Mary Earps' Olympic heartache puts ‘more fire’ in her belly as Lionesses goalkeeper discusses ‘weird’ summer without any gold medal bids

The England international, who has grown accustomed to competing for major honours, was unable to help the Lionesses into the inaugural Women’s Nations League finals. As a result, there will be no British representation at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Earps believes European Championship and World Cup campaigns have caught up with England, resulting in them falling short en route to France, and admits it will be “weird” not to be gracing the grandest of sporting stages this summer.

Earps is, however, confident that England will offer a positive response to that setback, telling FIFA’s official website: “It’s very disappointing and, honestly, it feels a bit weird not to have a tournament to prepare for this year. Ultimately, we didn't do well enough to get the results we needed. That’s the reality, and that's our responsibility. I do think it’s difficult when you’re coming straight off a World Cup and going into really important qualifiers, but that’s the business we’re in. And at the end of the day we fell short. But if anything, it just puts even more fire in my belly. I think it’s given us all more motivation to strive to be better because what happened to us just shows how competitive the game is now. You can’t be off it for a second in women’s football right now. It’s a sore one but there’s nothing we can do it about now. We just need to take it on the chin, learn from it, take the chance to rest and make sure that we’re there, better than ever, when the next major tournament comes around.”

England are preparing to open the defence of their continental crown, with Euro 2025 qualification set to get underway when facing Sweden at Wembley Stadium on Friday. Earps, as a two-time winner of the FIFA Best Women’s Goalkeeper award and the current holder of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year crown, will be hoping to play a leading role in another quest for major silverware.