Where did you learn to row and who was your first coach?

Sidney Sussex College, Tim Schmalz.

What inspires you about sport?

The most basic biology in the sense of satisfaction when you move your body and achieve something by doing so. Behind all of the competitions and times and scores and crowds, it's just you and your body. It's easy to cast that aside as a basic, almost boring aspect of sport but the fact its fundamental I think is what makes it so rewarding when you do really focus on and develop it.

It doesn't matter who you are, if you're just managing to stand up after an intense surgery for the first time, slowly moving through kata finely controlling your movement, instinctively saving a goal in an instinctive, explosive movement, pushing through the lactate swimming a 200m butterfly or trying to get the catch in on those last few strokes of a race. I've done them all and over the years I've realized it's all different but it's also the same. It's all just you and your body. It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from. You're human. And you're moving. And that feels good.

Do you relish in hours in the gym and miles in the dark, or do you live for race days?

Definitely the winter miles. There's something so rewarding about habits, that motor that keeps you moving to get the mat out for core even when you mentally feel like you don't have the energy. That's also when the team builds and its those moments I cherish most in the season.

When I had to intermit in October last year, I'd already had the first month or so of the season and suddenly my entire life changed in an instant. What I missed most wasn't boat race day but standing on the train platform after morning sessions hanging out with my friends. I missed the gym sessions and the chats and inside jokes and the group chat and the socials.

I worked hard on my discipline last year, I built habits and found motivation at times where I felt completely empty. I have found so much satisfaction in that. I also find fulfilment in the people around me. Hours in the gym and miles in the dark win for me any day.

What's the secret to managing elite-level sport with studying at one of the top universities in the world?

Here, more than anywhere, finding fulfillment in comparison will always be a hollow reward. You are in an elite squad, at an elite university. To be average is an achievement. To be above average is also an achievement. The only way to effectively measure success is to take pride in your personal progress and journey.

It's easy to think that as you get better you feel better and life is easier because you have risen in some rankings but that's not because you're suddenly 'the best', it's because you're doing your best. And any satisfaction from being better than those around you will fade, if not impede your journey.

You're already at the best. You're already doing well. Moving goalposts will never bring you happiness and being internally/intrinsically motivated is a habit that everyone should prioritise building. That's why the CUBC women's squad is so good. We push ourselves so that we can push eachother.

Everything else is just about remembering to not let the laundry pile up.