Australian Ben Houlison has won the bronze medal in the adaptive men’s single scull at the 2009 FISA World Rowing Championships in Poznan, Poland.
Houlison (NSW), who is competing in his first world championship regatta, slightly missed the start but showed his power through the middle of the race to move through the field and claim the bronze medal on the line over United States rower Ron Harvey.
Great Britain’s Tom Aggar defended his world title from 2007 with another commanding performance, finishing in a time of 4:51.48. He finished 15 seconds clear of Ukraine’s Andrii Kryvchun, while Houlison crossed the line in 5:12.11.
Houlison said he expected the field to get a good jump from the start.
“We had a tail wind so the plan was to pick a speed and stick to it,” Houlison said. “I had to come over the New Zealander and USA rowers in the last 250 but that was the plan.
“I’m ecstatic. The plan was to make the A Final and to come away with a medal is fantastic.”
The adaptive mixed coxed four of Henry Macphillamy (NSW), Peter Siri (QLD), Carol Cooke (VIC) and Alexandra Green (NSW), coxed by Lisa Brown (VIC), finished sixth in their final.
The crew, the last to be selected by Australia ahead of the World Championships, improved with every row during the season and produced a solid row in the final.
The race was taken out by Great Britain in a time of 3:25.33 ahead of Italy and Germany.
Australia will compete in a further four A Finals during the Saturday program, with the women’s pair, women’s double scull, women’s four and men’s four aiming to add to the Australian medal haul.
