AS reigning Olympic and world champion, Zac Purchase knows the pressure is on at the start of this year’s World Rowing Cup series in Munich.

The three-day event, which begins tomorrow, is the first of three regattas and ex-King’s School, Worcester, pupil Purchase and lightweight double sculls partner Mark Hunter will undoubtedly begin as favourites to return home from Germany victorious.

“I guess we’ve set the standards over the last year,” said Purchase, who added the world crown to his 2008 Olympic gold medal last November.

“The challenge for us now is to maintain that quality and progress.

“It is also our first chance to see what the others have been doing this year.”

Purchase flew out to Munich yesterday morning to avoid the ash cloud from Icelandanic volcano Grmsvotn despite much of northern Germany shutting its airspace.

With the first of two races tomorrow morning, Purchase and Hunter are again in action on Saturday and Sunday.

Following the Munich event, Purchase heads to Hamburg next month for the second meet before completing the cup in Lucerne, Switzerland, on July 8.

The lightweight double sculls champion will then look to defend his world title in Slovenia at the end of August as he gears up for the London 2012 Olympics.

“The excitement around is massive, what with a home Olympics coming up,” Purchase said. “But we have so many other competitions between now and then with the World Cup, World Championships and another World Cup.

“Mark and I are a strong combination and we want to maintain our grip on our event, especially with an Olympic year around the corner.

“We want to go into next year unbeaten, win every race we enter and put the good work we’ve done into practice.”

Now based in Berkshire, near Team GB’s base at Caversham, Purchase has trained regularly at Eton’s Dorney Lake, home of the Olympic regatta next summer.

He added: “We spend 35 hours a week exercising, a third of which is on the rowing machine, a third spent on the water doing our job and the other third in the gym throwing weights about.

“We had a taste of the hometown atmosphere at the World Championships in 2006 and the crowd then was amazing.

“It’s obviously something we’re looking forward to but it will count for nothing when the race starts.

“It doesn’t matter if we’re at Dorney in front of a home crowd or in the World Cup in Munich, we have to be focused all the way in every race.”