Published : 9 years ago, on 09/03/2016

In just 150 days the best athletes from across the globe will descend on Rio de

Janeiro, Brazil, for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Chris Hoy’s success in the Lee Valley VeloPark; Katherine Grainger’s emotional achievement at Eton Dorney; and Jessica Ennis-Hill’s domination in the Olympic Stadium are all in the past, as Britain’s elite athletes reach the culmination of four years of hard work.

SAS, the Official Analytics Partner of British Rowing and the GB Rowing Team, has been working with the rowers to help improve performance through the use of data analytics. With races often decided by fractions of a second, such as last year’s world championships in which Great Britain’s men’s eight triumphed by just 0.18 seconds, the importance of finding marginal gains is paramount.

Great Britain has a long and successful history at the Olympic Games, and is second only to the United States in overall Olympic rowing medals won. Great Britain has won a gold medal at every Olympic Games since 1984 and topped the rowing medal tables at the two most recent Games, in Beijing and London. GBR’s record haul of four gold medals at London 2012 is the most it has won at a single Games since 1908.

Under the guidance of Chief Men’s Coach, Jürgen Gröbler, British Rowing men’s team is hoping to emulate its success at London 2012 when it came away with a remarkable six medals. SAS technology is being used to analyse many aspects of individual and crew performance ahead of Rio, to ultimately help make the boats faster.

Moe Sbihi, a member of British Rowing’s men’s eight that won gold at the 2015 World Rowing Championships in Aiguebelette, France, broke the national 2km record at the SAS-partnered 2015 British Rowing Indoor Championships, shortly before Christmas. In beating Sir Matthew Pinsent’s 11-year record in a time of 5mins 41.8secs, rowing at that pace between now and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Sbihi could row from London to Rio just over eight times.

British Rowing is equally well-positioned on the women’s side, with defending Olympic champions Helen Glover and Heather Stanning having enjoyed a red-hot streak during this Olympiad. Glover and Stanning are now unbeaten in over four years, having won an amazing 28 consecutive races, including one Olympic and three world championship gold medals.

Before the nation’s top rowers can book their ticket on the plane to Rio, they must navigate the Olympic trials, which take place from 21-23 March at the British Rowing’s National Training Centre in Caversham.

For more information please visit http://www.britishrowing.org/