Highton serious about his Olympic ambitions

The 24-year-old first climbed into a boat a decade ago having admittedly failed to trouble his peers at any other sport.

Fortunately however rowing was the sport for him, and he quickly progressed through the ranks while at Hampton School before opting to join Durham University and then the Leander Club.

The latter is the most successful rowing club in the world, with the likes of Sir Steve Redgrave and Sir Matthew Pinsent both having coming through at the Henley-on-Thames-based club.

Highton himself has already had a taste of the international scene having competed for Great Britain at the 2013 Under-23 World Championships.

And the Edinburgh-born rower believes he is in the perfect place to continue pushing on towards the very top.

“I started rowing when I was 14 at school, and it was mainly because I wasn’t any good at any other sports and it was an option that we could try when we turned a certain age at school,” she said.

“I tried rowing and it was pretty good fun so I kept going with it, I started to improve and my coaches said I could be quite good at rowing so I focused a bit more on it, put some more time and effort into the sport, and then progressed."

“I chose Durham University because of the rowing programme there, and then after university decided to come to Leander."

“I think it’s a privilege being a member of Leander, not everyone gets to row here, so just being able to train here day in day out is pretty cool in itself. “You’re surrounded by like-minded people all the time, we’re all trying to do our best day in day out, we are here to train, we are here to perform when it matters most."

“We bring out the best in each other through doing that and the coaching team here is fantastic as well.

“I think we’re very lucky to have those sorts of people to help us to reach our full potential.”

Training regularly among Great Britain internationals and Olympic champions will certainly help with Highton’s progression both on and off the water.

And he admits that Tokyo 2020 is firmly on his radar as he aims to follow in his club mates’ footsteps.

“With rowing, particularly the GB rowing team, it’s very strong, particularly at the moment,” he added.

“We can see that by looking at the World Championships this year but the aim is to be participating in the Olympics and maybe the World Championships as well in the run up to an Olympics."

“2016 is quite close, so my aim is Tokyo 2020 I think and you’ve just got to build your way into that sort of thing, so putting yourself in the best position to be able to make the step, because it’s quite a big step. My ultimate ambition in rowing is to win an Olympic gold.”

As Leander Club launched their ‘Row to Rio’ campaign Francis Highton spoke of Leander’s place as the most successful rowing club in the world, with 111 Olympic medals won by its members.