Helen Glover will move a step closer to more Team GB history next weekend when she makes her competitive return to rowing at the European Championships.
Glover, who won women’s pair gold at both London 2012 and Rio 2016 alongside Heather Stanning, is bidding to become the first female rower in British history to make an Olympic team after having children.
The 34-year-old retired after the Rio Olympics to start a family but made a shock return to the water three months ago, in a bid to make the Tokyo squad.
And now she will race for the first time in five years in Italy, partnering Polly Swann in the women’s pair.
“I’ve been back full time for three months now and being selected for the Europeans is the first step on my mission to become the first woman in British Rowing history to make an Olympic team after having children,” she said.
“I’m finding the journey exciting and extremely challenging, but I hope I can return from Varese with some success stories to share with the children.”
Swann has Olympic pedigree as well after winning a silver medal as part of the women’s eight in Rio and has partnered Glover before.
She and Glover were in the women's pair boat for two seasons in 2013 and 2014 when Stanning resumed her British Army career after the London Games.
Team GB has already qualified ten boats for Tokyo, while the lightweight men’s double sculls, men’s single scull, men’s pair and women’s double sculls hope to follow this spring.
The European Championships will mark the first major regatta in 20 months and provide a yardstick for where Great Britain stands ahead of the Games.
British Rowing director of performance Brendan Purcell said: “When we came home from the World Rowing Championships in September 2019 with ten boats qualified for the Olympic Games and three boats qualified for the Paralympic Games, we had no idea of the challenges that would lie ahead.
“I’m incredibly proud of every single member of the GB Rowing Team, from the athletes to the coaching staff. They have worked tirelessly over this period, maintaining fitness levels and working towards a time when we could safely compete again.”
British Rowing's European Championship Selected Squad
Men’s single scull (M1x) Matthew Haywood (Club: Nottingham RC / Hometown: Nottingham) Coach: Nicola Benavente
Men’s pair (M2-) Harry Glenister (Leander Club / Princes Risborough) Morgan Bolding (Oxford Brookes University /Withiel) Coach: John Gearing
Men’s double sculls (M2x) John Collins (Leander Club / Twickenham) Graeme Thomas (Agecroft RC / Preston) Coach: Dan Moore
Men’s four (M4-) Oliver Cook (Univ. of London BC / Windsor) Matthew Rossiter (Leander Club/ Newbury) Rory Gibbs (Oxford Brookes University / Marlow) Sholto Carnegie (Leander Club / Oxford) Coach: Robin Williams
Men’s quadruple sculls (M4x) Harry Leask (Leander Club / Edinburgh) Angus Groom (Leander Club / Glasgow) Thomas Barras (Leander Club / Staines) Jack Beaumont (Leander Club / Maidenhead) Coach: Paul Stannard
Men’s eight (M8+) Josh Bugajski (Oxford Brookes Univ. BC / Stockport) Jacob Dawson (Leander Club / Plymouth) Thomas George (Leander Club / Cheltenham) Mohamed Sbihi (Molesey BC / Surbiton) Charles Elwes (Leander Club / Andover) Oliver Wynne-Griffith (Leander Club / Guildford) James Rudkin (Newcastle Univ. BC / Litchborough) Thomas Ford (Leander Club / Holmes Chapel) Henry Fieldman (cox) (Leander Club / London) Coach: Steve Trapmore
Lightweight men’s double sculls (LM2x) Jamie Copus (Oxford Brookes Univ BC / Oxford) Samuel Mottram (Leander Club / Stoke Mandeville) Coach: Hamish Burrell
Men’s spares Matthew Tarrant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC / Shepperton) Jonathan Walton (Leander Club / Leicester) Oliver Wilkes (Oxford Brookes Univ BC / Matlock)
Women’s single scull (W1x) Vicky Thornley (Leander Club / Wrexham) Coach: Paul Reedy
Women’s pair (W2-) Helen Glover (Marlow RC / Penzance) Polly Swann (Univ. of Edinburgh & Leander Club / Edinburgh) Coach: Hamish Burrell
Women’s double sculls (W2x) Holly Nixon (Leander Club / Enniskillen) Saskia Budgett (Tideway Scullers’ School / Acton) Coach: Paul Reedy & Lauren Fisher
Women’s four (W4-) Rowan McKellar (Leander Club / Glasgow) Harriet Taylor (Sir William Perkins’s School BC / Sunningdale) Karen Bennett (Leander Club / Edinburgh) Rebecca Shorten (Imperial College BC / Belfast) Coach: James Harris
Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x) Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne (Reading Univ. BC / Hereford) Hannah Scott (Leander Club / Coleraine) Charlotte Hodgkins-Byrne (University of London BC / Hereford) Lucy Glover (Edinburgh Univ BC / Warrington) Coach: Lauren Fisher
Women’s eight (W8-) Sara Parfett (University of London BC / Rochester) Rebecca Edwards (Leander Club / Aughnacloy) Chloe Brew (Leander Club / Plymouth) Emily Ford (Leander Club / Holmes Chapel) Katherine Douglas (Leander Club / Edinburgh) Caragh McMurtry (Southampton Coalporters ARC / Southampton) Beccy Muzerie (Molesey BC / Fareham) Fiona Gammond (Leander Club / Bicester) Matilda Horn (cox) (Univ. of London BC/Windsor) Coach: Tom Pattichis
Lightweight women’s single sculls (LW1x) Madeleine Arlett (Edinburgh Univ. BC / Selkirk) Coach: Darren Whiter
Lightweight women’s double sculls (LW2x) Emily Craig (University of London BC / Mark Cross) Imogen Grant (Cambridge Univ. Women’s BC / Cambridge) Coach: Darren Whiter
Women’s spares Samantha Courty (Univ. of Bath BC / Alnwick) Jess Leyden (Leander Club / Todmorden) Annie Withers (Leander Club / Kingston)