KAREN Bennett is the only survivor of the women’s eight that took silver at the Rio Olympics in 2016 but the Edinburgh rower sees huge potential in latest crop of talent.
The 29-year-old was part of the crew that finished second at the European Rowing Championship in Glasgow with a time of 6:10.09.
Bennett is one of the most experienced heads in the team and with the Tokyo Olympics just two years away; the rower believes something special is brewing.
She said: “We all bring something different to the crew and although I’m one of the more experienced ones, I think everyone offers something special and something that we need.
“I’m always here for anyone who wants to answer any questions so I’m happy to be there for them.
“I see a lot of potential in this crew. On paper we should be at world standard so it’s just getting out there and practicing it.
“We’ve got really strong girls so it’s all about being together and getting the most out of each other so we can be a world champion crew.”
The eight-strong crew finished just over a second behind defending World Champions Romania on the water at Strathclyde Country Park.
Bennett loved being on home water once again and with the World Rowing Championships taking place next month, the Olympic medallist cannot wait to see how the crew fair in Bulgaria.
She said: “Going up against the Romanians and also the World Cup leaders Netherlands is never easy so we did a good job to get out there and get a silver medal.
“We said before we raced that all we needed to do was think about the processes and taking this as a building block to the World Championships.
“We’ve got around five weeks before they arrive so we’re off to a training camp where we’ve just got to work really hard. Hopefully we can produce something special at the World Championships.
“It was so nice to be out here. I actually didn’t think I’d feel this emotional about racing on home water but I really did.
“When we went straight from the boat up onto the podium I saw all my friends and family and it was something I really enjoyed.
“A lot of my friends haven’t seen me at a regatta before so it was really special for them to come along and watch me and I did get really emotional when I walked up there.”
SSE are proud sponsors of Scotland’s home of live entertainment and sport – The SSE Hydro - and SSE customers can get up to 48 hour advance ticketing, lounge upgrades and exclusive competitions and experiences. ssereward.com
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here