West Mersea’s Olympic sailor Saskia Clark has put her Rio trepidation behind her as she prepares to race at sailing’s final Olympic Test Event.

The 2012 silver medallist says she and partner Hannah Mills have had ‘somewhat mixed’ experiences of the 2016 Games venue after they were mugged during a training trip in December.

But they’re chalking that up to unfortunate experience and are learning to make the Brazilian host city a home from home in their quest for an Olympic medal upgrade next year, with the countdown clock now showing just less than one year to go to the big event.

“We’ve thought a lot about it all since, and how to frame Rio in a positive light as it’s really important that we enjoy spending our time here,” the 35-year-old Clark explained.

“We’re going to spend a lot more time here over the next year so it’s really important that we did a bit of a u-turn on our feelings about the place in time for this trip.

“We’re really pleased that we’ve come back with the rest of the British Sailing Team this time, and we’ve been really organised with our on the water time and also our free time.”

Clark and Mills are among the 15 sailors selected to compete at the Aquece Rio International Regatta – the second official Test Event for the sport and the final official dress rehearsal for the Rio 2016 organisers on Guanabara Bay between August 15-22.

The British team for the Test Event replicates the size of the team which will compete at the Olympic Games in 2016, with just one boat per country permitted to compete in each of ten classes.

Clark and Mills are still vying for selection to the Games itself, and the Portland-based two-time Olympian admits is feeling ‘excited’ as the clock ticks more loudly towards a potential third Olympic Games.

“I’m feeling really positive and motivated as we hit the year to go to the Games.

“It’s no secret that Hannah and I struggled to get the wheels back on our campaign for a good year to 18 months after London and so all the milestones we go past now on the way to Rio are really motivating and exciting.

“They bring back that whole Olympic buzz that we really thrived on in London, and we really enjoy that challenge.”

The duo hit golden form in perfect time for the Rio trip, winning the ISAF Sailing World Cup Weymouth and Portland in June – their last competition together – and turned the tables on the New Zealand 2012 gold medallists Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie in the process.

But Clark brushes off talk of the Kiwi rivalry.

“It was more important for Hannah and I to get back on the top step of the podium regardless of who we beat to get there,” she explained.

“We had pretty much a full complement of the good competitors at that event. It was important for us to learn about winning and we made that happen in the medal race at the Weymouth World Cup.

“We want to start going into more medal races over the next year ahead and defend our leads successfully. It’s very important to know you can do that, to have that confidence behind you and know you can win regattas when it comes around to the Olympics.”

The duo will take on 18 other international crews in the 470 Women’s event during their six days of competition at the Games venue, and Clark explained that their hopes for the regatta are twofold.

“The Test Event still provides the biggest learning opportunity for all of us between now and the Games. It’s the same sized fleet, it’s the same race course areas and we expect things to be very similar to the Olympics itself. From that point of view it’s the best practice we get, and we need to maximise all our learning on the water and in the boat park space.

“At the same time, we’d be lying if we said we weren’t here to get a result [in Rio] this year, and it’s important for us to achieve that.”

“I think back to London and how I so much want it to be different for Rio,” Clark added. “It’s an interesting thing, having been so close to gold but ultimately so far. You get gold or you get second – you don’t get second but points for very close to gold!

“The overriding feeling for me is that we lost that gold medal in London on the last day. That’s a feeling that I don’t ever want to have again.

“Until the Olympic regatta it’s about doing our best, learning every day and executing our best when it matters. That’s our focus for the next year.”