Thornley eyes up improvements for Olympic year

Despite missing out on a women's double scull podium spot at last month's World Championships in France, Thornley and Katherine Grainger's final placing of sixth was good enough to qualify the boat for Rio 2016.

But that is only half the job done for Thornley who must now ensure she is one of those sitting in the boat when the competition kicks off in Brazil.

The next chance to shine arrives this weekend in Nottingham at the British Rowing Championships, and Thornley is determined to do exactly that.

"It was a mixed season for me, we won some medals in the earlier races where we had some really good performances," said Thornley, who won European bronze earlier in the year alongside Olympic champion Grainger.

"At the World Championships we had a big field and there were probably three or four crews who weren't in the A final who could have been so to get into the A final we had to race a really high class semi-final.

"We managed to get into the final, we were disappointed with how it finished, we thought we raced well, we just ran out of steam a little bit at the end of the race.

"But the main thing was we qualified the boat for Rio, although we were pretty devastated for the actual result in the end.

"Now it's about the Olympics. So we have to use that as fuel for this year and also to learn from it for the Olympics.

"We’ve got the British Rowing Championships up in Nottingham. I'll be racing on the Sunday in the women's quad so I'm really looking forward to that.

"It's good to race for our club, we don't get to do it very often. It's great to do a bit of racing where there's not too much pressure.

"We've only been back in training a week and a half but I think it will get us in the racing mode pretty quickly. We'll have three races on the Sunday. I've been really enjoying it so far. I'm really looking forward to the racing and getting the season off."

This weekend's British Rowing Championships also give Thornley the chance to race in Leander Club colours for a change, something she can't wait to do again.

"It's brilliant to be a part of Leander," she said. "This club has got so much history and we've had such amazing results internationally and nationally within the club as well.

"It's an honour to row for Leander when I get the chance to represent the club, it's very special to be a part of this club.

"I started rowing in Bath and once I joined the British team, I moved to Henley and I was definitely wanting to join Leander and they were happy to have me. "I joined in 2010 and have been a member ever since. I'm hoping to be a member for much longer as well, even after rowing."

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