Paralympic rowing champion Lauren Rowles: ‘I’m a massive nerd. I’m really into gaming’

Ahead of this weekend’s European Rowing Championships, Rio gold medallist Rowles talks tech, Tokyo and her teammate Laurence Whiteley

Lauren Rowles and Laurence Whiteley have built a formidable partnership (Getty Images)

It is safe to assume Lauren Rowles and Laurence Whiteley are only duo at this weekend’s European Rowing Championships in Italy who are as savvy building their own computers as they are competing on the water.

The self-confessed tech nerds are poised to make history at the meet, with the Rio 2016 gold medal-winning pair among the eight athletes who will race in Varese as part of British Rowing’s inaugural para squad for the continental competition.

“When I first joined the team in 2015, I knew Europeans was around but it was something we never went to,” recalled Rowles, who turns 23 this month. “And it’s crazy to think we’re now competing, [that] we’re part of history now, sending our first British team to the European Championships, and the para side of it.