Single sculler's maiden world title makes her the hunted in lead-up to Rio "My skills are improving, but they're not where I would like them to be": Kim Crow. After becoming the first Australian to win the women's single scull world championship, Kim Crow knows that she will now have to carry the weight of Olympic gold medal expectation to the 2016 Games in Rio. So convincing was Crow's win on Sunday over the 2000m distance at Chungju, South Korea, the pressure on her for the next three years will not be dissimilar to that on 400m runner Cathy Freeman before the 2000 Olympics, or hurdler Sally Pearson before last year's London Games. But Crow, 28, showed no sign of being daunted by it after she won the world title in 7mins 31.2seconds from New Zealand's Emma Twigg and the Czeck Republic's Olympic champion, Mirka Knapkova. Not that Crow assumes there will be smooth water all the way to Rio. With only 14 months of experience in the craft, she still has much progress to make in one of the trickiest boats on the Olympic program. "I still have a lot to learn in the single," Crow said from Chungju on Monday. My skills are improving, but they're not where I would like them to be. I would definitely like more seasons in the single scull before the Olympics. To ensure she has her best chance of winning Olympic gold, Crow does not plan to race two boats at Rio, as she did at last year's London Olympics, where she raced the single scull and double scull with Brooke Pratley, in which she won bronze and silver medals respectively. It was only after a rib injury placed Pratley's fitness for the Olympics in doubt that Crow opted to try to qualify for the Games in the single scull to ensure that whatever fate awaited the double scull, she would still race. "That was a pretty unique situation," Crow said of her London program. Racing two boats is not so bad. It keeps you occupied, it's doable. It's the training two boats that's difficult. They [require] such different skills. Go out and train the single scull, you are detraining the double scull. Go out and train the double scull, and you are detraining the single scull. Crow started Sunday's world title final as favourite after winning gold at the Sydney and Lucerne World Cups, and clocking the fastest semi-final time. But she found her worlds campaign in one boat harder than at the Games. It was easier at the Games doing both [boats]. I didn't feel pressure," Crow said. It was a great opportunity to see what I was capable of. This time there was a serious campaign in the single scull. Things had been going well. I knew I was capable of a good race. I felt the extra pressure. That is something over the next few years I have to get my head around. It's a lot more fun, I guess, being the underdog, the chaser, and going out there [with] absolutely nothing to lose. Twitter: @rupertguinness