OLYMPIC hopeful Tom Ransley is ready for the rigours of 2011 after impressing at the British Rowing Team Winter Assessment.

The York City Rowing Club star, a silver medallist in the eight at the World Championships last year, returned to competitive action on the London 2012 course at Eton-Dorney.

The 26-year-old was delighted with how he fared with Nathaniel Reilly O’Donnell in a new pairing against established double acts, including Olympic and world medallists.

Ransley and O’Donnell took fifth place in the initial time trial and their display in the semi-finals saw them qualify for the ‘A’ Final, where they finished sixth.

University of York graduate Ransley said: “Our pair had limited time together compared with many of our competitors.

“But we felt confident that we had used the time we had had together well, and decided to focus on exploiting our steep learning curve rather than focusing on the negatives.

“Anyone who didn’t make the top 12 slots in the time trials were then unable to make ‘A’ or ‘B’ Finals – no second chance.

“The time trial was a reasonable race, but we both felt there were plenty of improvements to be made before the next race.”

He added: “Having placed fifth, we knew we had achieved a good result with a below par performance.

“We attacked the semi-final enthusiastically, and it was a storming performance off the line.

“We had a flying start, rowing well together and executing our pre-race plan. We had clear water on Olympic silver medallists and world champions, in their established pairs.

“The wheels didn’t come off, but it was fair to say the same intensity wasn’t held in the later stages of the race. We held off an Oxford pair to qualify into the ‘A’ Final.

“In the final, our racing approach didn’t put us in a position to mount an effective challenge in the business end of the race. It is always very disappointing to not win races as that’s always the aim.

“However, to place top six in a strong field, beating former Olympic gold medallists and last year’s world silver medallist, in a boat that has had limited water time, is a good result to take forward into the next training phase.”

Ransley’s next training camp will be in Portugual, before the GB Rowing Team Senior Trials are staged in April.