Silver medal for Cambridge rower

Toby Cunliffe-Steel hopes to compete at the 2016 Olympics. Photo / Christine Cornege.

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.

"I guess it shows that I'm slowly improving and hopefully it means a bright future if I keep it up. It was a PB for me, so my fastest time I've ever done so again it shows that I'm improving and that things are going in the right direction and the way they should be. I couldn't be happier."

Cunliffe-Steel said he was known for having a slower start but a quick finish.

"So I came out with a reasonable start and then just got on to a solid race plan, solid race speed and just kept doing that and then when I got towards the finish, and when I could hear the Kiwis, I just put down the hammer and said `right, time to empty the tank and see what we can do' and managed to pull off a silver at the end of the day, so can't be disappointed with that. "

The World University Games is a major international sporting event that is held every two years for student athletes from around the world. This year more than 13,000 athletes from 141 countries are estimated to be competing in Gwangju. The rowing venue at Chungju is about three hours' drive from Gwangju.