect in a final.”

Stanning concurred: “We felt we had a relaxed row and now it’s all about the final. That’s the race we came here for.”

The lightweight men’s four of Peter and Richard Chambers plus Rob Williams and Chris Bartley were strong performers in their heat to win in 5:49.29 from Australia’s reigning world champions.

Britain’s other two victories came from the newcomer men’s pair of Will Satch and George Nash, who produced a poised first race at such a major event, and Alan Campbell, who looked in fine form in the men’s single scull.

Campbell moves to a quarter-final whilst the lightweight four and men’s pair move to semi-finals – all on Tuesday.

Sam Townsend and Bill Lucas were delighted with their performance in taking second place behind New Zealand who set an Olympic best time in the men’s double scull.

Cox Phelan Hill says “there is definitely more to come” from the British men’s eight who closed back up on eventual winners Germany in the second half of their heat today before taking second place and moving into the repechage on Monday.

The GB men’s quad are through to a semi-final with a comfortable second place today and Debbie Flood was clear that there were still options for the women’s quad who were fourth in their heat.

“We know we have the speed,” she said. “We just need to do a few things better to pick it up.” They also race a repechage on Monday.

WHAT’S AHEAD FOR THE ROWERS?

A further three boats will race opening heats on the second day – the women’s eight, lightweight men’s and women’s double scull.

In the lightweight men’s double scull Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter begin the defence of their Beijing crown, having had a roller-coaster season so far.

“We’ve had a good few weeks at training camp and we feel we are in a good place”, said Hunter recently.

Sophie Hosking and Kat Copeland contest the lightweight women’s double scull. Neither has raced at a Games before but Hosking has experience in the same event for the past three years at World Championship level, including two bronze medals in 2009 and 2011. Copeland was world U23 lightweight single scull champion last year and won the GB Senior Team Trials in that event.

The women’s eight finished the world cup season on a high after winning bronze in Munich. Cox Caroline O’Connor, Natasha Page, Louisa Reeve, Jess Eddie, Katie Greves, Annie Vernon and Olivia Whitlam are all Beijing Olympians – albeit not all in the women’s eight – whilst Lindsey Maguire and Vicky Thornley are World senior medallists.

Meanwhile the women’s double scull, featuring world champions Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins, and the men’s four – with world champion Alex Gregory and three Beijing gold medallists Andrew Triggs Hodge, Pete Reed and Tom James on board – will race for the first time on Monday.

The post London 2012 Day 1: Glover and Stanning set Olympic best time at Eton-Dorney appeared first on 91ÌÒÉ«.

“Our recent training camps have gone well. We managed to escape the not-so-nice bits of the British summer and that was a big plus with great water conditions, particularly at our tuning camps in Southern Europe.

“I am sure that this is the best team that we have brought to a Games and I am confident that we will deliver on the water.”

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning will be first to the start line for Team GB in the women’s pair in the session starting at 09.30 on Saturday. Glover, a former PE teacher from Cornwall, and Stanning, an Army Captain from Lossiemouth, have been world silver medallists in each of the past two years.

Twice Olympic silver medallists Frances Houghton, racing at her fourth Games, and Debbie Flood, contesting her third Games, feature in the women’s quad in the same session alongside relative newcomer Melanie Wilson and 2010 World Champion, Beth Rodford.

The British team will contest a further six heats in that opening session.

1992 Olympic gold medallist Greg Searle has already confessed that he will have a lump in his throat when he races the opening heat of the men’s eight in a multi-talented crew including cox Phelan Hill, Constantine Louloudis at stroke, Olympic silver medallists Matthew Langridge, Ric Egington and Alex Partridge as well as world silver medallists James Foad, Tom Ransley and Mohamed Sbihi.

“It’s a privilege to row with such a talented crew”, said Searle. “It will feel different to 20 years ago but it will also be the same. I wanted to win then and we are ambitious to do the same here”.

Sbihi added: “I feel like we have definitely improved since the last world cup and I feel we are in a good place going into the Games. But it’s a very strong field, to be honest, anyone can make a final and anyone can make a medal.

“So I think it’s all about us effectively. I’m not really fussed about what the Germans or the Americans of the Canadians or others have done. It’s about what we have done and I trust in what we have done.”

Britain’s lightweight men’s four features the Chambers brothers, Peter and Richard, from Coleraine in Northern Ireland. They are the first set of brothers to race in the same crew since the Searles’ win in Barcelona with cox Garry Herbert.

The brothers are joined in the lightweight men’s four at Eton-Dorney by Rob Williams, who completed a PhD in crystallography just a month ago, and Welshman Chris Bartley, a talented photographer and rowing coach. This crew won the season’s final world cup but know they will face stiff opposition, particularly from China, in this fiercely competitive event.

