World Rowing Championship Preview

Great Britain are sending three strong medal-chasing crews to Bulgaria in September

BRITISH ROWING Director of Performance Brendan Purcell admits that preparations for the World Rowing Championships have been far from straight-forward. Speaking ahead of the competition in Plovdiv, Bulgaria from September 9-16, he said: “It has been a tough season managing a number of injuries and rehabilitations within the squad but we are confident that these crews are in the best possible shape going into the World Championships. Chief Coach Tom Dyson and the wider support team have done an excellent job in getting the athletes ready for competition.”

Despite the long list of injuries Purcell mentions, the GB team still looks incredibly strong with four Paralympic champions among the three crews. GB won world gold in the PR3 mixed coxed four in Sarasota-Bradenton last year. Grace Clough, who claimed gold at Rio 2016, and Ollie Stanhope return from that victorious 2017 crew, with James Fox and Giedre Rakauskaite forced to sit out the season with injuries. Daniel Brown, who also won gold in Rio, comes back into the crew along with debutant Ellen Buttrick and cox Erin Wysocki-Jones.

Lauren Rowles has recovered from off-season surgery to claim her place in the PR2 mixed double sculls alongside fellow Paralympic gold medallist Laurence Whiteley. Andy Houghton won a World Rowing Cup silver medal in Linz in the PR1 single scull and will be battling to go one better in Plovdiv. The Newbury rower returned to the GB set-up after four years away in 2017 and finished just outside the medals in Sarasota-Bradenton in fourth place. Here, Clough and Houghton give their take ahead of the World Championships…

Grace Clough “Competing at the Worlds is going to be extra exciting for me because it’s been probably the toughest year I’ve had in this sport. I’ve had a back injury but with the support of everyone at British Rowing - the support staff, the coaches and the medical team – I’ve been able to get myself in a position where I can actually look to go in. “Even less than a month ago that might not have been an option. For much of the year I didn’t think this could happen. I felt that I needed to take myself away and focus on getting fit and well before I could even think about the World Championships. “I’m not the only one who has been injured either. With three of the four that went to the Worlds last year, two have been out for the season while I’ve been able to find a rehab programme to get back on track.

“Despite that, we’ve still got huge expectations for the Worlds. There are two of us who were in the boat last year who were world champions. And then Dan Brown and myself went to the Paralympics and we’ve been rowing together for four years now. We’ve got huge experience in the boat and we’ve also got a new girl on board who is doing an excellent job. “I was that new girl four years ago. I know exactly what it’s like - I know the nerves and the passion that you feel. And also that feeling that you’re doing everything wrong when actually she’s doing a fantastic job, probably a better job than the rest of us! We’ve got a new cox, so it’s been a massive change but she brings a huge amount of energy to the boat which is exciting moving forward.

“This is my fifth season and Para-Rowing here has been going since around 2007, and the coaches are saying this is the most challenging year they have ever had. So it wouldn’t just be a massive achievement for us, it would be a real achievement for British Rowing and the Paralympic team in general if we can pull off what we all know we can do.”

Andy Houghton “There’s still time ahead of the World Champs for us to make improvements. We’ve got our important camps and this is where we’ll try to find some extra speed in the boat, which perhaps up until now hasn’t quite been at the level we want it to be. “We have to be a bit realistic this year. In terms of the Paralympic cycle, gold is the aim for everybody including me. This year we’ve had a good look at the lay of the land, we know where everyone is apart from the Australian and it’s very tight in this category. So the target for the World Champs is a medal, which I’d be very pleased with.

“We’ve seen people who weren’t performing too well now performing really well. With some of the racing we did out in Linz, there was four of the finalists from the last World Champs, so that was a good marker and I was pushed quite hard by the Brazilian guy, finishing third behind the Russian. I want to leapfrog that Russian at least to show that I have made some progress this year. “Last year was a little surprising – returning to the sport and getting straight back to the World Champs, which I didn’t really think would happen.” “I felt like I did the team fairly proud, finishing fourth, because my predecessor would have been there or thereabouts as well. Now, I’ve got to stamp my own mark on it and try to go faster again.”

“There were a few key people missing from some of the earlier races this year, so realistically I’m probably still sitting number four if I go well.” “Even making the final is going to be difficult. It’s got to that level now in the PR1 event that you can’t even guarantee being in the final.” “That’s why it’s so crucial for me to take this great opportunity between now and the World Champs to ensure my speed comes up and I can be competing at a better level than I was last year.”•