Finals decided at para-rowing World Championships

Great Britain and Australia enjoyed a particularly successful day on the water as the heats concluded at the 2014 World Rowing Championships. 27 Aug 2014
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Stephane Tardieu

France's Stephane Tardieu is on the IPC's Ones to Watch list on the road to Rio 2016.

ⒸLuc Percival
By IPC

"Great Britain’s Rachel Morris starred, as she defeated the current Paralympic Champion, Ukraine’s Alla Lysenko"

Para-rowing dominated the action on day two (25 August) of the 2014 Rowing World Championships in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The para-rowers competed in the heats across five classes, with the finals set to take place on Thursday (28 August).

Great Britain’s Rachel Morris starred, as she defeated the current Paralympic Champion, Ukraine’s Alla Lysenko, as well as Paralympic bronze medallist, Belarus’ Liudmila Vauchok in the AS women’s single sculls (ASW1x).

And in the other heat, Norway’s Birgit Skarstein led the way with an impressive 33-stroke rate throughout the majority of the race. The Norwegian, who finished second at last year’s World Championships, will be looking to go one better this time around.

In the largest class at the World Championships, the AS men’s single sculls (ASM1x), Australia’s current world champion Erik Horrie dominated the entire field and was even able to drop his stroke rate significantly as he qualified from heat one.

However, the fastest qualifying time was set in heat two, as Great Britain’s Tom Aggar led expertly from start to finish.

In the TA mixed double sculls (TAMix2x), France’s Perle Bouge and Stephane Tardieu led the way, with Ukraine’s Iryna Kyrychenko and Dmytro Ivanov also qualifying. And in heat two, Australia’s Gavin Bellis and Kathryn Ross impressed from the front, with Brazil’s Josiane Lima and Michel Gomes also reaching the final.

The LTA mixed double sculls is a relatively new event, and in its second year, heat one was dominated by Ukraine’s world champions Kateryna Morozova and Dmytro Aleksieiev.

In the second heat, despite being pushed hard by France’s Guylaine Marchand and Antoine Jesel, Australia’s Jeremy McGrath and Kathleen Murdoch took victory.

Great Britain enjoyed a successful day on the water and reached another final of the LTA mixed coxed four as Grace Clough, Pamela Relph, Dan Brown, James Fox and cox Oliver James beat the United States.

In heat two, Italy reached the final in an incredibly tight race with South Africa. Italy, who finished second at the World Rowing Cup, will be eager to better that performance this time around.

For more information from the 2014 Rowing World Championships, visit the event website.