Pembury rower Emily Craig's retirement U-turn pays off as World Championship gold at Racice caps unbeaten campaign

Peerless Emily Craig completed a remarkable unbeaten season by cruising to World Championship gold - then admitted she had almost hung up her oars following Olympic heartache last summer.

Pembury’s Craig, 29, and Imogen Grant have been the dominant force in lightweight women’s double sculls racing in 2022 and finished more than three seconds clear of nearest rivals USA to claim victory in Racice and back up their European triumph.

This summer of success has been the perfect way to bounce back from disappointment in Tokyo, where missing out on an Olympic medal by one-hundredth of a second fuelled their desire to take their performances up a notch.

“The photo finish from Tokyo is printed off and hanging on my living room wall,” Craig joked.

“Imogen’s quote after that race summed it up nicely - ‘you win or you learn’. We went away and we learned.

“I wanted to retire after Tokyo and said if I came back it would have to be completely different. I’m a different woman to who I was a year ago.

“World champion, European champion, World Cup winner - I don’t know when a lightweight woman has ever achieved that before in a season, so I might brag about that a little!”

Craig and Grant were not completely flawless, with the former admitting she ‘made a wrong call’ seven strokes in, but they quickly recovered their composure to streak ahead of the chasing pack.

Grant has enjoyed a stunning summer of her own, which started by steering Cambridge University to success in the Boat Race, and hailed her crewmate’s remarkable invincible season.

“Going unbeaten is not a record you can quote very often,” she said.

“Lightweight rowing is unbelievably competitive and it’s testament to our coaches, who have enabled us to do the most training we’ve