Speaking at the announcement of the GB Rowing Team, sponsored by Siemens, Reed acknowledged that the latest and heaviest defeat inflicted upon him and his fellow Olympic champion at the hands of Hamish Bond and Eric Murray at this month's Lucerne World Cup regatta meant it would be a massive task to prevent the Kiwis earning their third successive title in Slovenia.

"We didn't get a good start in Lucerne, and I think we were both tired after racing at Henley," Reed said.

"But a seven second margin is a long way.

"We don't peak for World Cup races, so we know we can go faster, but we have got a lot of hard work to do between now and the World Championships."

How Reed and Triggs-Hodge - both members of the victorious British four at the Beijing Games - get on in Bled could determine whether they go forward as a pair to the London 2012 Games or whether Jurgen Grobler, the men's head coach, makes adjustments to his crews.

While the men's pair have their work cut out, the overall prospects for the British team at a World Championships, which will double as the main Olympic and Paralympic qualifying regatta, appear bright.


David Tanner (pictured), GB Rowing's team performance director, described the squad at the team press conference as having the greatest breadth of ability of any previous one, and added: "Clearly we are absolutely on a trajectory to achieve GB rowing team's best ever Olympic results at the London Games."

Tanner reiterated the paramount objective at Bled, which was to secure the maximum number of Olympic and Paralympic qualifying places.

"You'll have seen from our results from Lucerne and the adaptive World Cup in Munich that we are in a good place to do that at the moment," he said.

"Four golds, four silvers and two bronzes from Lucerne.

"And in Munich all four boats won a medal, with two taking gold.

"We are in a really good place.

"From here the rowers have to go away and put in some really hard, hard yards in training.

"Many of you are probably thinking, 'ten medals out of the Olympic classes at Lucerne - well, it's a done deal for next year'.

"I'm ever careful as you know.

"We came out of the world championships last year as the top nation and it's always a rocky place to be.

"You have to keep working very, very, hard to stay up there.

"But clearly we are absolutely on a trajectory to produce the GB rowing team's best ever Olympic results at the London Games.

"I'm very, very confident this is as good as any team that we will have sent to a World Championships.

"They will do a good job."

Tanner confirmed that, for all Britain's dominance in Lucerne and Munich, the official target agreed with UK Sport for Bled was between 4-6 medals of whatever colour.

Four GB crews from the lottery-backed squad will go to Bled as World Cup final gold medallists - the women's double scull pair as well as both the open and lightweight men's fours.


Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins (pictured) are defending world champions in the double scull and were unbeaten in 2010 across three World Cups.

The lightweight men's four were also crowned world champions on New Zealand's Lake Karapiro in November.

They will return to that 2010 line-up in Bled if Chris Bartley's selection is ratified - after the appropriate medical and performance tests between now and the Championships - so that he can join Richard Chambers, Paul Mattick and Rob Williams.

Bartley was replaced in Lucerne by Peter Chambers, brother of Richard, allowing the siblings to race and win together for the first time in their careers.

Britain also has a valid medal hope in the women's pair of Helen Glover and Heather Stanning, who broke through in New Zealand to take silver behind the host nation and whose Lucerne gold included a victory over the Kiwis.


Matt Langridge, Ric Egington, Beijing gold medallist Tom James and Alex Gregory (pictured) dominated the field in Lucerne and they take their place in a totally unchanged open men's squad.

Three scullers who are recovering from illness or injury have been named in the team and are all subject to the same process as Bartley before their selection is ratified.

Alan Campbell is named in the men's single scull and Zac Purchase, who has missed the World Cup season with viral fatigue, in the lightweight men's double scull with the partner with whom he won gold in 2008, Mark Hunter.

Frances Houghton, multiple former world champion and twice Olympic silver medallist, is under consideration to join the quad scull which won World gold last year.


The GB Rowing Team once more takes a strong contingent of adaptive rowers to Bled including reigning World and Paralympic single scull champion, Tom Aggar, and Army Captain Nick Beighton, who races the mixed adaptive double scull with Sam Scowen (pictured).

To read the full team click here.

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