Rowing: Katherine Grainger opts for double sculls in bid for fifth title

Scotland's three-times Olympic silver medallist Katherine Grainger will race in the double sculls event at this year's World Championships in New Zealand in November as she attempts to win what would be her fifth world title.

At a formal GB team event in Reading yesterday, it was announced that Grainger and her partner Anna Watkins would be concentrating on this boat class for this season's climax. This pairing went through the World Cup series undefeated, but they also had success when they doubled up into the quad sculls category with crew-mates Annie Vernon and Beth Rodford, winning two World Cup golds and one silver as well as the overall title in that boat class. Now, while doubling up at the World championships was always going to be tempting, Grainger and Watkins will concentrate on the double sculls event.

Speaking at the announcement, Grainger said, "It's going to be the double at the Worlds. It's been a great boat so far this year and now we want to get it absolutely right and finish off the season well. We know we're capable of being world champions." Last year, for the first time in her international career, Grainger raced in single sculls, eventually surprising even herself by taking silver in the world championships final. Grainger believes that she has learned a lot from that experience, saying, "I don't regret for a minute what I did last year, but I'm looking forward to being a champion again. I had a nice run of world titles between 2003 and 2008 and it would be nice to be world champion again."

Normally held in late summer, the world championships are being staged on Lake Karapiro near Hamilton on New Zealand's north island at the start of November, in what is only the third time the event has travelled to the Southern Hemisphere.