TWO Herefordshire sisters are off to the Olympics.
Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne and Charlotte Hodgkins Byrne will be competing against the world’s best in Tokyo next year.
The duo were part of a team of four who took second place for Great Britain in the women’s quadruple sculls (Repechage) at the world rowing championships in Austria last week.
The siblings from St Weonards competed with Jess Leyden and Melissa Wilson to cross the line in Linz just 0.18 seconds ahead of the USA crew to take the crucial second place.
Charlotte Hodgkins Byrne, 22, said she couldn’t tell if they or the USA had secured the second place spot behind Poland.
“Even when we crossed the line I didn’t realise, and when we were rowing back to the landing stage I kept asking Mathilda ‘are you sure? Have they changed it?’ I couldn’t believe it.”
Mathilda, 24, who first started in the sport at Hereford Rowing Club, has already won medals at the European championship and World Cup in 2017.
Meanwhile, Charlotte is a double world U23 champion sculler who learned to row while a student at Hereford Cathedral School before moving on to Hartpury College near Ledbury.
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