STRATFORD-upon-Avon rower Esme Booth won gold at European Championships to claim her first-ever major medal.
Booth combined with two-time Olympic champion Helen Glover, Rebecca Shorten and Sam Redgrave to deliver a dominant performance in Szeged, Hungary.
Booth doubled up in the pair and the eight last seasons but now has her hands on a Championship medal with less than 100 days to go until Paris 2024.
Booth said: “I was just getting off the water and realising that I don’t have any championship medal. So, I’m really happy and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”
The constantly shifting wind made for a very tough challenge on Hungarian waters with lanes redrawn in the final Championship regatta before the Games.
And the British quartet turned the tables on Romania who beat them in a sprint finish at last year’s Europeans, winning by more than 1.5 seconds this time around.
The women’s four experimented with combinations in 2023, winning European silver and World Championship bronze.
It now looks radically different from the crew crowned world champions in 2022, with Heidi Long and Rowan McKellar no longer in the boat.
With Booth stepping in, the four looks to have found its swing having claimed World Cup gold in Varese earlier this month
Glover added: “It’s such a new crew that all races are going to be significant.
“Varese was super significant in drawing a line in the sand and today has been significant in referencing last year when the Romanians went through us in the last 500.
“Moving onto the next race is going to be a big learning moment as more nations come in and people step up.
“I’m really excited that we are new and still have so much to learn.”
The GB Rowing Team enjoyed a fantastic weekend overall and finished top of the medal table with eight golds, one silver and one bronze.
Booth and the GB Rowing Team will race once more before the Olympics at the World Cup in Lucerne in May.
Glover even revealed that her fifth European gold was the most composed she has ever felt in a boat.
She said: “I’ve got a lot of confidence in our crew, and I had this sense that it was still a learning progress and even mid-race I thought, ‘this is interesting in terms of the big picture.’”
“Having said that, you’re still in a race to win it and it was nice being able to play around in different ways and be confident in winning.
“Gold was definitely what we were after, but it was also the most composed I’ve ever felt in a race.”
British Rowing is the governing body for the sport and is responsible for the development of rowing in England and the training and selection of rowers to represent Great Britain. The GB Rowing Team is supported by the National Lottery Sports Fund. To find out more, and to follow the team, head to https://britishrowing.org/
