Molesey Boat Club quartet Sam Tuck, Alastair Douglass, George Stewart and David Bell gave their Olympic dreams a boost on Saturday.

Tuck clocked 19 minutes 30 second to win the men’s lightweight single sculls 5km time trial at GB Rowing’s third winter assessment in Boston.

Douglass, a member of last year’s world U23 lightweight men’s four bronze medal winning crew, was nine seconds behind him in third (19:39.23), while Stewart (21:05.07) was third in the open men’s single sculls5km time-trial , with Bell (21:09.01)fourth.

But it was Tuck’s effort against highly-fancied opposition, that caught the eye of GB Rowing’s U23 and junior chief coach Peter Sheppard.

“We had a strong headwind. These were tough conditions and we saw who has done the training over the winter,” he said.

“That was a really good result for Sam. It was a pleasant surprise to see him coming through.”