Great Britain’s Men’s Eight return to their home water looking for back-to-back wins in the Grand Challenge Cup.
After winning last year’s World Championships in Račice, the crew have dominated the opening races of the 2023 season, winning the European Championships and the second World Cup.
Speaking exclusively with JRN, Olympic bronze-medallist James Rudkin explained how this crew were embracing the tag of favourites.
“There’s definitely pressure,” said the Newcastle University graduate. “We know we’re the favourites in most of the boat classes we are entering which is not normal and that’s quite a lot of pressure to deal with.
“The team feels that but we’re in that position because we chose to put ourselves there and we want to be the favourites. People want to lead races; they want to win but I think people are enjoying this journey to what will be for many a second Olympics.”
As the British team build for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, there are whiffs of the crew that won gold under the watchful eyes of Christ the Redeemer back in 2016.
That squad took gold at the three World Championships before winning in Rio de Janeiro and this year, the Brits are arguably favourites for gold in Belgrade come September.
Rudkin said: “We know the standards of previous crews and we know what we need to be hitting but if we want to win the Olympics next year we’ll have to be faster than all those previous crews.
“I think that will be the case for any of those guys in Rio knowing they had to be better than in 2012 as the standard moves on every year. Yes, records may not fall every year but the standard keeps being driven up.
While the crew is unbeaten in 2023 things have not gone their way and they have had to overcome adversity on their way to sustained success.
During the European Championships, Cox Harry Brightmore was forced out of the crew by COVID and replaced by Henry Fieldman, the two-time World Champion, before the final.
“The season so far has been a story of us being thrown curveballs and learning how to deal with them and making the most of them.
“I thought he did an excellent job with just jumping in but it was like having our crew’s brain switched around. If we had some extra time, it would have been better, however, it was very tough for us as a unit to feel as cohesive as we were used to.
“That’s a testament to Henry’s strength that we were in that position and we still came through in a tough sprint to the line against great crews. He showed how excellent he was on the day to jump in and get us across the line and of course, the strength of the guys to come through in the last few hundred metres,” added Rudkin.
Under the stewardship of Steve Trapmore, who stroked the British Eight to gold in Sydney, the crew are currently enjoying their rowing and relishing being at the front of the race compared to struggles in the lead-up to Tokyo.
Rudkin explained: “Last year we felt we had a jump on everyone which was quite nice to feel. We could go into every race feeling very confident, knowing what we were doing was better than everyone else and I think that is still the case. There are now crews who are figuring out how to have a go at us and it’s up to us to fend off those attacks and keep pushing on.
“Compared to the last Olympiad, we were the ones trying to catch up and work out how to beat the opposition. They are two very different challenges but both are very hard.
“We were trying to work out the Germans and the Dutch to catch them up and strengthen errors that we were making. Now in the current season, it’s about staying true to what we know. While it’s going well, we still need to keep trying new things to see what speed can be found.”
As the crew prepares to race the Grand against the Canadian national team on the hallowed Henley waters, Rudkin simply views it as another opportunity to grow as a crew.
“We’re putting ourselves out there and in pressure situations like Henley. Side-by-side racing is about throwing the first punch and making sure you can take each one that the opposition throws at you. It’s a unique challenge that us and the Canadians are going to experience this year so we’re trying to learn new things each year.”
“Henley usually throws up different things and it’s an excellent battleground to throw yourself into all the pressure and see if you can come away on top.”
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