Not even a heart complaint is stopping Olympic champion Will Satch from striving for better after the men’s four could only manage bronze at the World Rowing Championships.

The Henley man had won gold in each of his last three World Championships rowing in the men’s eight, but after winning the Olympic title last year switched to the coxless four for 2017.

His new crew started the season well, winning the opening World Cup, before finishing fifth at the European Championships and second at the next World Cup but returned to form with a win at the final World Cup in Switzerland.

He was forced to sit on the sidelines last week though as his crew finished second in their semi-final at the World Championships, but returned to the boat for Saturday’s final and helped them to a bronze medal in Florida.

“It doesn’t always cause an issue but Sod’s law it did on Thursday before the semi-final which is the last thing you want,” said the 28-year-old.

“It’s a struggle with my heart through atrial fibrillation, it’s being managed amazingly by the doctors behind the scenes, but I’ve got to decide how we deal with that.

“It’s at the forefront of my mind and a little bit daunting, so I want to go on holiday now, switch off and be able to focus on things outside of the boat.

“Then it’s back to the grind and trusting the process. We’ve got a coach in Jurgen Grobler who’s one of the most successful sports coaches of all time – we know things work with him.

“The dream is to get another Olympic gold medal in Tokyo, that is the sign of a true champion.”

The men’s four has been the flagship boat of Great Britain’s team in recent years, winning five consecutive Olympic gold medals since Sirs Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent won gold alongside James Cracknell and Tim Foster at Sydney 2000.

Australia have won silver behind Team GB in each of the last three games and got the better of their rivals in Sarasota at the weekend, with Italy taking silver.

And Satch admitted Britain’s strength in the event had taken a blow with three of last year’s gold medal-winning crew not competing in 2017.

“You want to go out there and race with your team, we wanted to show that consistency in the final which we weren’t quite able to do, because we know we can go out there and have a flyer,” he added.

“We’ve had humungous depth in British Rowing, if we’re honest that has changed a little bit and we’ve lost some big names, but at the same time a change is very positive.

“It has been tough mentally, coming away from a positive result over the past years, but we know we will get there and it will build year on year.

“It might look weaker now compared to previous years, we’ve not always had performances to remember, but when it comes to longevity there will be the top people coming through.”

Will Satch was speaking on behalf of SAS – the leader in analytics software and services. SAS is the Official Analytics Partner of British Rowing. Further information at www.sas.com