JUNIOR rower Fern Cotterill raced to a brilliant bronze for Great Britain at the world Under 18s championships in Germany.

The Worcestershire 18-year-old secured her medal in the quad sculls at the Brandenburg competition.

And she was back on the water training within four days of her triumph.

The Tenbury teenager said: "Winning the quad sculls' medal for GB was fantastic, but I'm already looking ahead to next year where I want the British Under-23 lightweight singles slot."

Cotterill took up rowing after watching Steve Redgrave win his fifth Olympic gold in Sydney.

She added: "GB hadn't won a world Under-18 women's sculling medal since Athens medallists Debbie Flood and Frances Houghton seven years ago, and it was great to put Britain back on the podium again.

"But now I want to emulate those girls and go on to the Olympics in Beijing and then London, where winning a medal in front of the British people would be simply 'oar-some'!"

Cotterill teamed up with Tina Stiller, Jacqui Round and Frankie Jus Burke four weeks before the championships, rowing up to 150 miles a week.

The team won their heat in the second fastest qualifying time and were second fastest again in the semi-finals, finishing behind Germany.

At half-way in the final the team sat third behind Germany and Belarus, with Italy, France and Poland further back.

They held on to take bronze, a length behind Belarus, who were in turn a length behind winner Germany.

GB were three-quarters of a length up on Italy, with Poland fifth and France sixth.

Cotterill added: "The race is a bit of a blur really, because I was pulling so hard to stay in the medals.

"When we crossed the line, I just collapsed in the bottom of the boat from exhaustion until one of my crew-mates started crying in delight and I knew we'd done it."

She added: "We all had a bit of a cry. I think it was relief as much as anything that we'd delivered the goods after so much hard work and training.

"Rowing is such an intense sport, and you have to be so aggressive and focussed when you compete at big events, that there's this big emotional release when it's all over."

The Henley Women's junior singles champion, who travels 300 miles a week to train with her Gloucester-based coach, has no intention of basking in the glory of her bronze success.

"The medal's going in the drawer now," she said.

"I'm already on a new mission, to win another medal for GB in the world Under 23s in Belgium next year."