NAILSWORTH’S rising rowing star Anna Corderoy admitted hearing the national anthem brought home the significance of winning gold at the world championships in Florida.

As cox of the GB Paralympic mixed coxed four, former Stroud High’s Corderoy, 22, has had an outstanding first season at the international level, taking on the responsibility of steering the boat while executing the race plan and guiding her teammates to the finish line.

The crew of Corderoy, James Fox, Oliver Stanhope, Giedre Rakauskaite and Grace Clough, eased through their first race in Sarasota last Thursday, with a comfortable win by 22 seconds, to face off against the USA, Ukraine and Italy.

With this year’s event seeing the Paralympic event doubled in distance, from 1km to 2km, the crew’s first race saw them set a new world best time, a feat they repeated in the final on Saturday when they went a full 14 seconds faster, with a time of 6:55.7.

“I still can’t believe that we did it,” she said.

“It has been a season of many challenges and to know that we managed to overcome all of them to deliver on the day is hugely emotional.

“Standing on that podium and hearing the national anthem being played in celebration of our crew was a bigger honour than I could ever have imagined.

“Everyone in the crew really deserved the win and I’m so glad that all of their hard work paid off.”

Jumping off the start, Team GB, who have remained undefeated in the event since 2011, took the early lead, with the USA’s early challenge fading away within the first 500m.

With GB disappearing off into the distance and USA in the void for an easy silver medal, Italy and Ukraine were left at the back of the field to fight for bronze, with the former narrowly earning their place on the podium.

“We aimed to go out and perform as though we were doing a time trial,” said Corderoy. “I’m so glad that we stuck to that and I’m sure the crew would agree it was one of the best rows we’ve ever had.

“I actually wasn’t as nervous as I thought I’d be on the start line. We’d been so well prepared in the weeks before the race that when we pushed off the landing stage auto-pilot kicked in.

“For me the final wind for the finish came around pretty quickly and the sound from the stands was amazing - I told the crew to just enjoy the last 10 strokes.”

Having flown back home earlier this week, Corderoy said she was looking forward to being with her family and friends after her longest season away, adding that her latest medal would sit pride of place on a shelf in her room with all her medals and trophies from past victories.

“They are reminders of every little step which led to this achievement,” she said.

“Since starting coxing I’d thought how amazing it would be to represent GB and win a medal representing my country and it has taken a lot of work to get there.”

Looking forward, Corderoy said that, like everyone else in the squad, Tokyo 2020 is the ultimate goal.