Grainger: My greatest achievement

It was a fairytale ending to the season Grainger’s quadruple scullers lifted the gloom that engulfed the British camp after the flagship men's four slipped into fourth place.

But Grainger’s crew of Annie Vernon, Debbie Flood and Fran Houghton made no mistake as they dominated the field to win in six minutes and 30.81 seconds.

The crew have come through a difficult year after their defeat by the Chinese in Amsterdam and Grainger's back twinge which moved her into the bow seat as a precaution in the preliminary heat.

But the crew was back to full-strength for the final to signal their intent ahead of the Beijing Olympics next year.

The quad had been posthumously awarded the World title last year following the disqualification of the Russian crew for failing a drug test and Grainger was keen to put that right this time around.

She said: "It was a struggle to come to terms with that. But this race meant so much to me because it was personal.
“We were primed to get it right, and it's the biggest achievement in my career.
“I was really looking forward to the start and when I saw that light go green, I knew we'd be explosive.
“Yes, there were tears again this year, different tears though.  I was fine until I saw Steve Redgrave with tears in his eyes, though he probably won't admit that. I'm looking forward to waking up tomorrow knowing I'm still world champion."

Marlow’s Zac Purchase also capped an impressive season by taking World bronze in the men’s lightweight double sculls with Mark Hunter.

The pair battled back from fifth to finish third with Purchase describing the race as their most complete ever.