I left you pre-Olympic Games, with great anticipation of what was to come. The Olympic Games were about to kick off in Rio, Brazil, my third Olympics and we were full of ambition.

This was one of our biggest challenges yet. Lucerne is a tiny city, nestled in the foothills of the Alps in Switzerland. It was here that we flew to compete in the World Cup (the second one of a 3 series event) and face the best crews in the world.

As a team we train most of the time in the UK, but several times in a year we will venture off to other countries for training camps.

Finally I find myself on the other side of some of the toughest weeks we have to face as Olympic athletes.

One of the most frequent questions I get asked…

So it has arrived, 2016 is upon us and we’ve wasted no time in getting our teeth stuck into it. The team and I have recently returned from a great training camp out in Portugal.

As the days get darker, the training load seems to be ramping up, and suddenly Christmas is upon us.

We did it. My crew and I qualified our boat, the Women’s 8+, for the Rio Olympic Games. Now the hard work begins.

I last left off with my crew about to race the final World Cup of the season in Lucerne. We had a good regatta there, winning a strong bronze medal, beating some fast and experienced nations along the way.

Jess has competed for Great Britain in the last two Olympic Games. With Rio coming up next year, Putney Exchange and Jess have formed an exciting partnership and we’ll be following her progress!