As the who’s who of rowing gathers in Henley-upon-Thames for the world-famous Royal Regatta, the international entry list will be without Emily Craig and Imogen Grant, the defending World Champions in the Lightweight Women’s Double.
The duo, who set a new World Best Time at World Rowing Cup II in Varese just a few weeks ago, have their sights firmly set on the next and final World Cup in a year where Olympic qualification is the be-all and end-all.
“By the end of World Cup II, we will have raced everyone in the A-Final of last year’s World Championships so we’ll how we compare, said Craig who started rowing at Bewl Bridge RC.
“Last year we were only in the double for nine weeks. We’re now in a position where we have time together and it’s going to be interesting to see how much we can get out of that this season.
“I feel with the extra stress of making weight and how close the races are together, personally I don’t know how much we would gain from racing Henley Royal, maybe I’m wrong, but for me, it’s maybe one too many at this point in the season.
“That being said, I can’t imagine there will be a big night in Mahiki,” the reigning European Champion said while laughing.
Craig has had a turbulent relationship with rowing in recent years. Despite a huge amount of success in recent months, she needed to take a step back following the chaotic and damaging impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the sporting world.
After an Olympic experience that fell below personal and national expectations, the University of London graduate took a step back from the sport she has given so much to.
The Olympian explained: “I think the year leading into Tokyo was like hell, absolute hell and then to come away with the result we did was not very fun.
“There was a lot of stuff going on and a lot of stuff carried on after Tokyo and I really needed to take a break, sort things out and have an identity away from rowing for a while and really take the time to make that decision and let it happen naturally.
“I think moving away from Henley, working in London, having a bit more freedom and then it being a choice to come back and not a necessity was a big mental turning point for me. I had joined the senior team and I was building up to this one Olympics; the goal is to get to the Olympics and now I’ve done that I thought I might as well give it another shot and see how good I can be when I am happy.
“For everybody, the pandemic shrunk our world, so part of the reason why taking a step back and time away was important because it opened my world back up again. It shook off a bit of that horrible intensity,” she added.
Following Craig’s hiatus from the sport and time away from the national training centre in Caversham, she has forged a partnership with Grant, who plied her trade at Cambridge University.
Since Tokyo, the crew have won gold at every event they have raced together, meaning the public now expect success every time they take to the water, something that doesn’t faze Craig.
She said: “I’m trying not to engage with that idea too much. I think that certainly as a crew, nobody is going to be harder or expect more from us than ourselves and it’s tuning out the rest of the world and focussing on our process and getting out and racing.
“It has been a shift to a position that I’ve not really been in before in my career. I’ve been trying to embrace, enjoy and relish being in this position as we carry on but also not underestimate the rest of the world and what they’ve done since the World Championships last year.” Craig emphasised.
For the World Champion, Paris 2024 represents a pivotal point in her career. It is an opportunity to seek redemption for Tokyo’s shortcomings but in a more global landscape, it may well be the last time lightweights race at the Olympic Games.
While World Rowing have high hopes that Beach sprints will be included in the LA28 Olympic programme, the decision is still pending from the IOC and will be made public in September. To this day, they still don’t know if the answer from the IOC will be positive or not – nor do they know if the lightweight double sculls will be scrapped from the “classic” rowing programme, news that Craig has mixed feelings about.
“I’m quite conflicted. Many young women out there who are like me, naturally smaller and also love rowing, will no longer have this opportunity to race internationally if it is removed. But from a selfish point of view, it would certainly make a decision after Paris very easy.
“It’s difficult to not see the arguments for removing it, even though it would be a great shame and potentially cut out a lot of people’s opportunity to become Olympians but I’m trying not to think about it, to be honest. We could get to next year and they say ‘surprise, we’re not cancelling it!’
Emily Craig and Imogen Grant are making their final preparations for World Rowing Cup III, to be held in Lucerne from 7th -9th July.
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