Welsh rower Kirsten McLelland-Brook installed herself as one of the favourites for the Commonwealth Games with a fine performance at the Zurich World Cup series in Belgium.

The Monmouth competitor took a silver medal in the lightweight women's sculls after finishing behind Holland's Marit Van Eupen in a thrilling finish at the event in Hazewinkel.

After finishing third in her heat, the member of Cardiff Bay Rowing Club was expected just to contest the bronze.

But a superb row in the final took her clear of third-placed Daniela Nachazelova to become the first Welsh woman to win a major medal.

McLelland-Brook said: "I raced to the race plan and found myself in second position after 500 meters, as the coach instructed I pushed on at our designated markers and knew that I could push on to medals.

"For the last 500 metres I was really in control."

The event in Belgium was the first of three Zurich World Cup events, with the next scheduled at Lucerne, Switzerland, in July.