An Andover rower has secured an Olympic medal after getting onto the podium for the men’s eight.

Charlie Elwes was among the team who claimed bronze in the event after a close battle with Germany for second place. In the end, they narrowly missed out on the line as they claimed third place in the event.

The captain of the boat, Mohamed Sbihi, said that the team were working on challenging for the top spots at the next Olympics, saying: “We are a talented young crew. I feel like this week we haven’t been able to show ourselves properly, for one reason or another, and part of learning how to win is extracting a performance out of yourself.

“I feel like we did that today. We put ourselves in a position to challenge for the right medal, and on the risk of that you might end up losing a medal.

“I felt like we were able to compose ourselves through the whole piece. These moments are not guaranteed, the guys will try to be there in Paris and we have to take these opportunities when they come.

“Winning is hard. When you’ve won, to keep that run going is even harder sometimes."

Charlie was born in Andover 24 years ago, and has previously won gold in the European Rowing Championships for 2021. He studied at Yale University, and was selected to join the team just days before lockdown started.

He has been training for the event throughout the past 18 months, and made his Olympic debut in Tokyo.

In the race, New Zealand took a strong lead, leaving Team GB and Germany to battle it out behind them for the silver. In the end, the Germans edged it by just 0.2 seconds, leaving the GB crew agonisingly close to a second silver of the Games following the efforts of the Men’s four.

It caps a tough games for Team GB’s rowers, after they failed to secure a gold medal for the first time since 1980.