NAILSWORTH’s rising rowing star Anna Corderoy has struck gold in Florida today, after taking on and defeated all challengers at the world championships final.

As cox of the GB Paralympic mixed coxed four, former Stroud High’s Corderoy has had an outstanding first season at the international level, taking on the responsibility of steering the boat while executing the race plan and guiding her teammates to the finishline.

The crew of Corderoy, James Fox, Oliver Stanhope, Giedre Rakauskaite and Grace Clough, eased through their first race on Thursday, with a comfortable win by 22 seconds, to face off against the USA, Ukraine and Italy.

With this year’s event seeing the Paralympic event doubled in distance, from 1km to 2km, the crew’s first race saw them set a new world best time.

Jumping off the start, Team GB, who are undefeated in the event since 2011, took the early lead, with the USA in hot pursuit, but were able to push away from the field within the first 500m.

With GB disappearing off into the distance and USA in the void for an easy silver medal, Italy and Ukraine were left at the back of the pack to fight for bronze, with the former narrowly earning their place on the podium.

Speaking to the Gazette before the race, Corderoy, who only picked up coxing at Oxford University a few years ago, said their target was to go even faster in the final and they did just that, moving further and further away to beat their previous time by a full 14 seconds, with a new world’s best of 6:55.