Sir David Tanner has called on Britain’s rowers not to get carried away with their performance at the World Cup at Eton Dorney, which saw them win four golds, five silvers and two bronzes on the final day.
Britain’s medal tally was opened in the non-Olympic lightweight men’s pair with Sam Scrimgeour and Mark Aldred taking gold ahead of Matthew Bedford and Wilf Kimberley, who settled for silver.
Britain’s London 2012 Olympians then came to the fore as Helen Glover, who won the women’s pair with Heather Stanning at the Games, added a second World Cup win in the event with Polly Swann having won on debut together in Sydney in March.
Frances Houghton, sixth in the women’s quadruple scull in London after back-to-back silvers at Beijing 2008 and Athens 2004, secured the next gold with Victoria Meyer-Laker as a new partnership in the women’s double scull.
It was then left to the men’s eight, involving double Olympic champions Peter Reed and Andy Triggs-Hodge, to take the fourth gold medal in dramatic fashion over Poland in the final few metres.
Richard and Peter Chambers took silver in the lightweight men’s double scull as did Kathryn Twyman and Imogen Walsh in the women’s equivalent while the men’s four of Alan Sinclair, Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell, Scott Durant and Matthew Tarrant were also second.
Alan Campbell took the last of the silvers in the men’s single scull while there were bronzes for the lightweight men’s four of Adam Freeman-Pask, William Fletcher, Jonathan Clegg and Chris Bartley and the men’s double scull of Bill Lucas and Matt Langridge.
But GB Rowing performance director Tanner called for calm with the Henley Royal Regatta and the third and final World Cup leg in Lucerne still to come this season.
“I am pleased with our rowers. Several of our boats stepped up from the heats and the semis, backed by the now traditional Dorney Roar from the crowd,” said Tanner.
“But we need to keep our feet on the ground. After Henley we have the World Cup at Lucerne which will be tougher than this with more nations.
“This event has given us a good base to go there and it has shown the spirit that is in our team as well as its ambition. So it was a good day in the office.”