ROWING: 'Synek is the biggest threat' says Campbell

Touching down in Auckland with the Great Britain team last Wednesday, Campbell, a silver medallist in the men's single sculls at last year's world championships in Poland, was looking forward to shaking off the jet-lag and getting a feel for the water at Karapiro.

"I'm going to enjoy the first couple of days here and try and get rid of the jet-lag - as you Kiwis would say 'I'm feeling a bit rough'. I think it'll just take a couple of days to settle in and then we'll start thinking about the competition."

Campbell is a long-time rival of Kiwi champion Mahe Drysdale, their match-up in the single sculls is one of many eagerly awaited New Zealand v Great Britain clashes at the regatta.

Fierce rivals on the water, the pair are great friends off it, with Drysdale having spent a couple of summers in Britain training and competing.

"Off the water we're great friends, we're in contact a lot and he's talking about smuggling me away for a barbecue before the championships - I'm not sure if he's going to poison me or not.

"We get on really well, but for those seven minutes that we race I want nothing more than to hurt him as badly as possible and I'm sure he's thinking the same as well."

But Drysdale isn't the only competitor Campbell will need to put to the sword to claim the crown.

The men's single scull field is one of the blue riband events at the world championships.

Reigning Olympic champion Olaf Tufte, of Norway, who also flew into New Zealand yesterday, is another of the big names of the field. But Campbell believes the biggest threat will come from elsewhere.

"The big, real dominant force coming through, who in some ways is a bigger threat than Mahe or myself is Ondrej Synek, from Czech Republic. He's really come into his own, he's very, very strong - much bigger than myself and a little bigger than Mahe, and he will be a big, big threat."