26 Aug 2013

Sport: Personal best for Vanuatu at rowing champs

1:40 pm on 26 August 2013

Vanuatu's Tom Pata smashed his personal best time on his World Rowing Championships debut.

Competing in the men's lightweight single sculls, Pata crossed the finish in 8:06 minutes to be last in a star-studded heat, featuring the defending world champion Henrik Stephansen and world record holder Jeremie Azou.

That's an improvement of 29 seconds on his previous best and the Pata feels he's capable of clocking under eight minutes in the repecharge later tonight.

Vanuatu's other crew in Korea, lightweight mens pair Kevin Hivird & Luiji Teilemb, were also last in their heat for the men's lightweight pair, finishing more than a minute behind the winning crew in 7:28 minutes.