Richard, the elder of the two brothers, said: “We’ve had a good couple of camps and we’ve worked hard. We know that ours is a very competitive event and that even at semi-final stage we’ll see some real knuckledusters of races.”

All three men’s sculling boats will be in action on the opening day. Alan Campbell makes a trio of Coleraine connections when he races the men’s single scull. Campbell has been on the world cup and World Championships podium several times since making the final in Beijing.

Bill Lucas and Sam Townsend, both graduates of a GB Rowing Team “Start” talent identification and development system, are the new-look British double scull this season. The Devon-Reading combination are looking to improve on their world cup performances here.

“We have had two really good training camps in the past six weeks,” said Lucas. “The work camp in the mountains went really well and then we did some speed work in Portugal. We’ve made some technical progress.”

Townsend will marry team-mate Natasha Page, who races in the women’s eight at the Games, later next month.

Stephen Rowbotham and Matt Wells, Beijing double scull bronze medallists, race in 2012 in the men’s quad. They are joined by Olympic debutant Charles Cousins and Tom Solesbury who rowed in a pair in Beijing.

The final crew in action on opening day will be the men’s pair of Will Satch and George Nash. The talented duo, both former youth medallists, made an impact in their debut senior season this year and will look to upset the pre-existing form book here.

A further three boats will race opening heats on the second day – the women’s eight, lightweight women’s and men’s double scull. The latter will be raced by defending Beijing winners Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter.

Meantime, the women’s double scull, featuring world champions Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins, and the men’s four with world champion Alex Gregory and three Beijing gold medallists Andrew Triggs Hodge, Pete Reed and Tom James on board will race for the first time on Monday.

Watkins said today that the GB team were looking forward to racing, were enjoying the Olympic set-up and felt quite relaxed: “We have a very good set up within our own team and it’s a very familiar environment, we are keeping ourselves to ourselves.”

Grainger added: “For us it’s just a case of fulfilling our potential, which is what you want to do in an Olympic race, to be the fastest crew in the world. It’s more about going as fast as we possibly can – the actual result we don’t focus on because that will take care of itself. It’s more about how we race.”

Tom James, from the men’s four, said: “We’ve made some good changes to how we row and I think we learnt from our mistakes [at the last world cup] in Munich.”

SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE
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Crews listed Bow to Stroke followed by
(Club, Home Town, Date of Birth)

OPEN WOMEN

Pair
Helen Glover (Minerva Bath, Penzance, 17/06/86)
Heather Stanning (Army RC, Lossiemouth, 26/01/85)
Coach: Robin Williams

Eight
Olivia Whitlam (Agecroft RC, Warrington, 16/09/85)
Louisa Reeve (Leander Club, London, 17/05/84)
Jessica Eddie (Univ of London BC, Durham, 07/10/84)
Lindsey Maguire (Wallingford RC, Edinburgh, 15/01/82)
Natasha Page (Gloucester RC, Hartpury, 30/04/85)
Annabel Vernon (Leander Club, Wadebridge, 01/09/82)
Katie Greves (Leander Club, Oxford, 02/09/82)
Victoria Thornley (Leander Club, Wrexham, 30/11/87)
Caroline O’Connor (cox) (Oxford Brookes Univ BC, Ealing, London, 25/04/83)
Coach: Nick Strange

Double Scull
Anna Watkins (Leander Club, Leek, Staffs, 13/02/83)
Katherine Grainger (St Andrew BC, Aberdeen, 12/11/75)
Coach: Paul Thompson

Quadruple Scull
Melanie Wilson (Imperial College BC, London, 25/06/84)
Debbie Flood (Leander Club, Guiseley, W. Yorks, 27/02/80)
Frances Houghton (Leander Club, Oxford, 19/09/80)
Beth Rodford (Gloucester RC, Gloucester, 28/12/82)
Coach: Ade Roberts

Spares
Jo Cook (Leander Club, Sunbury-on-Thames, 22/03/84)
Emily Taylor (Leander Club, Lincoln, 28/06/87)

OPEN MEN

Pair
George Nash (Molesey BC, Guildford, 02/10/89)
Will Satch (Leander Club, Henley-on-Thames, 09/06/89)
Coaches: Christian Felkel & John West

Four
Alex Gregory (Leander Club, Wormington, 11/03/84)
Pete Reed (Leander Club, Nailsworth, Glos, 27/07/81)
Tom James (Molesey BC, Wrexham, 11/03/84)
Andrew Triggs Hodge (Molesey BC, Hebden, N. Yorks, 03/03/79)
Coach: JĂŒrgen Grobler

