SHE stands on the brink of sporting history, but North-East rower Kat Copeland insists she will be taking nothing for granted ahead of this morning's Olympic lightweight double sculls final.

Together with former Durham University student Sophie Hosking, Ingleby Barwick-born Copeland qualified fastest from both Sunday's heats and Thursday's semi-finals.

The British duo beat three of their four leading rivals in the opening two rounds – the Chinese pair of Dongxiang Xu and Wenyi Huang are the only medal hopefuls they are yet to face – but Copeland is refusing to read too much into the early stages of the Olympic competition.

A number of other events have seen semi-final results reversed, and with blustery conditions predicted for the final day of rowing at Eton Dorney, the Teessider has laughed off suggestions that a gold medal is already as good as won.

“Everyone out there is so close,” said Copeland, who learned to row at Yarm School and is a member of Tees Amateur Rowing Club. “We don't underestimate anyone and we take each race as a separate challenge in its own right.

“You can't go off anything that's happened in the heats or semi-final, just like you can't go off anything else that's happened in the past.

“People row their own race and each race is totally different. Just because something has happened before, it doesn't mean it's going to happen again.”

Nevertheless, if Copeland and Hosking produce a repeat of their commanding display in Thursday's semi-final, they should be extremely difficult to beat.

Having started relatively slowly, they powered past the Greek and German crews in the second half of the race with a supremely calm display of polished, composed rowing.

As lightweights, neither Copeland nor Hosking are the biggest girls in the world, although their aerobic fitness levels are comparable with any of the heavyweights on the British squad.

Their great strength lies in their technical ability and the synchronisation of their stroke, something that has come together rapidly since they were first paired together little more than three months ago.

“We really enjoy rowing together and I think we're forming a pretty good team,” said Copeland. “When you're in a pair, you have to be in tune with what the other person is doing and getting into a really good rhythm is the most important thing.

“In the semi-final, we probably took about 750m to get relaxed into our rhythm, but when we did, it was really strong and really enjoyable to race in it. That's what you're always striving to achieve.”

Twelve months ago, Copeland was still a member of Great Britain's junior squad, and even when she was selected as part of the Olympic team in June, the 21-year-old's only real ambition was to make the Olympic final.

She has already achieved that and more, so while today's race offers an opportunity to etch her name into North-East sporting folklore, she continues to insist that the pressure is off.

“Of course I'm bothered about how we do in the final,” she said. “I certainly don't want to come sixth. But the biggest pressure was to get to the final and that's off now.

“It's the Olympic final and we'll just be going out there to enjoy it. We had no real expectations when we came in, and we still don't have any now. We'll just be trying to tackle this head on and we'll see what happens and where that takes us.”

With the final day of rowing action sold out, Copeland will have more than 25,000 spectators cheering her on as she races towards the finish. The support should help, but as a proud North-Easterner her thoughts will also turn to her followers back home.

“The support I've had so far on Twitter and texts has been incredible,” she said. “I can't believe that so many people are watching me and cheering me on.

“There's going to be screens showing the race at my club (Tees ARC) and I think it's also going to be shown on the big screen in Middlesbrough as well. I can't really believe that, it's incredible.”