Charlie Elwes will go for his second Olympic medal this weekend after helping steer Great Britain’s men’s eight to victory in their heat.

The 27-year-old Newbury rower was part of the eight who won bronze in Tokyo, one of just two medals Britain’s rowers returned with from the Japanese capital.

The outlook appears brighter across the board this time around – the women’s eight matched the men in winning their heat to advance straight to the final – and Elwes’ crewmate Jacob Dawson, who also competed in Tokyo, was pleased with their display.

“It was a really good start,” Dawson said.

“We knew we would have to execute a really strong performance to get through to the final. It was all about keeping to our processes, which I know is very boring but simpler is better a lot of the time.

“The expectation for us is to be on the hunt and execute the best race we can. There is no more to it.”

Elwes is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support – which has been vital on their pathway to the Paris 2024 Games.

His GB crew were in control of their heat from the outset and had the luxury of easing up towards the finish line as they came home five seconds clear of Australia.

Their winning time was just over seven seconds slower than the USA, who set the pace in a full throttle opening heat, but Dawson – who recovered from a life threatening pulmonary embolism following Covid complications two years ago – is not concerned.

“There is so much time between now and the final that you could have a flat out race and still be able to perform really well on finals day,” he said.

“It wouldn’t have changed anything for us if we had to race to the line, we were fully prepared to do that, it just so happened that we executed our first 1500m well enough that we were able to enjoy the last 500m a bit more.”

The location of Stade Nautique de Vaires-sur-Marne means Britain’s rowers are not staying in the athlete’s village, which is almost 40km away.

Instead they are cooped up with the canoeists, leading to a feelgood factor in the camp when Kimberley Woods returned with her K1 bronze medal.

“It’s really great,” said Sholto Carnegie.

“Being part of Team GB is something very special.

“It’s fun to see all the other sports doing well to power us on.

“Being part of a really professional, exciting set-up is special so we are going to keep enjoying it and keep doing our best.”

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