Cambridge rower Toby Cunliffe-Steel is New Zealand's first medallist at the 2015 World University Games in South Korea.
Cunliffe-Steel won silver in the men's lightweight single scull yesterday.
His win comes eight years after he had a golf ball-sized brain tumour removed at age 15. The experience was motivation for him to give his all to rowing, and he now hopes to compete at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Cunliffe-Steel said the conditions were fast with a tailwind on picturesque Lake Tangeum, Chungju, the venue of the rowing regatta, which saw him produce a time of 6:58.43, a personal best, which had him just a fraction behind winner Jerzy Kowalski of Poland (6:56.88). Bence Tamas on Hungary was third.
"For me I've been fortunate enough to be racing for New Zealand at the world level since 2012 and in each of those events I've never made an A final. So, to have not only made an A final but to be on the podium too is a really big deal to me. I'm stoked," Cunliffe-Steel said.