Cracknell tells Reed and Triggs-Hodge to shape up

DOUBLE Olympic gold medallist James Cracknell has warned Andy Triggs-Hodge and Pete Reed to up their game or risk being moved out of the pair.

RACE AGAINST TIME: Double Olympic champion James Cracknell warns Reed and Triggs-Hodge to start producing the goods

Cracknell won gold in the coxless four at Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 before Triggs-Hodge, Reed, Steve Williams and Tom James repeated the feat in Beijing last year.

With Williams and James taking a year out from the sport, Triggs-Hodge and Reed were moved into the pair by head coach Jurgen Grobler - but have suffered three defeats at the hands of New Zealand pair Eric Murray and Hamish Bond. 

It is a similar story to Cracknell, who was moved into the pair with Matthew Pinsent after Steve Redgrave retired.

Together they were crowned world champions in 2001 and 2002 but a disappointing season in 2003 - culminating in a fourth place finish at the World Championships in Milan - sparked the move back to the Athens gold medal winning four.

And Cracknell believes Triggs-Hodge and Reed could suffer a similar fate if their form does not improve, with the duo's biggest challenge to date coming at this weekend's World Rowing Championships in Poznan.  

"If they get beaten again and again then they won't be in the pair," said Cracknell. 

"They're the best two athletes but Matthew Pinsent and I were in a similar situation - we were very successful, broke the world record, won the World Championships but in the end we were not consistent enough.

"It's not just for you, you've got to guarantee the funding for your sport. 

"The performance director [David Tanner] gambles on how many gold medals they think you're going to win and, if you don't produce any, your funding as a governing body gets cut so you have to ensure your best athletes are in the boat with the best chance.

"At the moment the pair isn't working but boats take time to gel and hopefully they'll come good soon."

Team GB won five rowing medals in Beijing - including two golds - but the inconsistent form of Triggs-Hodge and Reed has dominated the headlines since.

And while Cracknell admits he did not see the dip in form coming, he insists it's not time to panic with London 2012 the ultimate goal. 

"Coming off the back of Beijing, if you look at the people who carried on you think ‘yeah, we're going to do really well', but then it's not been a good year," he added. 

"When I was rowing it was a case of Steve Redgrave wins or Steve Redgrave loses, that was the headline and it's always been the case that the flagship boat will be the one which grabs the headlines.

"At the moment our flagship boat is not doing very well. It's only second in the world but, for our standard, that's not where they'll want to be and so they'll be trying to turn that around.

"It's a bit of a shame that no matter how well everyone else does it's overshadowed by the big boys.

"I've been in that situation - it's great and the success is great but when it's not going well you've got to pull it out of the bag and they've got a tough crew to beat.

"But there's three years before it really matters, not one year."