London Rowing Club’s Imogen Walsh hopes her new partnership, with Olympic champion Katherine Copeland MBE, in the women’s lightweight doubles helps her achieve her medal dreams ahead of the European Championships.

Walsh rowed with Kathryn Tywman last year and won a bronze in Sydney and silver at Eton Dorney in the World Cup series, but came up short, finishing fourth, in the World Championships in Chungju, South Korea.

Copeland won gold in the discipline at London 2012, and Walsh believes it is now her job to step up to match her new teammate.

She said: “Getting into the boat with an Olympic champion could have it’s stresses and worries because it’s a lot to live up to, but on the other side it’s a really exciting prospect that I get to row with an Olympic champion.

“She’s incredibly good at what she does and I’ve progressed a lot since last year, so the two of us together, hopefully we can do better than the fourth place of last year in the World Championships.”

This is the first regatta of the season for Great Britain, having not travelled to Sydney for the opening World Cup event, and Walsh, although disappointed to have been denied a spot on an Australian beach in March, believes the decision will pay dividends.

The team are treating this tournament competitively, but with an eye on the bigger events at the end of the year, including the World Championships in Amsterdam, and already with an emphasis on the next Olympics in Rio.

“Any international race you do gives you good experience and helps for the next one, whether that’s a Euro or a World Cup,” Walsh added.

“The World Championships is our main focus, so that’s what we’re building for and trying to peak for, but that said we want to do well at the Europeans.”

The 30-year-old is one of the few squad members who already has a European medal, she won bronze in the pair in Italy in 2012 with Molesey’s Ruth Walczak who did not make the cut this time round.

The European Championships begin in Belgrade on May 30 with the finals on June 1.