Bourne gunning for gold at Rowing World Championships

By Tom Masters

George Bourne insists his men’s quadruple sculls crew can take the final step and clinch gold at next week’s World Rowing Championships, and seal Olympic qualification in the process.

Bourne, 25, is looking to upgrade in Belgrade this year having won silver in Racice in the same event a year ago.

The Hauxton native missed out on the podium at the European Rowing Championships earlier this year with an agonising fourth-place finish in Bled but remains confident his crew has the ability to beat the world’s best.

“We have been right in the mix throughout the season, every time we have come up against the top crews in the world we have been nearly there,” he said. “We have got to make another step to get above these crews.

“It is awesome to be in the mix, there are a lot of world class crews in our field. We are a new unit as the four of us so to be in that mix already is exciting and I am looking forward to making that step.

“We can be excited to have our name in the hat and then it is just a case of crossing that line first instead of just behind.

“We will have to have the race of our life to be up there, and I look forward to that challenge. We will shoot high and try and perform to the maximum of our potential. I think we can be quite excited by where that will put us in the field.”

Another World Championship medal is not the only prize on offer in Belgrade, with the top seven boats also sealing a place at the Paris 2024 Olympics for their country.

Great Britain took quadruple sculls silver in Tokyo three years ago but just Tom Barras remains from that boat, with Matt Haywood and Callum Dixon completing the new line-up.

And Bourne is confident the new quartet can challenge for medals again next summer but is determined to remain focused on the task at hand in Belgrade first.

“The brief at the start of the season was that if you win the whole thing you will qualify for the Olympics so we will aim high and see what we can do,” he said.

“At this stage it is definitely an excitement rather than a nervy thing but the more we can talk about Paris and make it seem real, the less the nerves will catch us by surprise.

“We have got this year to take care of and then a few trials to make sure we get re-selected.

“As soon as we have done that, it will be important for us to really be aware of what we are aiming for and really be calm about the fact that we can compete at that level, and it will be just another day in the office.

“The more we can get comfortable with the fact that it is around the corner will be a good thing. For now, we are focused on this year and then still have to get selected for next year.”

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