My name is Phelan Hill, I live in Wandsworth and I’ve been representing the Great Britain Rowing Team for the past eight years in the Men’s eight, culminating in winning Olympic Bronze at London 2012 and becoming multiple World Champion.

This is the story of my journey hopefully to Rio 2016.

This last year has gone in a frenzied flash of training, preparation and racing. Our objectives for the season were simple, qualify the Men’s eight for the Olympics in Rio 2016 and defend our title as World Champions. Here’s my review of our season.

The season did not start the best with a beating from Germany (our main rivals for the last few years) at the European Championships in Poland.

However, it was ultimately what we needed. We were reminded by Germany, Russia and all the other nations how intense the event is and how it is raced.

As our season progressed, we gathered momentum and got stronger individually and as a team.

One of the highlights of the season was Henley Royal Regatta, a firm favourite of all GB Rowing athletes and one of the few opportunities we have of racing on home soil.

We knew the Germans were coming and we were ready to do battle. The draw had us pitted against them in the final and we ended up beating them convincingly in one of the greatest eight’s defeats Germany has seen in recent years.

Two days after the Henley final we flew off to Lucerne for the final world cup regatta. We really needed to prove that we could repeat the result and head off to the World Championships as favourites.

We won but it was close, very close. 0.8 was the margin.

All that was now left was the big one, the World Championships. In the final we maintained our lead from the start and pushed our bows over the line first.

Your Local Guardian:

Job done: Phelan Hill, far right, and th GB Rowing men's eight celebrate winning the World Championships

We were world champions once again and had dealt with the pressure and expectation that rowing in one of GB’s top boats brings.

We finished the year with our best race. Our start was good, everything was calm and under control. We were aggressive in the right way and our rhythm was strong. A job well done.

Our break is over now, training has begun. London 2012 seems like only yesterday, but now Rio is just round the corner.