Henry takes heart from conquering conditions
EURO BRONZE FOR THE LUTTERWORTH ROWER ON SENIOR DEBUT IN SLOVENIA
LUTTERWORTH rower Lauren Henry took heart from conquering tough conditions to win European bronze on her senior debut, writes Tom Harle of Sportsbeat.
Henry combined with Hannah Scott, Georgie Brayshaw and Lucy Glover to reach the podium in women’s quad sculls at the European Championships on Lake Bled.
The Slovenian lake provides a stunning setting but it proved a cruel mistress as a tailwind turned into a headwind while the British quartet were warming up for the final.
It made for a rough ride and Britain were some way off gold medal pace from the early stages, with the Netherlands setting the pace.
Eventual winners Ukraine rowed through the Dutch but Henry and crew held third place from start to finish, grinding out a podium place at her first major Championships.
“I haven’t got a medal at U23 level so it’s nice to get one, but there are lots of things we could have improved on,” said Henry.
“Some of that was down to the conditions, but they were the same for everyone and we didn’t deal with it as well as some other crews.
“There are lots of positives to take in the project moving forward and lots of things to work on.
“I felt we had a stronger row in our heat, the conditions were better, and we’re pleased to be on the podium even if it’s not the colour we wanted.”
Henry and Scott are the new additions to the women’s quad that won European gold and world bronze in 2022, with Glover and Brayshaw carrying the baton.
Their focus for the season will be to qualify the boat for the Paris 2024 Olympics at September’s World Championships in Belgrade.
“That was a hard race for us but it puts us in a good place moving forward for the season if we can still walk away with our medal,” said Scott.
“No-one underperformed or didn’t put their heart into it, it’s just coping with the conditions.
“If there’s an ounce of questioning about the conditions in a quad race, someone’s taking it from you.
“We pulled it back and at least we kept our heads and didn’t panic under that, even in a position where we weren’t sure about where we were. It’s a young quad. There’ll be exponential growth – Lauren has never raced a quad before so for her to take a bronze is great.”
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