Lauren Henry is in Shanghai with the singular and sizable aim of becoming the first-ever British woman to win a senior World Championship title in a single scull.
Despite only having trained in the single for a year, after winning gold in the quadruple scull at Paris 2024 last summer, she will appear at the World Rowing Championships 2025 with every chance of fulfilling that aim.
The 23-year-old has enjoyed a stellar year since the switch of boats and will look to take that form to China with a clear, if not daunting, goal of making history.
“I don't want to beat around the bush, I want to go and I want to win a gold medal,” said Henry.
“If I do that, I'll be the first British woman ever to win a senior World Championship title in a single. It's a big aim.
“I've raced everyone who's there already this year so I'm confident that I just need to stay in it and do my best. If I do my best and someone beats me then I have to be at peace with it.
“I've always had this no stone unturned [approach]. We've tried everything, we've done all the training we could muster and some more. We've pushed me to the limit, sometimes a bit over it, but we've always managed to come back and get it back.
“At the end of the day, I'm not going to be shy about the fact that a gold medal is what I'm going for, but if I don't walk away with the gold medal and I've still produced the best I can, then I can walk away, not satisfied, but I can know I've done everything I can.”
The preparation for Worlds has come during a season where there is little Henry has not achieved.
In May, she took European Championship gold in Plovdiv, Bulgaria in the third fastest time ever in Women’s Single Sculls - claiming the European Best and British record in 7:09.76.
It was a statement of magnitude in her first-ever senior international regatta in the single, but one that filled her with confidence ahead of a series of World Cup victories.
“It meant a lot because I knew that it was there, but it was about going out there and delivering on the day when it really matters. I was very, very proud of it,” reflected Henry.
“Since then to carry on the success, it's been my first season as a senior single sculler on the international stage and I've already made quite a name for myself.
“It's just about keeping my head down, putting the work in, and not letting it throw me off my path and staying really focused.
“I feel like I've now become a bit of a modern big dog in the rowing world.”
While that status brings new pressure, Henry is now no stranger to winning in both the quadruple and single sculls and welcomes the attention it attracts.
“Pressure is a privilege. I'd rather the target was on my back than on anyone else's back. That means I'm the one that everyone wants to beat,” she said.
“I do know that people will be gunning for me and I'm gunning to stay away. It is different, but I've learned through doing the quad how to deal with pressure.
“Europeans was probably the one I struggled most with the pressure because I remember getting to the final and I was like, ‘Oh, am I supposed to win this?’ And I started to get a bit nervous, but I still got the job done.
“Lucerne, the second World Cup, was definitely a massive confidence boost for me because I was actually quite sick around racing. I probably wasn't well enough to be racing, but I was able to produce what was pretty good.
“This will be the first time I've properly tapered this year. All the training's really been leading up to this moment. I feel like that will give me the extra edge while I'm out there.”
To have already made such big waves is an impressive feat for someone who was still racing in the quadruple sculls just over a year ago.
Henry was part of the four-strong boat that pipped the Netherlands to take gold at Vaires-sur-Maine in last summer’s Olympics.
But despite her success in that boat, also winning World Championship gold in 2023, she has fully taken to life in the single scull.
“It's been really fun. I generally say with rowers, people either are a single sculler or they're not, and I definitely am,” she said.
“I'd say, in all honesty, I am a bit of a loner. I'm very comfortable in my own company. I really, really like the control aspect of it that I can do what I want and I can train how I want.
“I can race how I want. I can do everything almost how I want to do it. It is definitely alone, it can be quite lonely being out there on your own.
“But I'm not on my own. I've had the most fantastic coach and he's with me, he's been there every step of the way.
“I train a lot with our women's pair, so that's really good fun. And the whole squad as well - they're all so supportive. So I don't really feel like I'm on my own.”
And that support extends beyond the water as Henry retains strong friendships with her former quadruple sculls crew.
In May, Henry was a bridesmaid for former crewmate Georgie Brayshaw alongside fellow crew and Olympic gold medallists Lola Anderson and Hannah Scott, who still race in the quadruple sculls.
“Being a bridesmaid for Georgie was really up there. It was so special. It was just such a nice day,” she said.
“Seeing her now with her two new arrivals, her little baby boys is really, really special as well. “I'm so glad to see her doing something a bit different for the time being. Seeing her do something that is giving her so much joy is so nice.
“I'll be quietly watching [Lola and Hannah] racing. I will still be in the midst of my racing when they finish. They finish on Thursday and I finish on Sunday, so my racing schedule is quite long because I'm single.
“I'm sure we'll be watching and cheering each other on. As with all the other women on the team, we all want each other to do as well as we can.”