Double Olympic gold medallist James Cracknell has helped Cambridge to win the annual boat race against Oxford.

The 46-year-old, now a masters student at Peterhouse College, was part of the victorious crew in the historic race along the River Thames.

He is now the oldest-ever boat race winner.

Speaking after the victory, he said: “On the start I thought ‘I’ve missed this’.

“The first few minutes were great, but they just didn’t drop. To be honest the endurance wasn’t a problem.

“If I had any doubt it would have been my sprinting. I just made sure I stuck it in and hopefully we had enough in the bank.”

The university did the double as Cambridge women also won their race earlier in the afternoon.

Cambridge stroke Lily Lindsay has rowed internationally for the US, but said nothing compared to a boat race victory.

“There’s nothing like this,” Lindsay told the BBC.

“Training alongside my teammates has been unbelievable. It’s been a pleasure.”

It was the women’s third successive victory, and the men’s third victory in four years.

In the women’s race, Cambridge were five lengths ahead at the end. The crew stormed into an early lead and refused to relent as they came through the course.

At the halfway point it looked as though they could have clocked a record time, but finished on 18m and 47s, about 14 seconds slower than the 2017 winning time.

In the men’s, Cambridge won by one length. They completed the race in a time of 16m and 57s.

Before Cracknell, the oldest ever winner was Andy Probert, who was the Cambridge cox in 1992. He was 38.

Cracknell suffered a brain injury in 2010 when he was hit from behind by a petrol tanker when he was attempting to row, swim, cycle and run across the US, from LA to New York.

He announced a split from his wife last week.

Ben Fogle called today’s win “the start of another chapter in his [Cracknell’s] life”.

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