In 2016, they retained their European title at Brandenburg an der Havel, set the World Rowing Cup record time at Poznań and again won gold at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Stanning was born in Yeovil, Somerset, England;[1] her parents Timothy (Lieutenant Commander) and Mary were Royal Navy officers.

[5] Whilst in sixth form she won a British Army scholarship[3] and went on to study sports technology at the University of Bath, England.

[citation needed] On 18 August 2018 she announced her marriage to Jonny Howse, a British Army officer; they married at Elgin Cathedral, Scotland.

[7] Stanning was commissioned from Sandhurst into the Royal Artillery in August 2008,[6] based at Larkhill Garrison on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.

[8][9] She was promoted to Major in December 2015 and from February 2017 resumed work full-time in the army before attending Staff College in September 2017.

[11] At the 2010 World Rowing Cup they finished 9th in Bled and 5th in Munich, but were unable to race at Lucerne due to Glover's illness.

[12][13] In 2011 Glover and Stanning won the coxless pair event at the GB Rowing Team Senior Trials at Eton-Dorney with a time of 7 minutes 15 seconds.

In 2015, after retaining their world championship, Stanning said “Thinking back four years we were clear water ahead but lost it on the line.

[13][16] In 2012 Glover and Stanning completed a clean sweep of all three events in the women's coxless pair of the World Rowing Cup.

[11] Her commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Craig Palmer, who gave her leave for training, said “I wish to congratulate Heather and Helen on their success; it was an excellent achievement.

She was posted to Helmand Province in Afghanistan where she worked as an Operations officer for the iUAS (Intelligent Unmanned Aircraft Systems).

[28] Teamed with Helen Glover in the women's coxless pair, Stanning won gold at the second and third rounds of the World Rowing Cup at Lac d'Aiguebelette in France in June and Lucerne Rotsee on 13 July, which also clinched the overall title despite TeamGB not entering the first event in Australia in March.

At Lucerne they again qualified directly for the final which, despite Glover's illness, they completed in 7 minutes 12.99 seconds, finishing a length ahead of the New Zealand 2 crew of Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler.

"[34][35][36] At the British Rowing Championships on 18–19 October at Holme Pierrepont (Nottingham), Stanning was part of the composite crew that won gold in both the women's fours sweep event and the quad sculls.

Glover said: It's good to keep them tallying up and keep it exciting, but we don't go flat out on the start line thinking the aim of the day is to break records.

Quadruple Olympic gold medallist Sir Matthew Pinsent, reporting in The Times, described Glover and Stanning as Within reach of sporting immortality.

[40][41][42][43] On 21 June, Glover and Stanning won gold in the women's coxless pair at the second round of the World Rowing Cup at Lake Varese in Italy.

Multiple Olympic gold medalist Sir Steve Redgrave said "Glover and Stanning dominate any combination that is put up against them.

Sir David Tanner, GB Rowing Team Performance Director, said "Heather displays an exemplary attitude of hard work, self-discipline, teamwork in all that she does and thoroughly deserves this accolade”[55] Glover and Stanning were the dominant women's pair in the GB Team Selection Trials held at the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake at Caversham over 22–23 March 2016.

Glover commented that it was "... the start of the season, rather than a peak ..." and Stanning noted their "great working combination with coach Robin (Williams)," and the "excitement of getting back into the boat each year.