W8 at the World Cup series throughout 2014 before joining Hartmann in the pair in 2015. So far in 2016 they’ve not yet made an A-Final and it would be a great result for them to make the final in Rio.

Great Britain

Heather Stanning 31 & Helen Glover 30

Olympic record: Gold W2- London

World Championship record

Stanning: 2nd W2- 2010, 2011, Gold 2014, 2015

Glover: 2nd W2- 2010, 2011, Gold 2013, 2014, 2015

2016 record: 1st W2- European Championships, DNS Lucerne World Cup, 1st W2- Poznan World Cup

The British dominate the W2- in nearly the same way as Murray and Bond dominate the M2-. They are national heroines in Britain having kicked started the gold medal rush at the London Olympics and in doing so became the first British women rowers to winan Olympic Gold medal. After London Heather Stanning spent 2013 on a tour of duty in Afghanistan as Captain in the Royal Engineers. In her absence Glover continued her winning ways taking gold in the W2- with Polly Swann. When Stanning returned in 2014 they picked up where they left off. So far Glover is unbeaten in 47 races (for Stanning its 36) – the only small blemish on their record was in Lucerne this year when Stanning became ill during their warm-up for the final meaning they withdrew getting a DNS and officially 6th place. The development of this crew has been a testament to the British talent identification programme. Stanning was recruited as part of the World Class Start programme whilst studying at Bath University. Glover