Britain men's four win test event
Great Britain's new-look men's four powered to victory at the rowing World Cup in Belgrade as every British finalist secured a podium place.
Alex Gregory, Tom James, Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge underlined their Olympic intent by dominating their final from halfway and surging to victory.
"We’ve shown glimpses of real speed in training recently but we haven’t quite recreated it," said Triggs Hodge.
“We have our feet on the ground and some of the big nations are still to join the party."
Last year Reed and Triggs Hodge were racing in the pair while James and Gregory were part of an unbeaten four that won the world title.
However, Reed insists the crack foursome is starting to gell.
“We’ve come from two very different projects and we’re trying to get the best out of both," he said.
"We’ve had our ups and downs so far but we now seem to have a good foundation."
Elsewhere, Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter, the Olympic and world champions, held off a spirited Greek challenge to take gold in the men's lightweight double scull
While reigning world double scull champions Anna Watkins and Katherine Grainger were also winners and Heather Stanning and Helen Glover were victorious in the women's pair.
Britain scored 79 points to take the overall trophy, their nearest rivals Germany banked just 47, as six other crews claimed silver, including the men's eight, and two won bronze.
“Whilst proud of the whole team I guess I’m particularly excited by the performances of our two new male crews – the men’s pair and double scull who both won silvers. We knew they were talented but you don’t know how they are going to perform in this kind of hot-house," said GB performance director David Tanner.
“There were also some very disappointed silver medalists, like the men’s eight who lost out to World Champions, Germany. But that shows how ambitious they are."
Grainger, who is looking to upgrade her collection of three Olympic silvers at London 2012, was delighted with her performance, alongside Watkins but they needed to hold off a determined challenge from Annekatrin Thiele and Britta Oppelt.
“I really enjoyed that race. It’s been such a long time since we raced competitively," she said.
"We wanted a quality race here and the Germans gave us that. But if anyone thinks they have seen our full-on finish they haven’t.
"We will wait to unleash that in the Olympic final, I expect."
