Kirsten MacLelland-Brooks won Britain's first ever gold medal in the women's lightweight single sculls at the World Cup regatta in Lucerne on Sunday.

The Cardiff-based sculler had impressed in winning her semi-final the previous day, recording the fastest time of all the field.

That proved a good indication of MacLelland-Brooks' form for the final, although she had to pull out all the stops to hold off Croatian Mirna Rajle at the finish line.

"I knew that I would have to take control early because I was up against the Croatian No 1 sculler, so I pushed in front of her and tried to stay in front," MacLelland-Brooks said.

"She closed up in the last 100 metres; she pushed and I thought 'well I'm just going to push too' - it was very close but I got there.

"To win in Lucerne is so special because its the highest quality event beside the World Championships. I'm so very happy."

Monica Stan of Romania finished a comfortable third ahead of Germany's Valerie Viehoff.

MacLelland-Brooks was building on her fourth place to open the season at Duisburg in May and her silver at Hazewinkel, Belgium, last month.

She now heads to Munich in three weeks for the next World Cup challenge, where qualification for September's World Championships will be up for grabs.