Training for the Olympics can be a lonely experience for many athletes, but Kate Macgregor has had her sister alongside her every step of the way.

Former Solent University student Macgregor will compete for Great Britain in the women’s Match Racing class at London 2012.

With her in the boat will be her skipper and older sister, Lucy, as well as fellow Poole-born star Annie Lush.

This summer’s Games will represent Macgregor’s Olympic debut, following the introduction of Match Racing as a discipline.

Known as ‘Mini Mac’ among her teammates, she helped the trio win gold in the 2010 world championships – setting down a marker for what might be possible this year.

Then, Macgregor was in the second year of her business degree at Solent, and was helping out Lucy and Lush every now and then.

At the start of 2011, though, she joined them full-time.

The trio won their first ISAF World Cup gold in France that April, before claiming a silver medal in the Sail for Gold regatta later in the year.

They rounded off 2011 with a second-placed finish in the world championships, in Perth, again underlining their status among the top performers around.

This year has proved more challenging in terms of results, however.

The girls started in great fashion, winning January’s ISAF Grade 1 event in Miami. But that has so far been their only podium finish of 2012.

At Sail for Gold, on the Olympic waters of Weymouth and Portland, they came fifth, while last month’s world championships saw them slip to sixth.

For sister Lucy and teammate Lush, this will also represent their debut in the Games.

The duo had campaigned for Beijing 2008 in the Yngling three-person keelboat, alongside double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson.

However, despite winning bronze at the 2007 world championships, they were pipped for selection by Sarah Ayton, Pippa Wilson and Sarah Webb, who went on to win gold in the waters of Qingdao.