Katherine Grainger upbeat about British rowing’s Rio 2016 chances

Katherine Grainger believes British rowing is in prime position to once again time an assault on the medals at the Rio Olympic Games.

London 2012 gold medallist Grainger had a watching brief as the sport returned to Olympic venue Eton Dorney for the World Cup, having taken a break from competing to ponder her future.

She witnessed Britain claim nine Olympic-class medals – including three golds – as a host of new partnerships showed promising signs for the future.

Whether 37-year-old Grainger will be a part of the build-up to Rio remains uncertain, but what is sure is her confidence that the squad will once again peak at the right time.

“The year after the Olympic Games are always interesting for every sport because there are changes,” said the Scot, who is also a six-time world champion.

“In rowing, every four years there will be some sort of change. People will retire, some will take time off, new people will come in – so it is this transition period.

“The great thing is that we got three gold medals in Olympic events at the World Cup, which is a brilliant start.

“It’s not where we want to end up, and the team wouldn’t be happy with that if it was the case in four years time, but there were a lot of crews in silver, bronze of fourth position and that is almost the most exciting place because there is still a lot of time to make progress.

“Those are the ones we need to move all the way up to the top and that is what the next few months and years will be about.”

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