The 27-year-old defending Paralympic and four-time world champion from London was Britain's biggest bet for a gold having dominated the sport since he took it up as part of his rehabilitation following a fall that left him paralysed in 2005.

But it appeared the Briton was in trouble when he began to slow at the 500 metre halfway stage, finishing the race in 4 min 58.08sec.

To the dismay of the packed home crowd here, Aggar (pictured below) fell outside the medals as China's Cheng Huang took victory in 4:52.36 with Australia's Erik Horrie picking up silver in 4:55.85 and Aleksey Chuvashev of Russia clocking 4:55.91 to take the bronze.

"I'm absolutely devastated," said a crestfallen Aggar after his unbeaten streak came to an end in the worst possible fashion.

"I don't really know what to say.

"The standard has really improved but I have always managed to stay ahead of the curve and keep ahead of the competition.

"You have new people come into the sport but I've beaten all three of these guys who won a medal this year so I am completely gutted.

"I dug deep in those final stages but there was nothing there today.


"It is a terrible feeling and it's tough for me to swallow."

But despite Aggar's shocking defeat, the mixed coxed four ensured the fantastic crowd at a sunny Eton Dorney had something to cheer about as the quartet of Pam Relph, Naomi Riches, David Smith and James Roe, led by cox Lily van den Broecke (all pictured top), claimed a superb victory in 3:19.38 in the final race of the day.

The world champions found themselves locked in a fascinating duel with the German team who finished in 3:21.44, but had just enough to take the win ahead of their rivals with Ukraine finishing in third in 3:23.22.

"We pushed as hard as we could and it is unbelievable to be Paralympic champions," said Smith.

"I felt I had nothing left at the end but the crowd roared us on to that win and this gold medal is for them."

The win also drew praise from Britain's four-time Olympic champion Mathew Pinsent.

"I'm so proud of them," he said.


"That was such a tough race but they rode a really nice race, put the Germans under pressure and just moved away at the last bit.

"It was a really important for British rowing that after missing out on those medals earlier."

The win came after another disappointment for Britain at Eton Dorney as Nicholas Beighton and Samantha Scowen finished fourth in the mixed double sculls final by the smallest of margins.

The pair were neck-and-neck with the United States boat but missed out on a bronze by just 0.21 as China took a comfortable gold and France the silver.

Meanwhile, in the women's ASM single scull boat class, Ukraine's Alla Lysnko took gold with France's Nathalie Benoit (pictured above, top) taking silver and Liudmila Vauchok of Belarus taking bronze in the first race of the day as all four Paralympic rowing medal events took place today.

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