KATHERINE Grainger qualified for her fifth Olympic Games as Great Britain won five medals at the world championships in France.

The London 2012 gold medallist and her new post-Olympics partner Vicky Thornley made the cut for Rio next year after finishing third in their semi-final heat.

The 39-year-old from Marlow Rowing Club told www.britishrowing.org after qualifying for the double sculls: “We knew both semis would be a fight to the death to get into the top three. We talked with our coach Paul Thompson and we knew we would need to bring out our best race.

“It was a really tough race and it was good that we could take advantage of such an exciting race. It brought the best out of both of us and it was great that we could raise our game in that kind of championship race.”

Job done, having qualified for Rio, they finished sixth in the final as they were rowed out of the medal positions in the final 150m of the race after more than holding their own in the early stages.

For Grainger though it is all about timing and peaking for Rio.

Her emotional win in London 2012 with Anna Watkins ended a heart-breaking sequence of three successive Olympic Games silvers and afterwards she took a two year sabbatical from the sport weighing up whether to return to competitive rowing again after such a high.

She only returned to a boat last September.

Speaking after the world championships final at the weekend, Thornley told British Rowing: “It felt like we ran out of steam.”