Eight
Alex Partridge (Leander Club, Alton, Hants, 25/01/81)
James Foad (Molesey BC, Southampton, 20/03/87)
Tom Ransley (York City RC, Cambridge, 06/09/85)
Richard Egington (Leander Club, Knutsford, 26/02/79)
Mohamed Sbihi (Molesey BC, Surbiton, 27/03/88)
Greg Searle (Molesey BC, Marlow, 20/03/72)
Matt Langridge (Leander Club, Northwich, 20/05/83)
Constantine Louloudis (Leander Club, London, 15/09/91)
Phelan Hill (cox) (Leander Club, Bedford, 21/07/79)
Coaches: Christian Felkel & John West

Single Scull
Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers School, Coleraine, 09/05/83)
Coach: Bill Barry

Double Scull
Bill Lucas (London RC, Kingswear, Devon, 13/09/87)
Sam Townsend (Reading Univ BC, Reading, 26/11/85)
Coach: Mark Earnshaw

Quadruple Scull
Stephen Rowbotham (Leander Club, Winscombe, Somerset, 11/11/81)
Charles Cousins (Reading Univ BC, Willingham, Cambs, 13/12/88)
Tom Solesbury (Leander Club, Petts Wood, Kent, 23/09/90)
Matthew Wells (Leander Club, Hexham, Northumberland, 19/04/79)
Coach: Mark Banks

Spares
Marcus Bateman (Leander Club, Torquay, 16/09/82)
Cameron Nichol (Molesey BC, London, 26/06/87)

LIGHTWEIGHT WOMEN

Double Scull
Sophie Hosking (London RC, Wimbledon, 25/01/86)
Katherine Copeland (Tees RC. Ingleby Barwick, Stockton-on-Tees, 01/12/90)
Coach: Paul Reedy

LIGHTWEIGHT MEN

Four
Peter Chambers (Oxford Brookes Univ BC, Coleraine, 14/03/90)
Rob Williams (London RC, Maidenhead, 21/01/85)
Richard Chambers (Leander Club, Coleraine, 10/06/85)
Chris Bartley (Leander Club, Chester, 02/02/84)
Coach: Rob Morgan

Double Scull

Zac Purchase (Marlow RC, Tewkesbury, 02/05/86)
Mark Hunter (Leander Club, Romford, Essex, 01/07/78)
Coach: Darren Whiter

Spare
Adam Freeman-Pask (Imperial College BC, Windsor, 19/6/85)

TEAM SUPPORT
David Tanner: Team Leader
Maurice Hayes: Equipment Manager
Ann Redgrave: Doctor
John Tetley: Boatman
Mark Edgar: Physio / Head of Rowing Medical Service
Caroline Searle: Press Officer
Sally Brown: Physio
Maggie Netto: Asst. Team Leader *
Liz Arnold: Physio
Jo Bates: Administrator *
Karen Burn: Physio *
Mark Homer: Sports Scientist
Craig Williams: Sports Scientist
Chris Shambrook: Psychologist *
Alistair Patterson: Performance Analyst *

* Non-Accredited Team Support

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CONTACT DETAILS

For interview requests with Team GB rowers and performance personnel contact Press Officer Caroline Searle on 07714 078658 or 07831 755351 or email caroline@matchtight.co.uk.

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EDITORS’ NOTES

The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the National Olympic Committee for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Its mission is to transform British lives through the power of the Olympic values and the success of Team GB. The BOA’s role is to prepare the ‘Best of British’ athletes for, and lead them at, the summer, winter and youth Olympic Games.

The BOA delivers extensive support services to Britain’s Olympic athletes and their National Governing Bodies to enhance Olympic success and is responsible for championing the Olympic values and brand in the UK. The BOA receives no funding from the lottery or government, has no political interests and is completely dependent upon fundraising income to achieve its mission. The BOA is the strong, independent voice for British Olympic Sport.

Team GB website: www.teamgb.com
Team GB Twitter: www.twitter.com/TeamGB
Team GB Facebook: www.facebook.com/TeamGB

91ÌÒÉ« is the governing body for all rowing within the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland.

The GB Rowing Team trains, prepares and selects crews to represent Great Britain in international competitions at junior, U23 and senior level, from Under 16s to World Cups, World Championships the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games.
The GB Rowing Team has a proud history as one of GB’s most successful Olympic sports producing World and Olympic Champions from across the UK.

GB Rowing Team website: /gb-rowing-team
GB Rowing Team Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/gbrowingteam
GB Rowing Team Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gbrowingteam

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