KAT COPELAND and Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell added a European title to their lengthening list of rowing achievements as the British team celebrated a remarkable medal haul on the final day of the European Championships in Poland.

The British team claimed ten medals overall, six of which were gold, as they laid down a powerful early marker ahead of August’s World Championships, which will double up as a qualification regatta for next year’s Olympic Games in Rio.

Copeland will be hoping to defend the lightweight double sculls title she won at London 2012, and yesterday’s dominant display alongside new partner Charlotte Taylor suggests the Stokesley Olympian is right back to her best after a somewhat testing 12 months.

Having qualified in second place in Saturday’s semi-final, the British duo changed tactics in yesterday’s final as they exploded out of the start gate and secured a sizeable lead in the opening 500m of the race.

Their advantage had stretched even further by the halfway stage, and they eventually finished more than four-and-a-half seconds clear of German duo Fini Sturm and Marie-Louise Draegar.

“That was a big step on from our semi,” said Copeland, who will complete a full set of international gold medals if she triumphs in the World Championships in France. “We didn’t want to be dropped early, so we went out fully committed and stuck to it, and it really paid off.”

Durham’s Reilly-O’Donnell claimed a World Championship gold in the men’s eight last summer, but a shuffling of the heavyweight crews saw him lining up in the flagship four event in Poznan.

Rowing in the bow seat along with Scott Durant, Alan Sinclair and Tom Ransley, Reilly-O’Donnell helped the British crew establish a healthy lead in the first half of the race and successfully repel a fast-finishing Greek boat in the closing stages.

“We have got more to find, but winning gold is a nice way to start the season,” said Reilly-O’Donnell, who will hope to remain in the four for the Worlds. “This is a pretty similar four to the one we had in 2013, but we are definitely bigger and stronger. We have all been getting PBs in training during the winter. Training has been going well, and we are a better four.”

Chester-le-Street’s Will Fletcher formed half of a new-look men’s lightweight double pairing at the weekend, and claimed an impressive silver medal with Northern Ireland’s Richard Chambers.

They matched French pair Stany Delayer and Jeremie Azou, who were the reigning European champions, for the majority of the race, and held off some strong late competition from Norway to finish second.

“I’m very, very happy with how it’s gone,” said Fletcher. “It’s been a while since I had a medal. That’s the first time that we, as a combination, have had a crack at the French. They have been together a lot longer than we have, and were probably able to conserve more energy than we did in the other races, but that is something we can work on before the big one in Aiguebelette (at the World Championships).”

Yarm’s Tina Stiller was part of a women’s quadruple sculls crew that narrowly missed out on a medal as they finished fourth in the final behind Germany, the Netherlands and Poland, while Durham’s Jess Eddie and Richmond’s Zoe Lee will have been disappointed to only finish fifth in the final of the women’s eight.