Annie Campbell-Orde: Rower targets Olympics spot after full-time switch to sport

Annie Campbell-Orde (third from left) only joined the Great Britain rowing team full-time this year

Rower Annie Campbell-Orde says it would be "incredible" to earn selection for the 2024 Olympics only a year after taking up the sport full time.

The 27-year-old was part of the women's eight team that secured qualification for the Paris Games at the World Championships last weekend.

The team agonisingly missed out on a medal at the worlds by one second, finishing fourth in the final.

They had to place in the top five to secure the Olympics spot.

"That was the main goal of the regatta so although we were disappointed [to not win a medal] we were actually really pleased that we managed to do that," Campbell-Orde told BBC Radio Somerset.

"To have it booked next year at Paris overrides the disappointment I think."

Campbell-Orde, from Wells in Somerset, took up rowing by chance at university in Loughborough and began competing for the Nottingham Rowing Club they were affiliated with.

"I really enjoyed it and really liked the people I met so just carried on, so it was pretty relaxed to start with," she continued.

"I got quite good at it and decided to try and trial and see what I could do with it and I'm still going."

In 2021, Campbell-Orde switched to the prestigious Leander Club in Henley-on-Thames and was selected as a 'spare' for the Great Britain team last year, making her international competition debut as part of the women's eight that won silver at the European Championships in Slovenia.

After successful trials with the squad, she began training full time with the team this year. But to earn selection for the Olympics so soon would mean even more.

"It would be incredible. With rowing you've got to put a lot of effort in with the training, it's all consuming and you have to sign away a lot of things to it, you don't see people as much - the same with lots of sports," she said.

"To be able to come away with something like that, going to the Olympics, really feels like it's all been worth it.

"You really come out with something amazing. What an amazing experience that hardly anyone gets to do."