Nikki Ayers and Jed Altschwager have clinched Australia’s first gold medal at the World Rowing Championship in Belgrade, overcoming a challenging headwind to claim victory.

The Australian duo’s victory in the PR3 Mixed Double Sculls also qualified the boat for the Paralympic Games next year in Paris, where they will now be among the favourites.

For Ayers and Altschwager, Paris was far from their thoughts as they revelled in their gold-medal triumph.

Their victory caps off an outstanding season that includes wins in World Cup III in Lucerne in July and World Cup II in Varese in June, where they also set a world best time of 7:07.02 seconds.

The conditions were much tougher in Belgrade, with the pair winning the A final on the Ada Ciganlija Regatta Course in 8:07.07 from the United States (8:15.22) and defending world champions France (8:27.09).

“We knew it was going to be tricky conditions and rough, that you would need to stick to the basics,” Altschwager said.

“We knew there was going to be some mistakes and errors, and not let that get ahead of us, just get on to the next stroke.

“Our first three strokes weren’t too pretty, but we got onto it, started to pull away and went from there.”

Among other Australian results, Erik Horrie qualified the PR1 men’s single scull for the Paralympics, while Tara Rigney did the same with the women’s single scull for the Olympics.

Horrie was third in his semi to make the A final in Belgrade.

Rigney, a bronze medallist at last year’s world titles, finished second in her semi to qualify for the A final.

The women’s eight produced a magnificent row to pass Great Britain and win the repechage, booking their ticket for Sunday’s A final.

The boat is still to qualify for the Olympics but a top-five spot in the A final will suffice.

AAP