Aggar back on top in Para-rowing World Cup finals

In calm conditions with just a hint of a tail wind these athletes must have been cherishing their first World Rowing Cup outing of the season, especially Tom Aggar of Great Britain who won the AS men’s single sculls.

AS Women’s Single Sculls (ASW1x) – Final

The favourite for this final must have been Liudmila Vauchok of Belarus who set the fastest time two days ago in the heats. This is not surprising considering Vauchok’s pedigree which includes two Paralympic medals and also medals from the winter Paralympic Games. But it was Natalia Bolshakova of Russia that lead at the 500m mark. Vauchok then got into the lead, but Bolshakova did not give up and held on to Vauchok. Then, in the sprint to the line brand new sculler, Rachel Morris of Great Britain came charging through. The high-rating Morris had enough strength left to push past Bolshakova and earn the silver medal in her first international race. Vauchok held on to take gold with Bolshakova earning silver.

Results: BLR, GBR, RUS, ISR, UKR, BRA

Gold – Liudmila Vauchok (BLR)

I am very happy – the conditions were great, lovely water.

Silver – Rachel Morris (GBR)

It’s been a great crossover from cycling, I really like the team and the set-up. It was strange to do side-by-side racing as it’s only the second time I’ve done it and I found it difficult to judge how I’m doing. But I wouldn’t let them get away.

B-final

Ursula Schwaller of Switzerland just missed out on the A-final through the repechage yesterday, but she made the best of racing today with an easy win to finish seventh overall. Schwaller just started rowing last year and this is her second international event.

Results: SUI, ITA, POL, NED, HUN

AS Men’s Single Sculls (ASM1x) – Final

It took until the last 20m for Tom Aggar of Great Britain to take the lead that brought him back to the top of his sport. Aggar is the Paralympic Champion from 2008 but he was unable to defend his title in 2012 and has had mixed results since. Leading for the majority of the race was Alexey Chuvashev of Russia. Chuvashev finished third at last year’s World Rowing Championships with Aggar in fourth and these two scullers have had a healthy competition for years. Today their competition took them far away from the rest of the field. Belarus held on to the bronze medal spot through the first half of the race before Italy’s Fabrizio Caselli nudged past him and got into the medal spot.

Results: GBR, RUS, ITA, BLR, GER, NED

Gold – Tom Aggar  (GBR)

I’m really happy to have won and beaten my nemesis the Russian. It’s a great comeback from last year when I got pushed out of the medals but I still expect a fierce fight this summer.

B-final

Brazil’s Luciano Luna de Oliveira got an early lead in this race using a 34 stroke rate and he held onto it to the end. Luna de Oliveira is an experienced para-rower with an A-final result from the 2012 Paralympic Games. The Brazilian increased his lead as he headed for the finish using long reaching strokes to propel his boat along.

Results: BRA, EST, POL1, IRL, HUN, POL2

TA Mixed Double Sculls (TAMix2x) – Final

Perle Bouge and Stephane Tardieu of France have become an institution in this boat class. They have been rowing together since 2010 and medalled at the 2012 Paralympic Games. Last year the duo struck silver at the World Rowing Championships. In front of a large home crowd enjoying the summer evening sun, Bouge and Tardieu gave the audience what they had come to see – a World Cup win. The duo led relatively comfortably for the entire race over Esther Van der Loos and Corne de Koning of the Netherlands One. The Dutch duo finished fifth at the 2013 World Rowing Championships and it looks like they have stepped up for this season.

Following the Dutch down the course was a close battle between the rest of the field. It took until the end for Jolanta Pawlak and Michal Gadowski of Poland to shake off the competition to come through for the bronze medal.

Results: FRA, NED1, POL, UKR, ISR, BRA

Gold – Stephane Tardieu and Perle Bouge (FRA)

The Australians aren’t here so it wasn’t the same, but we’re really happy as we made up for a poor performance in Italy. We had to find ourselves again.

Silver – Corne de Koning and Esther van der Loos (NED)

We build for a big sprint in the last 250 metres but this time we couldn’t catch France so just decided to keep space from Poland, keep our stroke and row it out. We’re looking forward to the World Champs in our back yard. But it’s a tough competition – Australia aren’t here but it’s good to see we’re progressing.

B-final

The two boats in this B-final chose long-reaching strokes to accelerate their boat with the Netherlands second crew making better work of it. But it was very close for the first 500m with the crews practically even. The Dutch must have had more stamina to pull away at the end.

Results: NED2, RUS

LTA Mixed Double Sculls (LTAMix2x) – Final

This boat class debuted last year and is slowly developing. Today showed its development when the reigning World Champions, Kateryna Morozova and Dmytro Aleksieiev of Ukraine got piped at the line. Dethroning Morozova and Aleksieiev was a fired up duo from France – Guylaine Guesnon and Antoine Jesel. Jesel has been around para-rowing for a while including a Paralympic Games, while Guesnon is relatively new to the sport. Their combination must be working as they steamed home to win the gold medal.

Results: FRA, UKR, GER

Gold – Antoine Jesel and Guylaine Marchand (FRA)

It’s our second race together, we only had one week to train. We found each other in one week. We want to dedicate this victory to our trainer.

LTA Mixed Coxed Four (LTAMix4+) – Final

In the race for lanes two days ago Great Britain was the fastest. Great Britain has been dominant in this event for a number of years and are the current World and Paralympic Champions. Only Pamela Relph remains from that crew and she helped lead the way to another win today. The British had a good start and increased their lead as they rowed down the 1000m course. Italy, who are the silver medallists from the 2013 World Rowing Championships, tried to hold on to the British but couldn’t quite do it. Coxed by the unstoppable Giuseppe Di Capua, the Italians had to contend with an excited French crew who were making the most of the home crowd support. Rating 37 strokes per minute, a classy British crew crossed the line to take gold, Italy with silver and a very happy French crew took bronze.

Results: GBR, ITA, FRA, UKR, POL

Gold – Pamela Relph and Oliver James (GBR)

Great race, we stayed in our own boat, very focused. We’re a new crew, we learnt a lot of lessons over the week that we implemented really well.

Silver – Valentina Grassi and Omar Airolo (ITA)

“It was tough but it was fun. Every stroke mattered. It’s always a big challenge against Great Britain, a big rivalry. We’re a brand new crew and we’ve got two months until the Worlds to improve.”