Cassells targetting European hat-trick in Racice

Cassells will be rowing alongside Sam Scrimgeour in Racice, Czech Republic, with whom he won gold in 2016, as well as taking double World Cup glory in Lucerne and Poznan.

The duo also won bronze at last year's World Championships, and after Cassells' 2015 European success alongside Peter Chambers – also in Poznan – the 22-year-old wants to continue his run of European success.

"A medal is definitely the target for us, but we can't take anything for granted," said the three-time World U23 silver medallist.

"It's a new season, there will be new characters coming up and some old characters who may have improved.

"We will go in there and take it one race at a time, but to get a hat-trick would be pretty good."

The pair began their season with a bronze medal in the opening World Cup event of 2017 in Belgrade earlier in the month.

Their conquerors in Serbia, Mark O'Donovan and Shane O'Driscoll from Ireland and Russia's Nikita Bolozin and Aleksei Kiaashko, will also be in the Czech Republic, but Cassells is confident they have progressed since their first test of the season.

"I think the more racing you do the better experience it is," he added. "We've got the first regatta out of the way; we've blown off the cobwebs and now it's time to show what we can really do.

"We could have done better [in Belgrade] but we have to be realistic that it's the start of the season, we've just jumped back into the pair and we're not going to be at 100 per cent straight away.

"We have definitely taken a step on [since Belgrade]. We've changed a few things and are just getting back into the swing of things. We're building up nicely and we will want to demonstrate that out in Racice.

"I've rowed with Sam for the past two seasons now, so when we jump into the boat we know what to expect out of each other.

"We have very high standards, but we use that constructively and when we're on the start line I feel confidence from our past racing experiences that we can deliver a good performance."

Sportsbeat 2017