Molesey Boat Club’s Tom James may have just secured a first international gold medal in Olympic year, but he is not getting carried away.

The 28-year-old was a late inclusion in the men’s coxless four crew that won the first World Cup regatta of the summer in Belgrade on Sunday, having initially been announced on the reserve list.

James, who has recovered from a heart problem, was added to the men’s four last month, along with Molesey skipper Andrew Triggs-Hodge and Pete Reed, who had spent the past three years competing in the men’s pair.

The quartet romped home in Serbia at the weekend ahead of Greece and Belarus to send out an early statement at the beginning of the summer.

But James admitted there remained a long way to go before the Olympic regatta in August.

“It was important we showed good basic rhythm. We can improve, but this was a good starting point and it shows we are quick,” he said.

“There will be increased expectations on us now, but we are ready for that.

“We are just concentrating on what we can do and not worrying about the opposition.”

And Triggs-Hodge was equally as wary.

“We’ve shown glimpses of real speed recently but we haven’t quite recreated it,” he said.

“We have our feet on the ground and some of the big nations are still to join the party.”

In the men’s eight, Molesey men James Foad, Moe Sbihi and Greg Searle had hoped to beat hot favourites Germany and start 2012 with a bang.

But they could not build on a strong start to the race – that had them in the lead – as they faded into silver spot in the second 1,000m.

Fellow Molesey star George Nash also collected silver in the men’s pair and he admitted the experience had been a huge learning curve for him and his partner, Henley’s Will Satch.

“It’s all about being mentally strong. The good thing is that there is nothing massive we need to do,” Nash added.

Team GB, who are hot favourites to dominate on home water at the London Games, collected four gold, six silver and two bronze medals at the weekend.

Performance director David Tanner, said: “To win 12 medals from 12 starts is as good, if not better, than I would have hoped before coming here.

“While proud of the whole team I’m particularly excited by the performances of our two new male crews, who won silver.

“We knew the men’s pair and double sculls were talented, but you don’t know how they are going to perform in this kind of hot-house.”