2014 World Rowing Cup Review

Tom Aggar takes gold in dramatic fashion, whilst Liudmila Vauchok expresses her dominance in Aiguebelette, France 23 Jun 2014
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Tom Aggar

Tom Aggar was defeated for the first time in the men’s single sculls ASM1x since 2007.

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By IPC

“I'm really happy to have won and beaten my nemesis the Russian."

Great Britain’s Tom Aggar took gold in dramatic fashion in the AS men’s single sculls final (ASM1x) at the 2014 World Rowing Cup in Aiguebelette, France, on Saturday (21 June).

The 2008 Paralympic gold medallist left it until the last 20 metres to take the lead and claim victory ahead of Russia’s Alexey Chuvashev who had led for the majority of the race.

Aggar and Chuvashev have long been sporting rivals, and speaking to WorldRowing.com, Aggar stated that he was delighted to beat his old foe: “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.”

Itlay’s Fabrizio Caselli took the bronze.

In the AS women’s single sculls (ASW1x), favourite Liudmila Vauchok of Belarus took gold with an impressive display.

Having set the fastest time in the heats, Vauchok was surprisingly trailing at the 500m mark to Russia’s Natalia Bolshakova, but eventually showed her class by taking the lead.

With Vauchok in first, a scramble to the line ensued for second and Great Britain’s Rachel Morris came charging through to take silver to force Bolshakova into third.

Morris, who has only recently taken up the sport, expressed her delight to WorldRowing.com: “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.”

In the TA mixed double sculls (TAMix2x) final, home favourites Perle Bouge and Stephane Tardieu delighted the home crowd with a World Cup win.

The pair led comfortably from start to finish ahead of the Dutch duo Esther Van der Loos and Corne de Koning, who claimed silver, with Jolanta Pawlak and Michal Gadowski of Poland taking bronze.

There was another French victory in the LTA Mixed Double Sculls (LTAMix2x), with Antoine Jesel and Guylaine Marchand stealing victory from reigning World Champions Kateryna Morozova and Dmytro Aleksieiev of Ukraine at the line.

And in the LTA Mixed Coxed Four (LTAMix4+) final, Great Britain expressed their dominance once more. The current World and Paralympic Champions dominated from start to finish, taking gold ahead of Italy in silver and France in bronze.