ROWAN McKellar insists she has nothing to lose as the confident rower heads into the women’s pair final at the European Rowing Championship in Glasgow.
The 24-year-old teamed up with Harriet Taylor earlier this year and the duo are moving in the right direction after easing through the repechage on the water at Strathclyde Country Park.
The rower is thoroughly enjoying her new partnership with Taylor as they held off France, Poland, Hungary and Serbia to progress to Saturday’s showpiece.
McKellar knows they have every chance of standing atop the podium and believes the pair are improving every single time they hit the water together.
She said: “We’re really happy with the performance. We had good bits in our first race but there were things we wanted to work on so I think getting out there was a good opportunity to practise those again. It’s put us in a good position.
“I think that’s given us more confidence and it means we have nothing to lose going into the final.
“We’ll go out there and see if we can get on the podium. If we give our best race we’re very capable of it.
“You learn so much every single time you get on the water and it’s exciting to think about how much there is still to learn going forward.”
The British pair will join the Netherlands, France, Romania, Ukraine and Italy in the final this weekend.
McKellar couldn’t be happier on home water and is savouring every moment of her time in Glasgow.
She said: “It’s great to be here. I was only born an hour away so to be here is fantastic.
“It’s been a great even so far. There’s so many volunteers and the atmosphere is really good.”
Elsewhere, in the synchronised swimming duo Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe opened their 2018 European Championship campaign with a top 10 finish.
The pair scored an impressive 80.2820 for their routine in their maiden senior championships at the Duet Tech in Glasgow.
Shortman, 16, and Thorpe, 17, will take plenty of positives as they head into the Duet Free competition on Saturday.
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