Tom Aggar

London 2012 is quite a way off but I am confident about my chances of winning a medal. We do a lot of testing throughout the year, outside the competitions, and I am making improvements on my fitness. Come the Paralympics I will be in good shape but you can't take anything for granted – you're never safe until the squad has been announced. The world championships begin in four weeks and I am in a good position to defend my single sculls title and come away with the gold. I'm in pretty good shape, but you never know what to expect until the day. You can pick up an injury or an illness which can throw you off course but I'm ready. We are one of the better prepared nations and have a really good set-up, which has got us ready. I need to keep improving my times, because there will be some serious challengers in 2012. Countries start improving come Paralympics time and the field becomes bunched closer together and performances start to pick up. People focus much more on the competition. I have to make sure I concentrate on my own performance and keep improving as an athlete, making sure my times are ever improving and consistent. The team environment helps. When you are around the group and everyone is striving for a gold-medal winning performance it is inspiring. People are there to work hard and win medals and the mentality is infectious. We also train alongside the Olympic squad and they have a great track record of winning medals, which is a huge benefit to us. Biography Born 24 May 1984, London Educated Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet and the University of Warwick Learnt to row London Regatta Centre Coach Tom Dyson Club Royal Docks Rowing Club, London Favourite film Avatar Favourite band Oasis Outside rowing I love sport. Before the accident I played at all age groups and now I love watching it Training Training is six days a week, with two or three sessions a day, so it is very full on at the moment. It's been different this year because the worlds are a bit later than normal. Usually we have a longer winter season where we would be in the gym doing plenty of heavy lifting but as the worlds are in late October we won't return until mid-November and then suddenly your in 2011 already. Then the goal becomes qualifying the boat for 2012. We'll also go away a few times on intensive training camps, where we will be put in high-pressure situations and we can get some good training done. But two weeks before a race training will taper down – two sessions a day with lots of rest all geared towards the race. Key statistics Major honours Men's AS single scull Paralympic champion Beijing 2008, world champion 2007 and 2009. Inaugural International Rowing Federation Adaptive Rower of the Year for 2010 Personal best 4min 51.48sec, world record time set in 2009 at Poznan world championships Season's results Bled World Cup, first Varese International Regatta, first World Cup top five 1 Tom Aggar (GB) 2 Andy Houghton (GB) 3 Edorta de Anta (Sp) 4 Alexey Chuvashev (Rus) 5 Ben Houlison (Aus) Paralympic countdown 23 October 2010 Team GB first winter assessment trials 31 October 2010 World Rowing Championships, Karapiro, New Zealand 18 December 2010 Second Team GB winter assessment trials 12 February 2011 Third Team GB winter assessment trials 16 April 2011 GB team senior trials 27 May 2011 Rowing World Cup I, Munich 17 June 2011 Rowing World Cup II, Hamburg 8 July 2011 Rowing World Cup III, Lucerne 3 May 2012 Paralympic qualification regatta, Belgrade 1 September 2012 Paralympic rowing regatta, Eton Dorney In numbers 2 Gold Paralympic rowing medals won by Great Britain at Beijing 2008 – Aggar and Helene Raynsford 8 Rowers who represented Great Britain at the 2008 Paralympics, the sport's debut at the Games 15 Seconds by which Aggar won the world title in 2009 at Poznan when setting his world record time Venue The 2012 regattas will be held at Dorney Lake, Eton, home of the 2006 world championships