In a sport so demanding as rowing, nothing but the highest level of motivation will cut it.

Back in 2012, Kat Copeland was on top of the world – a rapid rise through the British rowing ranks culminating in Olympic gold in the lightweight double sculls at the age of just 21.

Success has come since to some degree with return visits to the podium, most notably world silver in 2015, but the pressure of matching her achievements of London 2012 have also brought with it difficulties and disappointments.

There were tears in Rio last summer as a frustrating season ended in a 14th place finish overall alongside Charlotte Booth (née Taylor) and Copeland continues to wait for a second major global title after she and Emily Craig finished fifth in the lightweight doubles final at last week’s World Championships, in Florida.

But at 26, the Teeside rower is experienced enough now to look at the bigger picture, insisting her love for the sport, and pushing herself to the limits, burns as bright as ever.

“I had a terrible Rio and that has partially taken the pressure off me, which I’ve really enjoyed this year,” said Copeland, speaking on behalf of SAS, the official analytics partner of British Rowing. The national team is analysing its data, using SAS technology, to ultimately help make the boats go faster.

“If you don’t have motivation then you can’t do it – there are times when it is really awesome, you are doing the sport that you really love.

“But at the same time it can be a grind, there are times you wonder why you aren’t doing a normal job where you get weekends off, but having the time off after London gave me a real focus.

“You realise how awesome this is, you push yourself as hard as you can to see what you can do and that was really important for me.

“This year we haven’t had as many people come back, but I’ve been training more than ever.

“It’s a new squad with a lot of fresh girls out of the blocks which is so exciting, they’re pushing for medals and A finals – it’s easy to have days to be excited about.

“There’s a long way to go into the Olympiad, we’ve got time to build on that and that’s what things like these World Championships are doing.”

While unable to add to her 2015 World silver in the States, Copeland will still take heart from her performances with Craig, especially given the relative infancy of their partnership.

They were paired together shortly before the European Championships in May, coming away with a bronze medal.

And with three years still to go until the next Olympics in Tokyo, Copeland is optimistic about their chances of peaking when it matters most.

“Getting to the A final was good progress, we’re very mixed on the result and it is a step in the right direction for us,” she added.

“Getting competitive was the most important thing for us, getting a medal would obviously have been nice but it’s clear to us where those improvements are to be made and how we can go about making ourselves better.

“We’re back to the day by day now, Tokyo is the main goal so next year is another building block towards that.

“It is a long time, but we need to come back and get fit, do the small stuff and then build up for the next World Championships.”

Kat Copeland 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