WYE rowing star Ella Bardsley Taylor raced to B final victory in her Great Britain double scull at the European U19 Rowing Championships in Italy on Sunday.

The Ross Rowing Club sculler teamed up with Megan Knight from the Stoke-based Trentham club to race the double in Varese, and the duo were among just five GB rowers selected to trave to Lake Varese.

In their heat, they came fourth in seven minutes 24 seconds behind Italy, Lithuania and France, beating Romania but just missing out on an A final slot by one place.

That put them into the B final for seventh to 10th places, where they soon stamped their authority on the four-boat field to lead by a length at 500m.

They stretched the lead to a length and a half at half-way and held off a Polish charge to

come home 3.6 secs clear in 7.33, with Romania another length back in third and Hungary fourth.

It was the second international outing this season for former Newent Community School student Ella, who now rows at Hartpury’s GB junior talent centre.

She won bronze with Megan in the double at the Munich Junior Regatta earlier this month and silver in the GB girls’ quad scull.

And she’ll be hoping to return to Varese in July for the World U19 Championships.