British Rowing start journey to Paris with fresh faces aboard

British Rowing start their Olympic reboot with an injection of young talent and new combinations for World Cup I in Belgrade. 19 Tokyo Olympians are going again, including two of the four men's quad sculls silver medallists and six members of the bronze-medal winning men's eight.

Ad/> The women's squad is more inexperienced with 11 of the 18-strong squad set to race on 27-29 May not competing at the Games. RowingGrainger: Beijing medal haul just first component of long-term Winter Olympic strategy17/02/2022 AT 17:50 «It's been some time since we had the men's, women's and para crews racing together at an international regatta and I know how excited the full team are to be getting back to competing out on the water,» said British Rowing Director of Performance Louise Kingsley.

«Despite the limited racing over the past eight months, we've been very busy behind the scenes, bringing in a new structure and new coaching team to help get us in the best possible shape to challenge for medals going forward and to help us evolve us into a contemporary and world-leading programme. »World Cup 1 is the first step on our journey to Paris 2024 and will set a good marker for the start of the 2022 season." With Helen Glover, Polly Swann and Karen Bennett absent, the Trials-winning pair of Rebecca Shorten and Rowan McKellar are the pillars of the women's sweep squad.

They are combined in the four with Samantha Redgrave — no relation — and Heidi Long, who became the first woman to win the four and the eight at Henley last year. The women's quad that showed promise has been deconstructed without the Hodgkins-Byrne sisters, with Hannah Scott opening her season in the single.