Dunford using medal-laden World Cup as building block for European Championships

By Abi Curran, Sportsbeat

Tadworth rower Holly Dunford is using a medal-laden World Cup regatta as a building block for the European Championships in Hungary with the women’s eight.

The former U23 women’s four world champion made her senior debut in Varese, Italy, doubling up and grabbing silver as part of the women’s four and eight.

Dunford and her women’s four crew missed out on gold to Helen Glover, Esme Booth, Samantha Redgrave and Rebecca Shorten but will have a sole focus on the eight at this weekend’s European Championships.

After falling short of host nation Italy by less than a second, determined Dunford only has eyes for top spot in Szeged.

She said: “We’ve got the building blocks in place for an exciting summer, so we’ll keep building on that.

“It was good fun and a good experience to have two races and better experiences.

“I could definitely feel the second race in the legs during that but it's good to race in those conditions.

“We’ll probably have to have a chat as an eight and figure out areas of improvement and where we can grow but it’s definitely a starting point.

“It’s definitely good to get those races in the legs and get a silver medal, while not feeling as fresh as we’d like to.”

Less than an hour after their women’s four final, Dunford, Heidi Long, Rowan McKellar and Emily Ford joined up with the eight to secure silver.

Experienced teammate and Tokyo 2020 Olympian Harriet Taylor was also in the eight crew after placing sixth in the women’s four final alongside Lauren Irwin, Annie Campbell-Orde and Eve Stewart.

The 30-year-old believes momentum is on their side as they look to grow on their 2024 campaign in style in Hungary.

Taylor said: “It’s a relatively quick turnaround but, actually, now we’ve got a bit of momentum and we’ve got a bit of fire in the belly from this race to attack Europeans.

“It’s always good to medal but it’s always disappointing when you want to win.

“It’s still such a great result, we lost a little bit of momentum but it’s really picked up again this year and I feel like we’re barrelling towards the Olympics.

“We’re really excited to see how it’s going and to see what goes on for the rest of the season.”

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