Wrexham rower Lucy Thomson admits she is still searching for the right formula as she gets to grips with balancing her career on the water with the classroom.

The 18-year-old capped 2022 in style with double sculls victory at the prestigious Coupe de la Jeunesse in August but now has more than just her oars to think about.

Days later Thomson began her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at Newcastle University and revealed balancing time on the water with time in the lab has been tough.

“Balancing quite an intense rowing programme has been a learning curve, getting enough sleep and everything," said Thomson.

“It’s definitely not the traditional freshers experience. It’s quite intense and does take quite a lot of getting used to. 

“It’s about organisation and making sure you plan what you’re doing each day as I have a lot of taught hours.

“Making sure you’ve got your food made beforehand, because you’re not getting back until eight or nine o’clock.

“This year is all about experience and building myself as an athlete. Being able to be independent a bit more now that I’m at university.”

Whatever challenges Thomson has faced on dry land, they seem to have impacted her little on the water, where she has continued her imperious form.

After success at the Coupe de la Jeunesse, Thomson powered onto British Trials where she earned an invite to a December training camp, along with the privilege of rubbing shoulders with some of the country’s finest rowers.

“I had good success at Coupe where I won in the doubles and then I wasn’t going to trial this year but then training was going really well so I decided to go and got into the training week,” explained Thomson.

“I was pretty set against not doing trials this year, just focusing on getting used to university which is a big change, but I was given a lot of confidence by some of my erg scores and how it was going on the water so plans changed. 

“They’re quite different to junior trials, so that was quite a learning curve, being next to people that have potentially been to the Europeans or the Worlds. 

“I sat next to people pulling a lot better times than me, but I still managed to PB, so I was happy with that. 

“Just to be able to see what some of the top guys were doing, it’s quite eye-opening to see you’re in the same competition as them. It was a good experience.”

Thomson now heads into 2023 with sights set on strong performances at key meets such as Henley and the Head of the River alongside maintaining good grades in the classroom.

A winter focusing on strength will soon be traded for more focus on technique, and Thomson is hoping the two will marry up for another successful season travelling the country with the help of SportsAid funding. 

“I’ve changed my training, I’m doing a lot more weights than I used to do so strength-wise I’m coming along a lot,” added Thomson.

“University forces you to grow up and change your perspective around how you’re training so that you’re balancing it and making sure you do everything you need to.

“We’ve spent the past few months working on strength and fitness, so I think the focus will shift to more on the technical side over the next few months just to make sure it’s all moving together.

“Rowing is not a cheap sport. Travelling around the country for competitions is not cheap either so the money is really helping me fund being able to go to trials and travel around the country which I’m so grateful for.”

Entain, owner of Ladbrokes and Coral, is proud to be championing the next generation of British sporting heroes by providing talented young athletes with financial support and personal development opportunities in partnership with SportsAid. Visit entaingroup.com to find out more