Great Britain’s Graeme Thomas is aiming to win a second successive World Rowing Cup event this weekend on the Olympic Lake at Eton Dorney.
Graeme – who first began rowing at aged 20 when he was a student at the University of Manchester – already has one gold medal in the quadruple sculls from the first World Cup event in Sydney in March.
The 24-year-old has made swift progress into the senior national team since first taking to the water at Salford’s Agecroft Rowing Club.
He said: “I am really excited for this weekend’s competition. It’s been a while since we won in Sydney and I am looking forward to competing in front of a home crowd. I was at Eton Dorney last year watching the Olympics, and I think this weekend’s event will be like that but on a smaller scale.”
Originally from Preston, Graeme will team up with fellow Sydney gold medal winners Charles Cousins and Sam Townsend, with Bill Lucas making way for the in-form Peter Lambert.
“Peter did really well in the trials – he came third and Bill was seventh – so they’ve decided to switch things around. We’ve been training as a four for a couple of months and in recent weeks we’ve stepped up the race runs. We recently got within 0.3 seconds of the Croatian team who won silver at the Olympics last year so we know we’re on the right track,” Graeme said.
Graeme admits to feeling some pressure before the race in Sydney, where he and his team-mates took a fine victory, leading from start to finish.
He said: “I was quite nervous, and the quadruple scull was a tough boat to get to grips with. It was my first real experience at that level. We weren’t expecting to go as fast as we did, it was a really good performance.”
Graham’s long term goal is the Rio 2016 Olympics and he says he held ambitions of making last year’s home Games.
“When I was watching the Games obviously I was a bit disappointed not to be competing, but at the same time I knew the next Olympiad was my most realistic target.
“You can’t aim too low. I was aiming for London when I took up rowing. Rio is my goal now. I’m around a lot of experienced rowers, the best in the country. To get better you’ve got to be around the best. It’s a lot more competitive than I was used to at Agecroft,” he said.
After the victory in Australia, Great Britian are currently leading the sculls World Cup standings and Graeme is intent on keeping that position.
“We want to win this weekend to maintain our position and keep the form going to the third World Cup event in Switzerland ahead of the World Championships. I feel I’m growing into the squad and making my mark on the boat. I don’t feel like the new guy now,” he said.
This year’s world championships are in South Korea between August 25 and September 1.
The action at Eton Dorney starts tomorrow, with coverage on Radio Five Live Sports Extra on Saturday from 1.30pm and on BBC Two on Sunday from 11.30am.
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Photo courtesy of Intersport Images and GB Rowing, with thanks
