Lucinda’s last chance to impress in time for Olympics

Lucinda Gooderham will be one of 115 rowers looking to impress in the Olympic-season GB Rowing team trials next week, writes Alex Moss.

The Garboldisham rower has her sights set on one of the 48 places on offer for this summer’s Olympics in Rio de Janiero, as well as an earlier seat for the European Championships.

The two-day trials get under way with the heats on Tuesday morning and the semi-finals in the afternoon, before the finals take place the following day.

It represents one of the last chances for rowers to impress before the GB team is selected for the Olympics, and Gooderham will be hoping for a strong performance in the open women’s singles category.

British Rowing’s performance director, Sir David Tanner, said: “This is the event when we test the rowers under pressure in pairs and singles to see who has got what it takes to win. The tension is never greater than in Olympic year.”

Gooderham’s fellow GB hopeful Jess Eddie summed up the current mood in the squad when she said recently: “The focus right now is purely on selection, that is the big thing weighing on people’s minds.

“It’s pretty intense, but it’s in our own hands. If we’re good enough we’ll be in the boat, if we’re not we’ll miss out.”

Gooderham will be up against 11 other rowers in the open women’s singles event, with the heats getting under way from 9.45am on Tuesday.