Rowing: Hard work ahead for Bebington and Co

OLYMPIC bronze medallist Anna Bebington says she hopes to learn a lesson from her weekend defeat at the latest World Cup regatta.

Bebington and double sculls partner Annie Vernon were convincing winners at the opening regatta of the season in Spain earlier this month.

However, they were overhauled by both the Polish and German teams in Munich on Sunday to be consigned to third place.

With just one regatta left in the series, their bronze medal finish still leaves Bebington and Vernon well placed to challenge for the overall World Cup title in Lucerne next month.

But the Longsdon rower admitted they had work to do ahead of that regatta and this year's World Championships in Poland in August if they were to succeed.

She said: "Now we know what we have to do before the Worlds.

"We were calling pushes but making no impact on the other crews.

"We weren't complacent; we weren't thinking we could come back in the second half."

Vernon added: "It's races like that which you learn the most from."

It was the first time Bebington had come up against the powerful German crew of Annekatrin Thiele and Christiane Huth since she and Beijing partner Elise Laverick were beaten by them to Olympic silver last August.