Heather Stanning is all set for her first international outing since winning Olympic gold at London 2012 – and she’s intent on picking up where she left off.
Stanning won Britain’s first gold medal of the London 2012 Olympics when she and Helen Glover stormed to the women’s pairs title on the sixth day of the Games.
The 29-year-old has since served a spell back in the army and only returned to rowing back in November and missed the recent European Championships with fatigue.
However she is set for the international circuit as the World Cup lands in Aiguebelette in France and where she will join up with Olympic gold medal winning partner Glover.
Glover won European gold with Polly Swann but the latter has been moved to eight with Stanning coming back and she isn’t out to make up the numbers in France.
"We're in the top British boat so we want to win," Stanning told BBC Sport. "I want to do the boat justice."
And, while winning is high up on their priority list, Glover also admitted the most important event of the year is the World Championships in the Netherlands later this summer.
"We didn't have America, Australia or New Zealand at the European Championships, so we know we will have to raise our level," said Glover.
"But this race and the following one in Lucerne is just a stepping stone to the World Championships in August in Amsterdam."
© Sportsbeat 2014