Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) athletes Kathryn Ross and Grant Bailey, have won bronze with a strong performance in the trunk and arms mixed double scull event  at the 2010 World Rowing Championships taking place Lake Karapiro in New Zealand.

The pair, who had teamed up in the Paralympic adaptive rowing class for the first time in April, flew home in a slight head wind, recording a time of 4 minutes 28.16 seconds to claim bronze, four seconds behind the winner, the Ukraine’s Dmytro Ivanov and Iryna Kyrychenko.

‘We’ve only been rowing together as a combination for nine months so to pick up a bronze medal is amazing,’ Bailey said.

‘It was really close on the way into the line and we just timed our run well enough to pick up a medal.’

The duo’s performance will help build a strong foundation in preparation for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

In other results for AIS athletes on day five of the event,  Ben Houlison won the B final of the men’s single scull race.