Erica Bodman (third from left) gives it her all in the European Championships in Bulgaria.

ERICA BODMAN’S hopes of European rowing glory were dashed after a thrilling women’s eight race in Plovdiv on Sunday.

Making her full international debut for Great Britain at the championship event in Bulgaria, Bodman’s boat narrowly finished outside of the medals, coming over the line fourth, less than three seconds behind third-placed Ukraine.

Romania were the runaway champions in a time of 6min. 14.98sec., but the rest of the field were closely matched, as Great Britain also finished behind silver medalists Belarus, but ahead of Russia and Poland.

Bodman and her team-mates had qualified as the third-fastest crew for the race and after not quite replicating that performance in the final, she admitted there was a feeling of disappointment in the camp.

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