The Molesey Boat Club pair of Moe Sbihi and George Nash had to battle not only their fiercest rivals, but also the weather to win gold at the European Rowing Championships – however, it was all in a day’s work.
Racing in the GB fours boat with crewmates Alex Gregory and Constantine Louloudis, the pair beat Belarus into second and France into third at the Championships held in Brandenburg, Germany, last weekend.
It was a new-look GB team, with only Gregory surviving from the gold-medal winning team of 2015, and with Rio on the horizon, it is likely the same crew will take to the Brazilian waters.
And the weather conditions should be very different across the Atlantic compared to the heavy crosswinds of Germany.
Sbihi said: “I didn’t need to call for a big push at the end and we were a length clear at the end.
“But they were tough conditions. Every time we got some boat-speed the wind hit us, but you have to deal with the conditions on the day.”
Gregory said: “It was very hard to do what we normally try to in training, but it was a real test of our boatmanship.”
In the men’s eight boat, Molesey’s Andrew Triggs Hodge came up short winning bronze behind winners Germany and second-placed Russia.
Cox Phelan Hill said: “Those were some of the worst conditions I have ever rowed in, but we still made the most of it. There is more to come.”
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