St Weonard’s rowing star Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne is a step closer to her ambition to become the fourth Wye rower to climb onto the Olympic podium as she and Welsh double sculls partner Becky Wilde powered through to reach Thursday’s finals in Paris 

The St Weonards oarswoman, who raced with sister Charlotte in the GB women's quadruple scull in Tokyo three years ago, now has a two-year-old son Freddie, who was lakeside in Paris to watch her race.

In a close fought semi final on Tuesday morning the GB pair led the action until the last moment when they were overtaken by the Romanian boat to take second place and will now race for a medal in the final on Thursday.

Mathilda, 29, grabbed the last qualifying slot at May's 'Regatta of Death' in Switzerland with Welsh double sculls partner Becky Wilde, will be hoping to succesfully follow in the blade puddles of Old Monmothians Charlie Wiggin (bronze men's pair Moscow 1980), Colin Moynihan (silver men's eight Moscow 1980) and Tom Lucy (silver men's eight Beijing 2008).

To make the GB team is a remarkable achivement in itself, fighting her way back into the double scull after having to race independently in a single in 2023.

"My identity is being a mum, but it's also an athlete," said Mathilda, who has trained at Monmouth RC and Monmouth School when home in the past having launched her career as a teenager upriver at Hereford RC as a teenager.

And welcoming a new supportive British Rowing policy on maternity, she said: "I'm definitely a better mum for rowing, and a much better athlete because of Freddie.

"Freddie has come on all three training camps with me, and there's some flexibility now

"It's a huge step. If this keeps more girls in rowing and encourages more to stay in the sport, that's literally all I wanted from this journey."

The double scull final is on Thursday, August 1, at 9.30am.