Glover is off the pace in mother of all challenges

A MEASURE of the task Helen Glover has set herself in aiming for a third consecutive gold medal was laid bare under a clear blue sky at Sea Forest Waterway early yesterday.

The 35- year-old, who only returned to rowing at the start of the year after ‘retiring’ to start a family, wants to win the women’s pair event with her new partner Polly Swann, 33. But the ‘mother of all comebacks’ seems unlikely to be crowned in glory after they finished third in their heat.

Australia, t he current world champions from 2019, looked particularly impressive in the form of Jessica Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre, who finished a comfortable two seconds ahead of the Brits. They need an improvement in Tuesday’s semi-final following what was Glover’s first defeat in 51 races.

But at least yesterday brought some happy news for the defending champion, Glover: the third birthday of her eldest child, Logan. She also has two twins, a boy and a girl, Kit and Willow, born in January 2020.

‘With it being Logan’s birthday, there are so many more important things going on than just racing a heat in Tokyo,’ she said.

‘There’s my little boy at home — we’ll celebrate when I get back. When I think about what they all mean to me, especially on a day like his birthday, everything I do out there on the water is definitely for them.

‘The twins are too young, so they are just toddling around, not knowing what’s going on. Logan sent a video message last night and said he was proud of me.

‘A big part of wanting to return to rowing was to bring them along for the journey, and now they are seeing the fruits of the labour of the ergos in the living room and the watt bike in the utility room, and me lifting weights between making their dinners.

‘I’ll get Polly to sing happy birthday to him with me later. We’ll record it rather than speak to them directly.

‘I am putting that contact side of it out of the mind for now. Especially because Steve (Glover’s husband, TV presenter and adventurer Steve Backshall) is home with them. They are fine. They will see mummy on the phone and they are happy.’

She also said she and Swann could row better.

It was a mixed day for the rowing squad overall, one that certainly suggested a lighter weight of medals coming out of Tokyo than the usual sackload.

Yesterday’s highlight was the performance of the men’s four — the famous boat of unbroken glory that began with Sir Steve Redgrave and Co back in 2000.

The current crew breezed into the semi-final with the strongest British performance of the regatta and the fastest in their event.

Ollie Cook, Matt Rossiter, Rory Gibbs and Sholto Carnegie carry the burden of history this time. But the eight, containing Moe Sbihi, flagbearer from Friday night’s opening ceremony, only made it into the repechage, the chances of the boys defending their title slim.

Team GB were second in their heat of the women’s lightweight double skulls, with Emily Craig and Imogen Grant finishing behind only Romania. They have a decent chance of claiming a medal.

The women’s four and eight were both fourth quickest in their heats and also require repechages to progress.