Lauren Henry storms field to be crowned small-boat British champion at GB Rowing Team Trials - 'I'm on cloud nine!'
BySportsbeat
Updated 24/04/2023 at 16:29 GMT
Lauren Henry claimed a landmark gold in the women's single sculls at the GB Rowing Team Trials, leaving as the only junior athlete to walk away victorious on the day. "This is the first real big winning moment of my career and I'm so thrilled," she said. Henry took full advantage of a depleted field of nine athletes due to a combination of injury and illness.
READING, ENGLAND - APRIL 15: Lauren Henry in action during the semi final during the GB Rowing Trials and Small Boat British Championships at the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake on April 15, 2023 in Caversham, England. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
Image credit: Getty Images
Lutterworth rower Lauren Henry was in dreamland after shocking the field to be crowned British small-boat champion.
The youngster claimed a landmark gold in the women's single sculls at the GB Rowing Team Trials, a crucial regatta to set the tone for the 2023 season.
Henry was the only junior athlete to walk away with victory at Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake and revelled in what is the biggest result of his young career.
"This is the first real big winning moment of my career and I'm so thrilled," she said.
"It's been quite a hard season, I've done a lot of training on my own this winter. There have been a lot of solo three-session days at the rowing club but this is just fantastic. I'm on cloud nine!"
Henry took full advantage of a depleted field that saw nine athletes scratched from the field at Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake, due to a combination of injury and illness.
She has trained at Leicester Rowing Club since the age of 13 and is now a second-year Economics Student at the University of Leicester, where she has a sports scholarship.
Henry hit the headlines at the iconic Henley Royal Regatta in 2021 when she beat Canada's Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Andrea Proske.
She has navigated a pair of near misses at the U23 World Championships, finishing fourth in the single sculls at two successive editions of the event in 2021 and 2022.
Henry hopes this result will help her take the final step onto the podium and gain a place on the senior GB Rowing Team, who open their season at May's European Championships in Bled, Slovenia.
"I want to go back to the U23 Worlds this year and finally win it," she said. "I'd also like to do some senior stuff this year.
"I've put my name out there with this result. I like to think there isn't any more I could have done to put my hand up so we'll see how it goes."
Double Olympic champion Helen Glover joined Henry on the top step of the podium at Caversham, taking a dominant victory in the women's pair alongside Rebecca Shorten.
Aged 36 with three children, Glover last month announced her plans to pursue Paris 2024 and a place at a third Olympics.
The first mother to compete for Team GB in rowing at the Olympics, should Glover add to her two golds she would become the first British mother-of-three to win an Olympic medal.
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