Four rowers named Ones to Watch

Tom Aggar, Stephane Tardieu, Alla Lysenko and Oksana Masters are all top names to watch at this month’s World Rowing Championships and on the road to Rio. 10 Aug 2013

Rob Jones (L) and Oksana Masters won rowing bronze at London 2012

ⒸUS Rowing

By Justin A. Rice | For the IPC

All of these rowers have either won medals at a Paralympic Games or another major international event.

With nearly two weeks to go until the 2013 World Rowing Championships take place in Chungju, South Korea, four Paralympic rowers from across the world have been chosen as Ones to Watch athletes by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and World Rowing.

The list includes Great Britain’s Tom Aggar, France’s Stephane Tardieu, Ukraine’s Alla Lysenko and the USA’s Oksana Masters – all of whom were picked based on their performances and media presence.

The Ones to Watch campaign features athletes across several media platforms, both digital and print, in an effort to make them household names in the run-up to major World and regional Championships, as well as the Paralympic Games.

All of these rowers have either won medals at a Paralympic Games or another major international event. They have also proven to not only be ambassadors for their sport but also more than charismatic during media appearances.

Aggar is the reigning world champion in the ASM1x boat class, while Tardieu most recently won the mixed double sculls event with his partner Perle Bouge at the 2013 World Rowing Cup at Eton Dorney on 22 June.

Lysenko won a gold medal in the women's ASW1x single sculls event at London 2012 and is also a two-time world champion. She finished second at the World Cup last month.

Masters and her teammate, Rob Jones, won the USA’s first-ever Paralympic medal in the TaMix2x boat classification at the London 2012 Games. They won bronze behind China and France.

Masters has also been featured in the American magazine Sports Illustrated and posed semi-nude for ESPN The Magazine’s annual body issue.

These names are not necessarily the Ones to Watch athletes for Rio 2016, but are the ones to keep your eyes on throughout the upcoming major events.

The IPC’s Ones to Watch campaign launched in the lead-up to London 2012, when a new section was included within Paralympic.org, entitled Ones to Watch. This series of pages was designed to raise the profiles of leading medal contenders in Paralympic sports and act as an essential media resource.