Sam Nunn is well aware of the prestige that comes with being part of a British men’s four but refuses to be weighed down by history as his quartet look to write their own story writes Paul Martin.

The Bexleyheath rower, 25, is part of an all-new crew who are ultimately looking to return Britain to the Olympic podium in the discipline, with a run of five straight golds ended by a fifth-placed finish in Tokyo.

The upcoming World Championships are a key marker on the road to Paris and Nunn will arrive full of confidence having helped the four become European champions last month.

“Each race since has been a step in the right direction this season and Munich was the icing on the cake,” he said.

“As a four, we are very open-minded about always trying to step on and find that one per cent extra.

“We’ve gone in with a fresh approach, we’ve fixed a couple of small things and hopefully found a bit more speed. We’re looking forward to putting it all together at the Worlds.

“There’s no point dwelling on the past or getting sidetracked with what we ‘must’ do.

“We can only control what we can control, which is going out there, give everything we’ve got and put our best performance down.

“If that’s good enough on the day, brilliant, if it’s not then we come back and look at things.

“We are feeling confident and we’re excited for the challenge of racing against the best in the world.”

The fact Nunn is racing at all represents an achievement in itself, the Kent ace having overcome a bump in the road last winter which put his season in the balance.

“I had a pretty serious hip operation in November so spent the first six months of the season going through a rigorous rehabilitation programme to get my strength and fitness back,” he said.

“I’m very proud to be heading to a World Championships, considering the team and doctors may not have thought I’d make it.

“I’m really pleased with how the season’s gone so far - it has been really exciting and the ball is rolling in the right direction.

“Hopefully it’s a snowball effect and we can keep building.”

British Rowing is the governing body for the sport and is responsible for the development of rowing in England and the training and selection of rowers to represent Great Britain. The GB Rowing Team is supported by the National Lottery Sports Fund. To find out more, and to follow the ongoing World Championships in Racice, head to https://www.britishrowing.org/