TO suggest that Ellie Cushen has made a rapid rise is something of an understatement.

The 17-year-old from Whitegate returned home last week after winning a gold medal on her debut for Great Britain’s junior team in Ireland.

It wasn’t an entirely new feeling; the Northwich Rowing Club member had made the same journey seven days earlier as a winner after racing in England’s colours.

“I didn’t expect it,” she said.

That reply also neatly sums up her short time in rowing, a sport dad David had done and that she tried for the first time indoors out of curiosity.

Indeed, she giggled when the Guardian asked about a stunning victory at the British Junior Championships almost exactly two years ago.

A student at Grange School, she raced only once previously on her own before arriving in Nottingham hoping to learn from a new experience.

“I was VERY inexperienced,” she stressed.

Her coaches knew it, and studied first the lower reaches of a list showing how scullers had fared in a time-trial.

Cushen added: “They couldn’t find my name because it was at the top!

“You could say it was a big shock to everybody.”

It was no fluke, as proven by a victory in the final the following day.

READ: Grange girl stuns everybody to win national title

Cushen, a gifted swimmer, has since dedicated more time to rowing.

She switched to Northwich last summer after enrolling at Sir John Deane’s College – only minutes from the River Weaver.

“It was intense from the start,” she said.

“I feel like I’ve had to adapt quickly and everything was so different; from the coaches, teammates and when we train. It’s a lot in one go.”

And there is studying too.

She met the criteria to attend an early assessment for the national team in November, only for illness to prevent her from producing her best.

Cushen narrowly missed the cut to return in February, but posted a quick enough time in a single scull to earn a place at the British junior team trials a few weeks later.

“If I didn’t peak, I certainly felt on an upward curve by then,” she said.

Ellie Cushen, third from right, is all smiles on the podium with crewmates from a Great Britain women's eight that won a gold medal at the Coupe de la Jeunesse

It had not gone unnoticed.

At Henley Women’s Regatta in June, where she reached the last 16 in a Northwich quad, she was invited to a race-off – described as a ‘last chance’ by her coach Jed Barlow – for a place at a crew formation trial.

It is those moments, away from the spotlight, that count.

They are demanding too, and at the end somebody misses out.

Cushen admitted: “You feel awful for that person.”

She was happy too of course, and confessed to jumping up and down with delight after discovering she’d been selected for both the Home International Regatta and the Coupe de la Jeunesse – a European event for under 18s.

“I had no idea how I’d done,” she added

“It’s only when they read out your name that you know.”

She stormed to victory in a junior women’s single scull for England, scoring points that helped them to the team prize.

Cushen then had a small window to train with the British women’s eight – a sweep boat when rowers have one oar each instead of two – before the Coupe.

READ: Cushen wins on international debut

To make it less daunting, Barlow had arranged for a men’s masters crew from Northwich to reserve a seat for her.

Cushen practised on both sides of the boat, and days later stood on the podium following a dominant win in Cork in the regatta’s opening race.

“It was only afterwards that I thought ‘what have I just done?’” she said.

“We were on the podium waiting for the national anthem you just tell yourself ‘Oh my God, don’t forget the words!’

“I’ve seen a picture of me with a huge grin on my face while giving everybody a hug.

“Maybe I was relieved; it makes you realise the hard work was worth it.”