Olympic silver medallist Stuart Bithell has announced he will team up with Chris Grube in an effort to achieve gold at Rio 2016.

Bithell, who took silver alongside Luke Patience at the London Games, as well as claiming two silvers in World Championships, will switch from 470 class to the 49er class with Grube also making the transition.

Grube, 27, missed out on qualification for the 2012 Olympics to the team of Bithell and Patience, but the one-time rivals will now be team-mates in the run-up to Brazil.

It is an experience Bithell is relishing.

"It's a very exciting new challenge for us both," he said.

"For me it's a change of boat and a change of position on the boat from crew to helm, so there's lots to learn.

"But we've been having a great time so far and I think we have so much potential as a team.

"Chris is a great crew and I know that he fully shares my dreams of gold in Rio, so we'll both be putting in the hard yards to try and make that happen."

Grube is a former 470 partner of Lymington’s Nick Rogers, who won silver at both the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games.